Valparaiso City Commission votes to repair, reopen century-old community center

Jim Thompson, Northwest Florida Daily News
·4 min read

VALPARAISO — The dozens of people who filled the Valparaiso City Commission chambers on Monday night to press their case for reopening and repairing a century-old senior citizen and community center didn't get the fight that many of them were expecting, given Mayor Brent Smith's strong suggestion last month that the building be torn down.

Instead, they heard Smith, along with City Commissioner Jay Denney, both say that they had relied on what Smith called "bad information" regarding the condition of the building at 268 Glenview Avenue in connection with calls to raze the structure.

Local general contractor Jerry Spence, at the microphone, addresses the Valparaiso City Commission at its Monday night meeting, telling them he found "no significant problems" with the city's century-old community center during a recent inspection, other than problems with its roof. In the foreground is Mark Norris, a former Valparaiso fire chief and a leader of the effort to save the building. Dozens of people attended the Monday commission meeting in support of reopening the community center.

Previous coverage: 'Is it worth saving?': Val-p residents plan fight to preserve century-old former schoolhouse

Upcoming election: Here are the candidates for races in Cinco Bayou, Mary Esther and Valparaiso

The admissions from Smith and Denney were soon followed by a unanimous vote of the mayor and commissioners to reopen the facility, and to include an option on municipal water bills allowing interested customers to make donations to repairs to the facility.

The building, used primarily as a senior citizen center, was closed in 2020 by the Walton Okaloosa Council on Aging — which used it to provide meals and social opportunities to the area's elderly population — under a coronavirus-related executive order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Senior citizens have continued to be able to get meals through the Walton Okaloosa Council on Aging program, either by coming to the center to pick them up, or having them delivered to their homes.

A photo from a report by construction contractor Jerry Spence shows one of the roof issues at the community center in Valparaiso. The city commission voted Monday to reopen the facility, and made provisions for citizens to make donations to cover costs of repairing and maintaining the century-old structure.
A photo from a report by construction contractor Jerry Spence shows one of the roof issues at the community center in Valparaiso. The city commission voted Monday to reopen the facility, and made provisions for citizens to make donations to cover costs of repairing and maintaining the century-old structure.

"We're here to support your efforts," Walton Okaloosa Council on Aging Director Shayne Betts told commissioners at Monday's meeting. "I'm excited to see what this commission and this community can do."

Tom Jackley, volunteer caretaker of the Valparaiso Community Building and Senior Citizen Club, walks past the front of the building. Built in 1921, the structure was the city schoolhouse and community building. Two anonymous benefactors each have pledged $10,000 for roof repairs at the building.
Tom Jackley, volunteer caretaker of the Valparaiso Community Building and Senior Citizen Club, walks past the front of the building. Built in 1921, the structure was the city schoolhouse and community building. Two anonymous benefactors each have pledged $10,000 for roof repairs at the building.

Tom Jackley, site manager for the Council on Aging program at the Valparaiso Community Center, said the facility would once again open to local senior citizens on Feb. 23, and would be open on subsequent Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, offering activities like bingo, Scrabble and digital bowling.

"It's wonderful," Jackley said of the commission decision to reopen the building. "We're excited about it. We're anxious to get going."

The people gathered in the commission chambers on Monday night also learned from Smith that two anonymous benefactors each have pledged $10,000 toward putting a new roof on the building. A local contractor's inspection of the building identified the roof as a problem, but concluded that otherwise, the building is in satisfactory condition for use.

A photo from the collection of Cliff Brabham, dated 1921, hangs on the wall inside the Valparaiso Senior Citizen Club and shows the construction of the building as the Valparaiso schoolhouse and community center.
A photo from the collection of Cliff Brabham, dated 1921, hangs on the wall inside the Valparaiso Senior Citizen Club and shows the construction of the building as the Valparaiso schoolhouse and community center.

"I was frankly surprised at how good a shape it was in," Jerry Spence of Spence Brothers Construction, who assessed the structure and prepared a two-page report on his findings, told Monday night's crowd.

In addition to addressing the roof issues, Spence's report notes a need to replace some cracked concrete foundation blocks, to service the fire alarm system and bring it to working condition, and to have the electrical system inspected.

For the immediate future, the $20,000 pledged by the two benefactors won't quite meet the city's $23,500 estimate for the roof, a circumstance that Smith told Monday night's crowd was designed to determine whether advocates for the building would be willing to back that advocacy with money.

In the meantime, Valparaiso Fire Chief Tommy Mayville is donating one of the department's "FEMA tarps," the familiar blue tarpaulins used to cover roofs damaged during natural disasters, to the community center to keep roof leaks from damaging the structure any further.

Beyond that, the city has $8,000 in its general fund, a donation made some time ago by a private citizen — initially intended to address roof issues, but that fell short of meeting that need — that can be put toward any additional work needed on the building.

Moving forward from Monday's vote, a steering committee formed in the days after Smith's suggestion that the building be torn down will shift its focus from protecting the structure to directing the facility's future. The committee is chaired by former Valparaiso Fire Chief Mark Norris, a staunch advocate of reopening the structure.

A photograph from a report on the community center in Valparaiso shows one of the issues that will need attention as the building is reopened. City officials took action Monday that will allow residents to contribute to repair and maintenance costs of the century-old building.
A photograph from a report on the community center in Valparaiso shows one of the issues that will need attention as the building is reopened. City officials took action Monday that will allow residents to contribute to repair and maintenance costs of the century-old building.

Among the suggestions made Monday were allowing the facility to function as a community center that also could be rented out by private citizens for weddings and other celebrations. Additionally, the steering committee plans to explore whether, and if so, how, the building could be given some formal historical designation.

"What we need is to reopen the facility," Norris told the city commission prior to its Monday night vote. Pointing to the broad community support for the building and its possibilities, Norris added, "We have the gunpowder in our arsenal, let's make a boom."

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Valparaiso City Commission votes to reopen community, senior center