31 Dec 2021 Morrilton ready to let the good times roll

Posted at 3:27 PMh in Business by

By Dwain Hebda

When Morrilton Mayor Allen Lipsmeyer says he’s committed to providing safe places for youth in town to recreate, he’s not kidding. The mayor, who’s in his seventh year in office, just adopted his five grandchildren, ages 5 to 13, and so when an idea hits the table for providing positive, healthy things for youth to do, he’s all ears. 

He’s also shown remarkable commitment to ideas that he sees as beneficial for the next generation, especially the ones that meet the needs of the citizenry at a reasonable cost to taxpayers. Case in point is his most current crusade, the revival of a long-dormant roller skating rink and bowling alley complex under city ownership, a project he’s been beating the drum for over the past seven years and which is finally coming to fruition.

“We’re providing a place for kids to hang out,” the mayor said. “When I was a kid, that’s where we went every weekend was the bowling alley and skating rink. Now, there’s going to be new generations of kids who will be able to say that.”

Lipsmeyer was approached by the owner of the Playland facility shortly after taking office with the suggestion that the city buy and operate the longtime facility. The original pitch had some issues – the asking price was too steep and the City Council was queasy about the city operating a private business. As time went on, however, the price started to come down and Lipsmeyer became more convinced that the idea was a winner. 

“The lady who owned it, she’s 88 now and she and I developed a dialogue where she told me she wanted to see it be something for children, and that’s what I wanted,” he said. “I kept putting it in front of my council and my parks and rec commission. They were a little apprehensive, so I said OK, let’s take it to the public.”

“I put the idea on my daily Facebook post and within 30 minutes I had like 300 to 400 hits. Overall, I got 3,000 hits and it was an emphatic ‘Let’s do it. Let’s get it done. Yes, we want that.’ It’s kind of hard to say no to the public when they’re after something that emphatically.”

Lipsmeyer said the 22,000-square-foot building, which was purchased for $11 per square foot, was in pretty good shape considering it hadn’t operated as a rink or a bowling alley for more than a decade. 

“The owner had let a church go in there, so the skating rink side is fairly updated. It’s not in bad shape. The whole building’s not really in that bad of shape,” he said. “We’re going to go into the skating rink side and build some party rooms for people to have birthday parties. 

“On the bowling alley side the lanes look good, so all we’ll be replacing is the equipment, all new seating for the bowling area, automatic scoring. We have to enclose the kitchen a little bit, although it has good equipment in it, so that’s in good shape.”

Once the project was approved, citizens also reached out to Lipsmeyer requesting some pickle ball and tennis courts be built on the property, requests that are now part of the overall renovation package. Residents also showed they were willing to invest some sweat equity into the project. 

“We’ve got a lot of citizens that say they want to come help,” he said. “So, we’re going to have some work days. People want to be involved in this.”

The new center, as-yet unnamed, is expected to be open by Summer 2022, creating 10 to 15 jobs in the process. It’s the latest in a string of community improvements Lipsmeyer and city leaders have been able to pull off.

“This will get us up to about $18 million we’ve invested into Morrilton, the city has, and that is without raising taxes,” he said. “We are bargain shoppers.”

The improvements have been paid for through a variety of funds, including refinancing the city’s bond issue and from the city’s share of federal American Rescue Plan funds, issued in the wake of COVID-19 in 2020. 

“We do have a sales tax but not any extra to pay for all this,” Lipsmeyer said. “A lot of towns, they raise the sales tax to build these huge aquatic centers and all that. We have an indoor pool, we have an outdoor pool, we have a splash pad, we have ball fields, we have the community center which has the indoor pool, basketball court and a workout facility. And then, this bowling alley/skating rink project that we have probably around $2.5 million in.”

“I feel like my job as mayor is to constantly provide projects that make the quality of life better in this town and that’s what I try to do. This project, number one, is cleaning up an eyesore. Number two, we’re creating jobs, we’re creating sales tax dollars and we’re creating a place for our kids. In turn, I think it’s going to make money for our parks and rec department. Right now, we subsidize our parks and rec department with a little bit of money and this could make them self-sufficient. How can you be against all of that?”

Dwain Hebda
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