The snow and ice-covered roads didn’t stop the Dayton City Council and other citizens from packing the Council Room at the Dayton City Commission meeting last night. Our Publisher, Bailey Hufstetler, was in the audience last night and brings you the latest happenings in Dayton City Government.
To start off the workshop, Dustin Henderson, President of the Rhea County Boys and Girls Club, stood up and spoke a little bit about their organization. He then introduced Britt Debusk, Director of Operations of the Boys and Girls Club of the Ocoee Region, which will be the “parent” organization for the local Rhea County Chapter.
Debusk gave a lot of information about the Boys and Girls Club itself, statistics on the impact that the organization has on its community, and shared how the local chapter will be organized. According to Debusk, studies show that 3 out of 5 children who attend a Boys and Girls Club improve their behavior. He also shared that 1 out of 2 children who attend a Boys and Girls Club improve their math and language arts skills and 2 out of 3 children who attend help improve homework completion. They do this by having programs that focus on Academic Success, Healthy lifestyles, and character development. They also have programs that help children with workforce development through their Department of Labor grant that helps get teens in the workforce and get paid for the work that they complete.
Debusk went on to state that all clubs are certified through the state’s Department of Education. The Boys and Girls Club of the Ocoee Region oversees 5 County programs, including the newly added Rhea County.
Cindy Horton, RC3 Executive Director was also in attendance at the meeting last night and approached the City Council with a request that could potentially help both programs. With the new vocational school being built over at Deleware Ave in the next few years, Mrs. Horton poised the idea of allowing RC3 and the Boys and Girls Club to partner together and all share the current RC3 space and the old Chattanooga State Building once the school moves over to the new location. The new location isn’t set to be complete for another few years, however, plans for the building once the move haven’t been announced yet. Chattanooga State currently leases that building from the City, therefore, the City will have direct control of what happens to that building once they move over to the new location. Horton, Debusk, and other Boys and Girls Club board members, all think that moving over to that location will benefit both organizations and allow their programs to build off of each other.
“We would like to see that whole area be a resource for children, families, and seniors,” Horton spoke to the council.
No decisions about the future of the old Chatt State building were made at last night’s meeting. Dayton Mayor, Hurley Marsh, tasked Horton and Debusk to meet with City Manager David Shinn, work up a proposal, and then bring options back to the City Council in the next few months.
Another local organization that brought forth an idea was the Clyde W Roddy Public Library. Brittany West, Director of the library, wants to potentially start a new outreach program for the library. She came to the city with some information about wanting to start “Library on the Go.” This program would be an outreach program where the library could potentially deliver books to shut-ins, senior living homes, and schools. The library already has a program where they do something similar, however, they have to do it in their personal vehicles where space is limited for deliveries and it isn’t branded to the library. The “Library on the Go,” would be a van-type vehicle that would be branded for the Clyde W Roddy Public Library, and would open it up for the library to be able to do more outreach in the community. Nothing has been officially announced yet, however, plans are to look more into the purchase of a van and starting this program in the new fiscal year that starts in July of 2024.
Some exciting things are happening in and around Rhea County. You can count on The Rhea County Observer to bring you more updates as these projects unfold.
This article was written by Publisher Bailey Hufstetler. You can reach him at bailey@rheacountyobserver.com for comment.
