{"id":27474,"date":"2025-07-09T09:40:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T13:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=27474"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:25:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:25:41","slug":"paying-to-keep-it-clean-still-an-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/paying-to-keep-it-clean-still-an-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying to keep MERIT Center clean still an issue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

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

A solution \u2013 or solutions \u2013 on how to pay for upgraded cleaning service at the MERIT Center in Decatur continues to be sought by city council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city is already over the $12,000 budgeted for cleaning the former school building this year and a new, improved service will go as high as $35,000 if continued as is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynn Kressley has been handling the work for some time after the former cleaner had to step down for medical reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work by Kressley, who has her own cleaning service, was so good, however, that it was decided to retain her on a permanent basis. She is hired for 23 hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Councilwoman Abby Wilder, a member of the MERIT Center board, told council at its latest meeting that the board recently met \u201cand talked of several different scenarios for solutions to the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of them involved the King’s Kingdom Preschool and Childcare based in the center. It’s currently leasing space for $13,753 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The daycare is not yet at full capacity and when that happens \u2013 which is said to be possible next year \u2013 its lease calls for an annual payment of $30,294.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would clean up (no pun intended) this year’s cleaning budget shortfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have budgeted $12,000 (for 2025) and we’re well above that,\u201d Clerk-Treasurer Eran Hackman pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest problem is that revenues (from the building) aren’t near enough now,\u201d Mayor Dan Rickord said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also the idea of upping the rent paid by the daycare center and the Adams County Council on Aging, which also occupies space in the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Attorney Anne Razo, however, quickly indicated that that could be a problem since both the daycare and the council on aging have long-term leases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some other points made during the discussion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* About 5,000 people pass through the building annually, Wilder pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*There currently are eight empty units in the center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Kressley’s cleaning work is mainly in the hallways, common areas, and the gym; the occupants clean their own spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were a lot of complaints, issues\u201d before Kressley took over, Hackman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, Wilder recommended and all council members agreed to postpone any action until gaining a closer look at the long-term leases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com A solution \u2013 or solutions \u2013 on how to pay for upgraded cleaning service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-27474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Merit-Center-long-view.jpg?fit=954%2C186&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27474","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=27474"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27476,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27474\/revisions\/27476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}