Seward residents will get to vote on whether to implement a one-half-cent sales tax to fund a portion of the construction and furnishing of an $18 million city-run wellness center.
The city council voted 7-0 at its Feb. 15 meeting to place the question on the May 10 primary ballot.
The 62,000-square-foot center, as initially proposed, would include a six-lane indoor swimming pool, kids’ pool, two full-size basketball courts, men’s, women’s and family locker rooms, office space, a child-watch area, youth center/adult room, a walking track, cardio and strength equipment and fitness studios, as well as a multipurpose room for before and after school childcare.
A possible Phase Two would include an indoor turf fieldhouse and third basketball court, but that phase is not a part of the current funding proposal.
Dr. Matt Dominy, curriculum and staff development director for Seward Public Schools, and local resident and school board member Jana Hughes are on the wellness center committee. They spoke at the council meeting, after the SPS Board of Education signed an interlocal agreement with the city the night before.
Hughes said approximately one-third of the funding, or about $6 million, would come from the half-cent sales tax, with the rest coming from private pledges and grants.
To date, 110 businesses, organizations or individuals have pledged a total of $6.7 million toward the project, with pledges ranging from $100 to $1 million each.
She said getting those pledges was a lot of work on the committee’s part, “but it wouldn’t have happened if people didn’t believe in it.”
City Administrator Greg Butcher said Seward is not currently utilizing its authority for the additional one-half-cent sales tax. In order to place such a tax on the ballot for a vote of the people, the city must have an interlocal agreement in place with another local entity.
“When we first started these discussions, it seemed the logical partner would be the school district due to the nature of the facility,” Butcher said, and the proposed wellness center’s proximity to Seward Middle School in what is currently an open field owned by Max Wake.
Dominy thanked the Village of Staplehurst and its recreation department for partnering on grants for the initial planning stages of the project to see what the wellness center might look like.
He said several other grant applications are in the works. Those include grants from American Rescue Plan Act dollars, the Peter Kiewit Foundation, the Ackley Foundation, the Robert Daugherty Foundation and four others.
Butcher said the committee visited several other community wellness facilities across Nebraska, including Papillion Landing, a $62 million indoor/outdoor facility funded solely by the half-cent sales tax.
The Papillion facility also includes a library, art studio, event rental space, a catering kitchen, a senior center and more. Seward’s won’t be near that elaborate, Butcher said, but the committee wanted to visit to see what ideas it could borrow.
“We asked the questions of how did they utilize the space, what would they do differently…We tried to eliminate as much waste as possible,” Butcher said.
If voters approve the project, Hughes said it would take about a year for construction to begin. The project would still have to go through detailed design, and the city would bring in experts on swimming pools, fitness equipment and other areas to make sure the design included the right components.
Councilmember Alyssa Hendrix asked whether a wellness center would compete with local businesses like fitness centers or yoga studios.
“We’ve discussed partnering with those facilities,” Hughes said, “but nothing competes directly.”
Hughes said those facilities tend to cater to more specific audiences – some are open 24 hours a day or they offer classes that wouldn’t be available at the wellness center.
She said instructors from privately owned businesses might be invited to host a fitness class at the wellness center once or twice a week, which would in turn draw more customers to their businesses.
“I think this can all coexist, and I think there are opportunities for some partnerships,” Hughes said.
The center would be operated by the City of Seward, with city employees hired to run it in cooperation with the Recreation Department. Because of the interlocal agreement with the school district, the school board and city council would oversee the facility.
Butcher said he created a sample budget for a wellness center to show private donors. He backed the sample with five years worth of data from similarly sized facilities in similarly sized towns.
“We would need to do additional fundraisers throughout the year to support that budget,” Butcher said.
Once the bond is completely paid off, the half-cent sales tax would go away, and a foundation could be set up to accept estate gifts or conduct additional fundraising for upkeep and potential expansion.
This isn’t the first time a wellness center has been proposed, but it is the first time it has gotten to the ballot.
Shane Baack, a member of the wellness center committee, laid the foundation for the project years ago.
“There are three things that make this different (from before),” Hughes said. “It’s the location, the opportunity for the city to run it – YMCA isn’t going to come in – and third, the opportunity for the sales tax, grants private and public, and the vote of the people.”
Butcher said a wellness and technology center was the number one priority of residents who responded to the city’s 2012 Strategic Plan Community Scorecard.
“Twenty-six percent listed it as the most important, and that has been reiterated in other studies since then,” he said. “If this is what the community wants, we’re going to make it work, because that’s what we’ve been tasked to do.”
Councilmembers Hendrix, Matt Stryson and Jessica Kolterman voiced support for the project.
“This is a project that everybody in the community is going to be affected by and proud of,” Stryson said, commending the committee for its work thus far.
Kolterman said a wellness center would be one more amenity to draw young families to Seward.
“It’s really putting it in front of the community,” she said. “The whole thing is teed up. If they give the green light, then there it goes.”
City employees and officials are not allowed to encourage voters one way or the other, but the city is able to present information about the project and educate voters before they go to the polls.
If there is any doubt about whether local residents want a wellness center, Hughes said, “This (vote) will prove it.”
