The Seward Wellness Center is getting closer to completion, but it will still be awhile before the groundbreaking.
City Administrator Greg Butcher updated the city council at its Feb. 21 meeting.
Butcher said the project received proposals from seven contractors interested in building the facility.
Twelve members of the Wellness Center Committee ranked the seven proposals and plan to interview the top three the week of Feb. 27.
The winning contractor will work with the committee, BVH Architecture and the wellness center’s executive director to finalize the design in the next few months.
Butcher said the amount of space needed for the facility has been finalized, and it will face directly west on its plot of land north of Waverly Road, across the street from Seward Middle School.
The committee will begin another round of fundraising by applying for additional grants this spring.
Butcher said funds are needed to begin a foundation that will oversee money set aside for future improvements and expansions.
The committee plans to apply for a Civic and Community Center Financing Fund grant from the Department of Economic Development for $562,000. The project was denied the grant once before because it didn’t have other funding mechanisms in place.
Butcher said the project now has a better chance at the grant since a ballot issue to fund a portion of the project through sales tax passed and pledges and other grants are in place.
Receipts from the half-cent increase in sales tax will begin rolling in during March after the tax went into effect Jan. 1.
Butcher said the city has received applications for the executive director position. One will be selected in March.
