A conversion project continues to progress for one small town in Greene County.

The Wisecup Memorial Gym in Rippey is currently being renovated into the City’s new fire station. The City received an $80,000 grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation in April of 2018 to be used toward the project. The building was given to the City by the Greene County School District in 2015 for $1, but the district continued to use the facility to host middle school basketball games until 2017.

Mayor Dan Brubaker says one of the first construction projects was replacing the flat roof. The structure was changed to a pitched roof to minimize the continued leaking from the original flat structure. Plans are to keep the restrooms and locker rooms as a storm shelter area for residents. Other work that’s been done to the building includes: installing overhead garage doors with automatic openers and removing the wooden gym floors. The lobby entrance of the gym will be removed to allow the fire trucks access to the building.

Brubaker notes that there’s no clear timetable as to when the project will be completed. He adds that in the long-run, renovating the current gym into a fire station will be the cheaper option rather than building a new structure. He appreciates everyone’s patience as the project continues to progress.