MEEKER | For nearly 50 years the Fairfield Community Center complex has provided a venue for weddings, funerals, events, church services, debates, CNCC classes, lectures, community dinners and more. The building at 200 Main St. was the home of the Meeker Public Library and remains the location for the White River Round-Up senior nutrition program. Currently the building houses the county’s Public Health and Human Services departments, and the apartments provide low-cost housing for qualifying senior citizens.
Local pioneer and benefactor Freeman Fairfield died in 1967, leaving a $2 million trust dedicated to the Meeker community. Interest eaned on the trust was to be applied to educational, scientific, religious, charitable, literary and educational purposes. Over the years many nonprofit organizations and activities have benefited from those funds, which are dispensed through the Fairfield Trust board.
Early on, the Trust entered into an agreement to construct a community center and senior apartments using some of the trust funds. They secured a bond for construction, established the Meeker Colorado Civic Improvement Corporation (MCCIC) board to oversee the complex, and outlined a plan to turn the property over to the Town of Meeker’s ownership upon completion of the bond payments.
A 1989 letter from attorney George Benner to the MCCIC board notes, “There is a problem, however, as the Town of Meeker was not a party to any of the agreements or in the formation of the Corproation. Therefore, while the MCCIC is required by its Articles of Incorporation to transfer title to the property to the Town of Meeker, the Town of Meeker is not obligated to accept the property.”
Once the bond was satisfied in the early 1980s, the Town of Meeker was either unwilling or unable — depending on who you ask — to absorb the financial responsibility of maintaining and managing the Fairfield complex, leaving the MCCIC holding the deed.
In the late 1990s when the fire department wanted to expand and the Town of Meeker began looking for new accommodations, moving Meeker’s town offices into the Fairfield center was briefly considered and rejected.
In 2000, former Meeker Herald editor Glenn Troester, and member of the Fairfield Trust committee, penned a lengthy letter to former county commissioner Joe Collins indicating the Fairfield Trust committee’s intentions, stating:
“The committee majority at the strategy session also clearly favored not getting involved in any more capital improvement projects, mostly because the trust committee felt that it had gotten itself caught in quicksand with the Fairfield Center. Bert White, who was on the original Fairfield Committee that underwrote the Fairfield Complex, personally told me that the committee was forced into underwriting the center, had never intended to be put in that position, and had wanted to bail out if any way could be found to do it.”
In 2001, the MCCIC board transferred the property to the county, with the board remaining active as an oversight committee for the complex.
Over the years, as per the original agreement, the Fairfield Trust has supported the center through grants to cover various projects, with the bulk of funds coming from the county.
Discussion about the Fairfield Center, and specifically the future of the apartments, has been the focus of multiple workshops and executive sessions within the county for several months, as the MCCIC and BoCC work to protect the senior housing component while securing funding for maintenance and repairs. The new MCCIC board, with Mona Avey as chair, met for the first time earlier this month.
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
