No commercial kitchen for Beatty community center

It appears that the Beatty Community Center will not be getting large commercial-grade kitchen. The town advisory board had considered the idea as an option, but decided against it in a workshop held before their Sept. 30 meeting.

Expanding the kitchen to provide the space needed to cook for large groups would have required knocking out at least part of one wall and would have taken all or part of the building’s small meeting room—the one that is usually used as a polling place during elections. It also would have been expensive, somewhere in the six-figure range. One number that was being tossed out was a quarter of a million dollars.

Board member Kelly Carroll, who had initially supported the idea of the expanded kitchen, said “Would it be used? Yes. Would it be used enough to justify the cost? No.”

In the past those hosting events that included feeding large numbers of people have either used the Senior Center Kitchen or have had the events catered. In the case of private events, such as weddings, people have cooked food at home and brought it.

Instead of going for the expansion, the board is looking toward upgrading the equipment in the existing kitchen and eliminating a center island that is seen as an obstruction.

Starla Gallagher urged the board to have the plan for the kitchen approved and to have it inspected and certified, “if nothing else, for peace of mind.”

Gallagher said a certified kitchen would be a “bigger draw” and would relieve possible liability issues.

Debbie Baker said that she had used the Senior Center kitchen when hosting a Nye County Republican convention, but that it was something of a hassle. She said they had to pay for a certified person to supervise everything.

The Senior Center Kitchen, however, is conveniently located next door to the Community Center, and there are businesses in town that do catering, as does the Pro Start program at the high school.

At its next meeting the board will discuss the idea of contacting the University of Nevada Extension Service to see if there might be some student architects who could draw up possible plans for the kitchen renovation.

A highlight of the board’s regular meeting following the workshop was the announcement by Radomski that the town had finally received the acceptance paperwork for the grant for the Robert A. and Florence Revert Park, usually referred to as the Town Square Park.

The federal grant, administered through the Nevada Division of State Parks, covers half of the $122,570 cost of the project, with the rest being supplied by the town. The next step is for the Board of County Commissioners to officially accept the grant.

The board voted to pay $390 in tuition and testing fees for Beatty volunteer EMT Michael Wehmeyer to attend an EMT-Intermediate to Advanced EMT transition class in Las Vegas in November.

Wehmeyer explained that national standards for EMT’s have been raised, and that intermediates who do not complete the additional training by the time their current licenses expire will be bumped down to the basic level. He said that once he completes the training and is certified he will be able to teach the class for the other EMT’s.

The board expressed some reluctance to pay for the training, thinking that the county might do it, but Nurse Practitioner Diane McGinnis pointed out that it might be too late if and when they did. She said it was so important she’d pay for Wehmeyer’s training herself if she had the money in her pocket.

“I’m in total support,” said McGinnis. “It’s a higher level than we have in Beatty. It is important.”

The only other matter on the agenda wound up being tabled. It involved approval of a bid not to exceed $3,000 for solar lighting for the town mural. The board had previously chosen the lighting they wanted, but the county required them to go to bid and take the lowest bid.

Randy Reed, who initiated the project, showed what the lights from the new company would look like. He said they were flimsy and would be easily damaged or stolen.

“Let’s just kill this and do more research,” said Reed, and the board agreed.