ROCHELLE — Does Rochelle need a community center?
That’s the question Christa Seebach asked during the Flagg-Rochelle Community Park District Board meeting Monday night. If the board should pursue a possible community center, she said it should be put on a binding referendum for the voters to decide.
“If the public has to pay for it, we should have a say,” she said.
Seebach, who is a past park board commissioner, cited a recent News-Leader article citing a proposed $11 million community center could cost the owner of a $150,000 home anywhere from $81 to $97 a year in additional taxes for the next 20 years.
It was pointed out by the board that the $11 million was only an arbitrary figure starting point and not a final proposal.

In fact, after the meeting, park board president Tim Hayden was clear in pointing out that nothing has been decided as far as going through with a community center, which has been a topic of discussion for years with the board.
“We are in the infancy stage,” Hayden said.
Later in the meeting, the board did approve a request to seek “designing and building” professionals to assist them in their research to see if a center is feasible in Rochelle.
Seebach, for one, doesn’t think it is.
Saying she talked to 20 people on Sunday alone, she said she was told that some people from Rochelle go to Rockford to walk, which she doesn’t understand when there are so many walking paths in Rochelle. During the winter, she noted the Baptist Church allows people to walk in their gymnasium.
Seebach also said she’s heard that kids in Rochelle don’t have anything to do in town, which she also disputed, pointing out the many sports organizations and park programs that already exist in town.
“I really don’t think a community center in necessary,” she said.
There was no action and no comments from the board on her remarks.
In other business, the board heard an update on the Skare Mitigation Project currently taking place at Skare Park. Despite the recent rains it was noted that the project is moving along very well.
Construction is expected to be completed by late fall.