Following up on a letter to the Attala County Board of Supervisors, Glenda Cockroft and other members of the Attala Quilt Guild appeared before the board Monday, protesting the closure of the Attala Volunteer Program Center on Adams Street in Kosciusko.
Cockroft told the board that the building is used regularly by her group, as well as the Attala Retired Teachers, Attala Homemaker Volunteers, and the Lady Landowners.
She said part of the challenge in locating a new space if the building is closed at the end of this year as planned, is that some of the groups have large equipment that can’t be moved in an out of a location between gatherings.
Board members explained to the group that the staff person overseeing the building was under the supervision of the City of Kosciusko and that the county contributed funds toward keeping the building open, maintained and staffed. When the city decided to no longer fund the facility, the county could not afford to do it alone.
“None of us want to close it, but we’re talking $70,000-$80,000 a year. We have to have someone there for you to be there,” said Board Chairman Charles Fancher.
Fancher noted that all the organizations that have used the building in recent years were informed of the imminent closure when the county budget was approved in August — without the funding in place to keep the facility open on its own.
Supervisor Tim Pinkard suggested that the board take the issue under advisement to see if there was anything that could be done to keep the building available to residents who currently use it.
In the meantime, the board told the group that they would not be required to remove their belongings immediately at the end of the month since there is no other use currently planned for the facility.
