{"id":21010,"date":"2024-10-24T09:26:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T13:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=21010"},"modified":"2024-10-24T09:26:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T13:26:38","slug":"seniors-courtyard-idea-gets-city-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/24\/seniors-courtyard-idea-gets-city-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Seniors courtyard idea gets city boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams County Council Aging Director Michelle Lengerich, who led the charge which brought public transportation to Adams County, has a new major project in mind: an outdoor courtyard for seniors and others at the MERIT Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those plans got a $13,000 boost from Decatur City Council on Tuesday, following another helping hand (hands?) from a group of volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The MERIT Center courtyard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The courtyard has existed since the building was constructed as Northwest School. There is, however, no easy access to it from the building, now the city-owned MERIT Center; going through the boiler room or a back gate is the only way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Lengerich asked council for the use of some federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) pandemic relief funds to construct a door or doors to provide access from the seniors center portion of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want some doors to get out there,\u201d she told council. \u201cWe really need access to it (courtyard). Going through a boiler room is not the way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lengerich had quotes of $13,000 for two doors (two side-by-side doors) and $7,100 for one door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she would like to get the access situation settled in order \u201cto move forward out there\u201d with a major renovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the idea of giving people a place to go to nature, flowers, like that,\u201d said Councilwoman Jenny Bowers-Shultz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s a great use for ARPA funds; it’s just (a question of) what doors do we decide to use,\u201d added Councilman Matt Dyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councilwoman Abby Wilder favored two doors, noting: \u201cShe (Lengerich) has done a lot for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowers-Shultz moved to use $13,000 in ARPA monies for two doors, Wilder seconded and the vote was 5-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLEANUP: The courtyard, unattended for years, was full of weeds, brush and the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, on Oct. 13 \u2013 Columbus Day \u2013 a group of 20 volunteers from four local financial institutions got together and cleaned out the area, which contains two memorial trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is located between the east and west wings of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Removed from courtyard by volunteers<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a Facebook post, Lengerich said: \u201cBack in its prime, the space was loved by students and teachers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have big dreams for this underutilized outdoor space. We have dreams to renovate the space into a Senior Courtyard and Gardens equipped with a shuffleboard court, two covered gazebos, a water feature and so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe entire space would be handicap accessible to allow wheelchairs and walkers to move with ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWaste-high planters to grow flowers and planters, including one wheelchair accessible planter\u201d are also part of the scheme, according to the post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Adams County Council Aging Director Michelle Lengerich, who led the charge which brought public<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17,14,15],"class_list":["post-21010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-community","tag-decatur","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21013,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21010\/revisions\/21013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}