By KALEY LYON

klyon@dailynews.net

As county and city of Hays officials gathered for a dinner meeting Tuesday, the issue of how to use the city-owned former Army Reserve building was brought to the table.

Ellis County Commissioners asked the city commission if the space could be used to house a new senior center, should the need arise.

"Again, I think one of our concerns is, depending on the move to Hadley, the senior citizen center would be torn down," Ellis County Chairman Dennis Pfannenstiel said. "If that would be a possibility to use that for the senior center."

Commissioner Perry Henman said that, even if county administrative offices do not move to the Hadley Center, the senior center likely will need a new home.

"I think it's something that we have to address if we did the Hadley (project) or not," Henman said. "The impression I get is ... if we don't do Hadley, they're going to do something else with it, and they're going to tear down that building."

While the city commission has discussed possible uses of the building, no decision has been made.

"I don't think we have come up with any decisions currently, based on what we would want to do with the Army Reserve Center," Mayor Barbara Wasinger said.

"It's really premature to say, 'Sure, no problem.' But I think we can certainly talk about that."

Wasinger also suggested that, should the city and county work together in the space, an additional joint meeting room could be added to free up space at the courthouse and city hall.

The city is scheduled to talk about the issue next month and already has explored different ideas for the property, such as a relocation of city hall -- which the commission decided not to pursue.

"We are kicking around some ideas," City Commissioner Ron Mellick said.

Because of these plans, the city is aware it could cost a significant amount of money to remodel. The building is located in a flood plain, so construction of a berm around the property could be needed for protection, City Manager Toby Dougherty said.

"If you're a little sparse on what you do to fix it up, and don't do a lot of structural changing, then you could get by for a couple hundred thousand maybe," he said.

Another serious issue is the fact the building is not ADA compliant, and restrooms would need to be remodeled. Furthermore, the building's large drill hall is not heated, Dougherty said. The county and city governments share the cost of rent for the current facility, which is located in the James Building on Hadley Center property.

The issue surfaced as the county commission began pursuing a move of administrative offices to the Hadley Center's north wing, which would mean the building would be torn down for additional parking space.

The two groups agreed the county commissioners would tour the facility in the future.