Collierville votes to renovate Kerley Center

Collierville is investing in the Linda Kerley Center: The town’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted 6-0 Monday night to approve up to $871,000 for an interior and exterior renovation of the recreation spot.

The board had voted in June to rename the College Street Recreation Center after Kerley, the first female mayor in Collierville’s history. She was first elected mayor in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 to a term that would last until 2008, when she announced she wasn’t seeking reelection. Kerley died of cancer in 2013 at age 65.

The Memphis-based company F & F Construction was declared the low bidder and awarded the renovation contract. The money approved Monday is part of an ongoing effort to spruce up the center, described as a “wooden aircraft hangar style gymnasium” in a document by Derek Honeycutt, director of General Services.

In other action, the board voted to enter into possible court proceedings related to the Collierville Center Connect improvement project along Center Street in Downtown Collierville.

The town is adding items such as wider sidewalks, decorative street lighting and bike lanes in residential sections of the street as well as on-street parking on commercial areas of the street, said Town Planner Jaime Groce. To do this, the town is taking control of strips of land along the properties on the street. The town plans to compensate the owners, but in the case of six lots, the government and the landowners haven’t been able to agree on a price, Groce said.

Three of those six lots belong to the same owner. In each case, the town would take control of only a small portion of the lots. The proposed compensation packages to the landowners range from $950 to $51,350, Groce said.

The board voted to authorize the town to enter into court proceedings if necessary. Groce said he’s still talking with the landowners and hopes to reach agreement before taking the matter to court. “My goal is to work out most of these and never have to use this.”

And the board also voted to approve fines of up to $50 per day for residents who dump refuse on greenbelt trails or other town property. The proposal was prompted by cases of homeowners dumping waste over their back fences and onto the trails.

Under the proposal now approved, town workers would clean up any such debris they find, then leave a door hanger on the nearby house telling the people not to do it again. Anyone who dumps again would face a $50-per-day fine until they clean up the mess.