FAIRMONT–It’s been over six months since the proposed Fairmont Area Community Center (FACC) project has been talked about publicly during a city meeting. However, members of the FACC Foundation want to assure the council and the community that it’s still in pursuit of the project and the necessary funding for it.

An update on the project was given at the Fairmont City Council meeting on Monday night. The update came via a letter from John Kasper, Chair of the FACC Board.

“Due to no fault of the city of the FACC Foundation, however, the efforts and timing have and continue to be impacted by the litigation brought against the city.”

This was in reference to a lawsuit brought against the city of Fairmont by the Fairmont Taxpayers Coalition for Government Transparency in November of 2023 which attempted to prevent the collection of sales tax for use of funding the construction of the community center.

Over $12 million in local option sales tax has been earmarked to go toward the community center project.

In his letter, Kasper said that while the lawsuit was dismissed by the courts, it caused the project to miss out on another New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) cycle. The Foundation was pursuing the NMTC to help fund the majority of the construction and cannot apply again until the fall of 2025.

With this delay, Kasper said it has “significantly increased the overall cost of the project to the citizens and taxpayers of the community.”

On a positive note, in his letter Kasper asked the council to remember that the city originally asked the Foundation — back in 2019 — to raised $6 million in pledges. To date he said that it has raised $8 million.

The last time the Foundation presented to the city council, on Sept. 23, 2024, Kasper said total funds needed for the project were about $27.9 million.

Also in the letter, Kasper noted that the Foundation had been asked to hire and coordinate an operating agreement with the YMCA and that the Y stands patiently ready and willing. He also said, as asked, the Foundation has the designs executed and firms Tegra and RJM are hired and ready to oversee the construction.

On Monday, Fairmont’s Interim City Administrator, Jeff O’Neill called the update “an optimistic review of the current situation.”

He noted that the letter concluded by saying that the final pieces are coming together and that progress continues to be made and that an additional funding option is being explored.

“The next step here is, presuming that everything is still moving forward on the funding… that we would like to sit down with council with our city attorney and review the general terms and concept of the agreements,” O’Neill said.