The Knox Girl Scout Cabin will no longer be available for rent after April 30. Mayor Dennis Estok told the city council Tuesday that continuing to maintain the building just isn’t feasible.
“We have one Girl Scout troop that is using it,” he said. “I think that has been one of the major complaints with the cleaning lady is because they don’t clean up. They use it and abuse it and out. We’re losing money. It needs a lot of maintenance done on it. It always has. It’s always been a pain in our butt.”
He said it doesn’t make sense for the city to cover the cost of running both the Girl Scout Cabin and the recently-renovated Nancy J. Dembowski Community Center. The mayor stressed that there are no plans to tear the cabin down, but city officials are going to have to discuss what to do with it.
At the same time, Estok said that new procedures are being put in place regarding the rental fee at the community center. He explained that organizations seeking a discounted rate will now have to make their case to a new four-member board. “What we have had happen and it seems like ever since we renovated it, we have just been flooded with not-for-profits, people requesting to use it for nothing. For nothing. And I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s fair to the taxpayers to have to keep doing this,” Estok said.
Council members also agreed to upgrade some of the community center’s lighting to LED technology. Estok said he planned to have LED lighting installed in the executive room at a cost of just under $500. If the change proves to be successful, the lights in the great room could be changed in the future.
