La Grange Council Challenged to Meet at VFW Hall to See Poor Conditions First Hand

VFW Post #5254 Commander Richard Gray addressed the La Grange City Council once again on Monday about the poor condition of the City-owned VFW Hall.

Gray says the building needs foundation repairs, and part of the roof is so flat that water seeps inside in spots. Moreover, much of the electrical system is ungrounded. Gray has spoken to the City Council twice before in recent months about the poor condition of the building and the City’s responsibility to maintain it.

At Monday’s meeting, Gray revised his approach.

“It’s been useless for me at this point, there’s been no effort to contact me for three months now, so I’d like to make a suggestion and extend an invitation for y’all to have your meetings over at our building,” he said. “We’ve got flags. We’ve got seating. You can kill two birds with one stone. You can have your meeting and find out how it is for us to have our meetings over there.”

Gray said the five veterans organizations that meet at the VFW Hall “discuss some equally important things over there, maybe not the dollar amount value, but they are very important things for the community.”

He noted that the regular city council meetings do not conflict with any of the veterans organization meetings.

“Just so you know, we’ve got a second A/C that’s starting to fail,” Gray said.

City Manager Jack Thompson said the City’s general services committee will soon meet to explore options for addressing the issues at the VFW Hall.

“September is kind of a crazy month for us because we’re wrapping up our budget,” Thompson said. “As we get into October, things get a little more normal for us. So we’ll start the process of reviewing the VFW and look at some options.”

Gray urged City officials to visit the VFW Hall and examine the building.

“You don’t know what we’re dealing with,” he said. “It’s hard for me to give you that experience from over here.”

Thompson said the City is aware of the problems and already replaced a refrigerator.

“You and I have met,” Thompson said. “We make time.”

Thompson said the committee will soon meet and present some options.

“Just a note on that, the only reason we met is my efforts,” Gray said.

“Yeah, you came by,” Thompson said.

“I came by well over 10 times,” Gray said.

“Well, if you had, they hadn’t told me that,” Thompson said. “I only know of the one time you came by and we met.”

The discussion ended and Gray thanked the Council for listening to his remarks.