Centerville

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facility, according to Chuck Cowgill, director of business operations for the district.

But when the estimated cost for the project approached $4.5 million, talks stalled, Cowgill said during the school board’s most recent meeting. District officials are open to the project but not interested in providing taxpayer dollars to help fund it, he said.

As a result, a different source of funding was pursued, Cowgill said. A capital campaign will be launched in March after design plans are finalized and presented to the school board during a March 13 meeting, he said.

“Additional donors have come forth recently and stated that they’re willing to continue to contribute,” he said. “They’ve got some donations that (get) us much closer to that $4.5 million.”

The district’s athletics has some additional needs besides baseball and softball, including girls wrestling, which just launched this school year, he said. In addition, all teams are using the high school’s weight room, Cowgill said. The capital campaign would help fund new locker rooms for baseball and softball, along with restrooms and changing rooms, which also can be used by the district’s tennis and cross country programs during inclement weather in the fall, he said.

“There are times where the football team, for example, might be practicing at 4 o’clock (and) a storm rolls through,” Cowgill said. “This would provide an opportunity. It’s not 100 yards, it’s not exactly the size that the football team would need, but it will provide a space for them to go and continue to work on practice.”

The first phase has partnerships that could help the project secure $3.5 million of its estimated $4.5 million cost, he said.

Centerville athletics also would like to embark on a second phase, one that would include new locker rooms and a new weight room for use by multiple sports. It also would include an expansion of wrestling room space.

“This facility would allow an additional more than two times what they currently have here at the high school as part of that,” Cowgill said.

The new facility also would help provide indoor storage for Centerville’s track equipment.

“Currently, we’re purchasing pole vault equipment, (high) jump pits, etcetera, really more often than we need to right now just because we don’t have an inside storage facility for those,” he said. “They’re stored underneath the stadium, so this would help that. It’s going to impact (that) by freeing up some space here at the high school” and prolong the life of that equipment.

The upgrades would help improve the overall experience for Centerville school district’s more than 700 student-athletes, he added.

“If you count the multisport athletes, we’re well over 1,000, and then this facility would also help the youth in our community, as well,” Cowgill said.