ELK POINT, SD -
More than half-a-million dollars are at stake in Elk Point, South Dakota, as folks work toward building a new community center.
Sharing the building with the golf course is the current plan, and not everyone in town is happy about that.
"A community building is something for people," said Louie DeSmet, of Elk Point, South Dakota, one of the many folks in town concerned about the future of a new community building.
DeSmet isn't alone, proven by a large turnout at a special meeting in Elk Point Monday.
A community building is something the people want, just not everyone can agree on how to get one.
"There's a lot of people in favor," said Elk Point Mayor Isabel Trobaugh. "But there's a lot of people against it."
The city signed an agreement with the Recreational Development Association, the group behind the current country club on the golf course, to build a new community center on there.
The RDA would build the building and get to use part of it as a country club, while the City would pay for the building, more than $600,000, over the next 20 years.
Some folks don't think that's a good idea.
"The golf club would be the major user of the building," said DeSmet.
A group calling itself "The Citizens for a Better Elk Point" are worried about the cost, the agreement with the RDA, and the location of a potential new community center.
"It would also be nice to have it more centrally located in town," said DeSmet. "To where it was more useable."
That's why the issue's up to a vote.
If it passes, construction begins as planned sometime in the fall of 2012, adding a community center to town.
"We have no large places where we can bring in things like the municipal government," said Mayor Trobaugh.
If it doesn't pass, it's back to the drawing board, because pass or fail, the folks in Elk Point want a new community building.
There are a few more meetings on the community building: August 2nd at 2:00 PM and August 11th at 10:00 AM, both meetings are at city hall.
The election will be August 14th.
