Studer Community Institute

Commissioners will talk fixes to Brownsville Community Center

August 13, 2015
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ community-dashboard

The Brownsville Community Center on DeSoto Street in Pensacola Wednesday, July 22, 2015. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Studer Community Institute)

The Brownsville Community Center finally could be in line for repairs that county officials say it badly needs.

At the Aug. 13 Escambia County Commission committee of the whole meeting, County Administrator Jack Brown will ask for guidance about how to proceed on some of the $1.3 million in repairs needed to bring the building up to par.

The building at 3100 W. Desoto St. used to be a part of the Brownsville Assembly of God Church. Its 34,000 square feet include gymnasium, day care and office space.

There is $1.8 million in local option sales tax money set aside for design and renovation of the building.

Brown says the building has “major issues” including HVAC issues, mold issues, restrooms and other needed renovations.

“It was piecemealed together while FEMA was in there,” Brown said. “We need major renovations to that building.”

Brown’s timeline indicates the design phase for the project would begin in October; construction could begin in April of 2016. The project is targeted for completion in January 2017.

The original RFP went out searching for a qualified nonprofit agency with a focus on skills training and job placement to manage the renovations, to assemble the team to do the work including a focus on getting job skills and training in the construction field.

That would get the center renovated and give youth in the community needed job skills and experience.

Revising centers use policies

Marilyn Wesley, who was the county’s director of the community affairs department until staff restructuring last month, had been preparing revisions and updates to the county’s policy on the use and rental guidelines for the 18 centers the county runs.

Tonya Gant is now the county’s director of neighborhood and human services.

The current license and management agreement has some gaps:

— It does not require the entity that contracts to manage the center to calendar events in the facility.

— It limits the county’s ability to do things in the center once the agreement is signed with a nonprofit entity.

— It only requires the nonprofit to provide insurance for activities they run in the center.

— It does not provide any evaluation or performance standards for the entity leasing it or the program’s that entity may put on.

The revisions proposed by Wesley before her departure specified that the county’s use of a center supersedes the nonprofit leasing it, and assures the county can use the center when the leasing nonprofit doesn’t have an event there.

They also would have required a calendar system, clarified that the county must make sure that groups using community centers have special event liability insurance, and that annual financial reports from nonprofits that use community centers are turned in to the county by Dec. 31 of each calendar year.

The performance benchmarks Wesley had proposed include:

— Attendance for all events.

— Documented community outreach at each center.

— Requiring each center to document a minimum of two successful programs a year.

— Documenting the educational value and community impact of programs at the centers.

— Documenting revenue from rentals, concessions, equipment purchases and number of rentals.

The proposals were due Dec. 22, 2014, but no one responded, which put the Brownsville Center project in a spot of bureaucratic limbo.

Revising center use rules

Tonya Gant, the county’s director of neighborhood and human services, then took on part of the work in revising the agreements with people who utilize community centers from the county.

The idea Brown said, was to stabilize rent from one community center to another based on square footage and what you can do.

“We want to get all contracts on the same renewal schedule, get performance measures to be met and reported on to show if we’re adequately serving the community, and make sure activities match community needs,” Brown said.

A first draft of plans for the Brownsville Center includes community outreach, use as an event center, recreation programming and employment training. See the agenda for the meeting here for more details.

Staff now are planning for how the proposed renovation schedule could impact users of the center, including Jay Patel, who has requested to use the center on behalf of the Gulf Coast Indian Association for some events in October and November of this year.

The Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel (an office that provides legal representation to indigent clients in certain civil cases or when the Public Defender’s Office has a conflict in the case) uses office space on the second floor of the building.

Brown said that a community meeting hosted by Commissioners Doug Underhill and Lumon May yielded good feedback from the community about what they want the center to provide.

Given the size of the Brownsville Center, it can be a special venue among the county's community centers, Brown said.

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Commissioners will talk fixes to Brownsville Community Center

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