By Brady Extin | The Times-Post
MARKLEVILLE — MARKLEVILLE — Construction of a new community building at Markleville Community Park is underway.
A grant written and requested by park board president Wayne Fox for $150,000 to help construct the building was recommended for funding by Madison County Council of Governments and was later approved by Madison County Council earlier this month.
Funding for the grant comes from a tax on the sale of prepared food and beverages sold in Madison County.
The building is a project that was identified in the Maximize Markleville Comprehensive Plan, adopted in November 2023 and aimed toward improving Markleville parks.
The building — which will measure 40 feet by 60 feet and have bathrooms and a kitchen — will be used for community and town events, but it will also be rentable for private events.
“We realized that there wasn’t a facility anymore that people could rent that could hold a large number of people,” park board member Jan Fox said.
The Hardy building in downtown Markleville, once the site of community and town events, was sold by the Foxes a few years ago. Since then, town leaders have been searching for a new building in which to host those events and a space for people in the town to be able to rent.
“We realized that was a big loss as far as people being able to rent somewhere that could hold a lot of people because the town hall is too small,” Fox said.
Park board committee member Dianna Smith said this is something the town has wanted to add for a while.
“It’s something we’ve been working on,” Smith said. “It’ll be used for town events and other gatherings and stuff. If people need it for a birthday party it could be used for that, too.”
Construction on the community building is already underway. The cement floor has been poured, the brick walls have been placed, and rafters for the building’s ceiling were ordered on Tuesday. There is not yet an estimated date for the building’s completion.
“It’s a process,” Fox said. “We’ve got construction lined up, but there is no definite timeline.”
