Medina Board of Education approves resolutions allowing city to expand Recreation Center's fitness center

MEDINA — The Medina Board of Education unanimously approved several resolutions Monday that would give the city the ability to construct an approximately 1,800-square-foot addition to the Medina Community Recreation Center's fitness center. "That rec center expansion is at no cost to the district," Medina Schools Superintendent Aaron Sable said. "That is actually a city initiative much of which, to my understanding, is grant funded." According to Medina Parks and Recreation Director Jansen Wehrley, the recreation center was awarded $350,000 through House Bill 687 to expand the fitness center. The project's budget is $700,000 with an owner's contingency of $70,000. The city will use the $350,000 from the grant and fund the remaining cost via the Medina Recreation Center's carry-forward funds, Wehrley said. While the project will be completely funded by the city, the recreation center is owned by the school district, meaning that the board would need to approve the project and the following aspects that come with it. Wehrley said that when the building was originally built in 2002, it was designed to expand as needed. "We're essentially just bumping the footprint out, which in turn will hopefully allow us to use the existing mechanical systems," Wehrley said. "They have yet to confirm that, but that's the intent." Over the past few years, the Medina Rec has repurposed many areas throughout the space such as turning the community room into a cycling studio and opening up the track area to space out equipment. Wehrley said that the recreation center staff plans on moving equipment around to better use the space once the addition is constructed. With the approval of the board, the city will begin to work with Fanning and Howey for professional design services. Wehrley hopes to have the drawings done in the winter, with the anticipation of breaking ground in the spring. During the meeting, the board approved the construction of the addition to the rec center, the preliminary drawings of the site and Fanning Howey's proposal for professional services for construction administrative services. The board also unanimously approved a proposal with Brandstetter Carroll Inc. for professional services relating to the repairs of the Medina Recreation Center's lap and leisure pools. The proposal includes the removal and replacement of the Diamond Brite finish for both pools, the replacement of underwater lights, the repainting of depth markers in the leisure pool and replacing drain covers in both pools. Medina Schools Director of Business Affairs Ryan O'Cull said the leisure pool's finish is about 11 years old while the competition pool's finish was the original installment about 20 years ago. "They're both in dire need of repair at this point in time," O'Cull said. Repairs are done to the surfaces' finish on an annual basis when the pools are both drained, Wehrley said. In addition, the board of education approved the installation of six pickleball courts at A.I. Root Middle School in collaboration with the city. In October, at Medina City Council's Public Properties meeting, city officials chose to demolish the two existing tennis courts at A.I. Root to install six new pickleball courts for $194,000, which would be split evenly between the city and school district. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.