Well on the way to constructing a 3,500-square-foot learning facility to adjoin their activities campus, officials with “The Way” besought Trigg County Fiscal Court Tuesday evening — looking to create a special partnership.
The goal: to unite emergency management, first response and a pressing need for the City of Cadiz to draft and create a federally-regulated storm shelter.
A non-profit organization located on Lafayette Street behind the Vocational School, The Way is mainly supported by the churches of Trigg County and other generous donors. Lead Servant Carl Heckmann made it abundantly clear this is no outcry for general funds and local tax dollars.
Instead, Heckmann noted the youth-focused service needs assistance with grant funding, potentially through FEMA and other avenues, in constructing a $1.575 million shelter beneath the proposed new building.
Marc Frye, facilities manager for The Way, said conversations over the last year with several officials — including magistrate Alana Baker-Dunn and Trigg County Emergency Manager David Bryant — have only brought this concept more into focus and a potential reality.
If the cost were too great, or a smaller shelter didn’t fit economic means, Frye added the education building is still going to go as planned — perhaps as early as Fall 2023 or Spring 2024.
John Oliver, CEO for Ace Drywall and Acoustical, has procured architectural drafting of the project and already made contact with some other municipalities in Kentucky — including Cumberland County — in order to gauge the costs and effectiveness of similarly-designed FEMA-approved shelters.
Oliver agreed that a $1.575 million price tag, which again doesn’t include the cost of the education space, may not be palatable.
However, the proposed basement would be able to house more than 700 people in the case of an emergency — be it weather-related, a natural disaster, a dire call from the Trigg County Hospital, or worse, a distress signal from Trigg County Schools.
Frye said the estimated cost of the top was “just shy of $500,000,” meaning the entirety of the construction would require roughly $2 million — and a likely contingency fund of 10% for change orders, inflationary spikes and incidentals.
He further noted the space wouldn’t be used specifically by The Way once created, and Bryant attested to the organization’s efforts in the past — particularly during wintertime.
The Way already has enough capital to begin its educational part of this potential building, but of course, it’s cheaper to install a shelter basement now — as opposed to doing one way down the road.
Judge-Executive Stan Humphries also said he was taken aback by this cost, but he further ushered his desire for the Fiscal Court’s reconvened Building & Grounds Committee to perhaps find a financial solution in the form of state and federal grant opportunities, or other non-local means.
Baker-Dunn said the shelter “was needed,” but also warned about cost.
Trigg County’s apparent lack of a storm shelter could play a key factor in grant procurement in the coming months. Its tangential location to an ever-stretching “Tornado Alley” and close proximity to the New Madrid fault-line need attention, as does the possible need for a true warming shelter or a hospital triage unit in the event another pandemic arrives.
One potential solution: FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which specifically and intentionally addresses these very concerns across the country.
