Housing Authority to add a splash pad

♦ Grant money will seed the project in East Rome.

The Northwest Georgia Housing Authority is looking to add a splash pad for water play to the area of the Graham Homes public housing complex.

The pad would be part of an early action project piece of its Choice Neighborhood improvements to the East Rome community.

“They were talking about putting it in the (Banty Jones) park and our security said no, that would not be a good choice,” said Sandra Hudson, executive director of the NWGHA. “Now we’re looking at putting it across from the House of the Children Academy and Restoration Rome property that we own.”

Resident Services Director Molly Majestic said they’ve been in contact with City of Rome and Parks & Recreation Department leaders about raising funds for the project.

There is $50,000 earmarked in a $1.25 million Choice Neighborhood grant but a splash pad would require significantly more than that amount.

“We want to get an idea from the community what they want to see in terms of seating and features,” Majestic said.

The authority is preparing a community needs assessment survey of residents regarding the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhood project. The survey includes 75 questions for residents who don’t have children and 85 questions for those with children.

“It’s a slow process because we can’t meet with the residents, we have to do everything virtually,” Hudson said.

“We need about a 75% completion rate for that survey,” Majestic said. “We are going to try to do that in person, but separated out following very strict safety protocol.”

She also said she expects to offer some

kind of incentive for residents to participate in the survey.

The authority board also heard reports from other managers Wednesday.

Housing Director Melvin Scott said rent collections have increased significantly in the last month. This was the first month the authority could go back to sending eviction notices for nonpayment.

“Almost every development not only paid what was billed out but a lot of money that was (past due) as well,” Scott said.

Modernization Director Howard Gibson said the site preparation work at the new Sandra D. Hudson Villas development in East Rome is about a month ahead of schedule.

“Hopefully they’ll start pouring slabs in about two weeks,” Gibson said. It will still be some time before the new apartments start to rise out of the ground.

The new apartments at Summerville Park are also on schedule, with most of the exterior work nearly complete and sheet rock on the interior going up steadily. Those units should be ready for occupancy before the end of the year.