For the past couple years, the senior center building committee has toiled in meetings, hired consulting firms and attempted whatever else it could to help facilitate the acquisition of a new Beaver Dam Community Center. Although the committee has kept the city abreast of its actions with periodic updates, Wednesday night’s initial meeting of the community center ad-hoc planning committee, appointed by Mayor Tom Kennedy, provided some alderpersons with the first in-depth look at where the project stands. At least one alderperson was taken aback at the sense of momentum the project has achieved. City council president and ad-hoc committee chairperson Jon Litscher, after reviewing the timetable favored by the building committee, described it as the "pressure of now." "How did we get to now?" Litscher asked. "It just seems to be pressuring me…The urgency of your comments is both interesting and maybe troubling to me. "Now that this work has been done, it sounds like... you feel that the city should act. There’s pressure because you’ve done X, Y and Z," Litscher added. "In a positive way, that’s what I’m hearing. We’re down the pathway more than I realized." The building committee has been working with consultants Renschler and Vierbicher to determine the best location for a new community center. Through that process, the building committee decided the old Herberger’s building at Heritage Village Mall was the way to go and Mayor Kennedy felt now was the perfect time for those associated with the building committee to team up with city leaders in the form of an ad-hoc committee. The next few steps, the level of city commitment and a project timetable will be plotted out by the group. "We, of course, have internally been working on this a long time, so to us it doesn’t seem like a new thing," Community Activities & Services Department Administrator Evonne Koeppen said. "We’ve tried pretty hard to make sure everyone is aware of what has been happening and what the committee has been trying to accomplish. Because of the donation that was made to us, we’re inspired to move forward with the hopes there are other people who are willing to express that kind of generosity toward our facility and make something happen that doesn’t look possible for a very long time." A $300,000 endowment from an anonymous benefactor allowed the building committee to move forward outside of city perusal and hire consultants. Renschler and Vierbicher are weeks away from presenting the building committee with its final plan for the Herberger’s site, which will include a 3-dimensional model. With the plan in place, the building committee will be able to move forward with a fundraising feasibility study. If it appears that fundraising can cover a palatable amount of the project, the committee will ask the city to approve a resolution backing its plan to move forward with negotiations to acquire the building from Heritage Village owners Todd and Richard Hedberg. The building committee would at some point need a further city commitment in the form of financial backing in order to apply for a Community Development Block Grant. The financial commitment from the city may be a difficult one to receive, which is why the building committee, and the newly formed Friends of the Beaver Dam Community Center, are extending their best efforts in order to secure whatever private financing may be available. The city has the police department atop its space needs priority list, and is facing a bill of over $5 million if the new construction at the old YMCA property is approved by the city council in 2010. According to the building committee, the Hedbergs are asking $1.2 million for the Herberger’s building. With construction costs included, along with the acquisition of additional land adjacent to the property, the total bill for the proposed community center is estimated at $4.4 million. The ad-hoc committee, which includes alderpersons Litscher, Don Neuert and Laine Meyer, Mayor Tom Kennedy, director of administration John Somers, building committee chairperson Kay Appenfeldt and Koeppen, will meet again on Dec. 9. The committee hopes to speak with the Hedbergs along with representatives from nearby towns and villages in order to see what partnerships, if any, are available. dbaulch@capitalnewspapers.com