K.I. SAWYER — Time is running out for the K.I. Sawyer Community Center to stay open.

The facility is located at 302 Explorer St. in K.I. Sawyer, which has fallen on hard times since the former U.S. Air Force base closed in 1995.

The Sawyer Community Center — which has a library and a recreation room among other amenities and has been the site of many youth-related programs — also is facing hard times.

In March, the Forsyth Township Board approved closing the center at the end of September since the township, according to its supervisor, Joe Boogren, could no longer handle 100 percent of the financial burden.

Boogren said at the March meeting that if an alternative method of funding is found, the center could stay open.

Also at that meeting, it was noted that West Branch Township, which the community center serves as well, had been contacted to partner with Forsyth Township to fund the center, but it declined.

It’s now July, and the center’s future remains unclear.

The Sawyer Community Alliance, a group composed of community members interested in Sawyer, met Monday at the K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum. Among the topics it discussed at length was the center’s future.

Alliance Chairman Bob Struck acknowledged the Forsyth Township Board’s financial considerations.

“They’ve got to look at the overall budget,” Struck said. “They have their own ideas. They know what’s coming before them in terms of other potential debts, and if they can’t afford it, they just can’t afford it.”

However, Struck said the board needs to allow people to get money elsewhere.

Alliance member Dale Throenle expressed frustration over what he called a “contentious issue.”

“The board is finally coming to the realization that there’s money being spent at our center, but they’ve never asked for the programs to be organized,” Throenle said. “They’ve never asked, ‘Well, what are you doing out there?’ It’s always been, ‘We don’t want to know.'”

He also questioned what will happen in September if the center closes.

“What do we do after that?” Throenle asked. “Where does it go from there? Now they have an empty building that they have to pickle. Now they have an empty building that they got to keep from freezing in the wintertime. Now they have an empty building that they can’t sell. Where’s the logic here?”

In a telephone interview, Boogren said he planned to meet with Sawyer Operations Authority Chairman Bill Nordeen and the Salvation Army soon.

“They have expressed some interest in trying to help,” Boogren said of the Salvation Army.

Although Boogren declined to mention a specific monetary figure, he said the Forsyth Township Board is willing to put forth an effort to save the center.

“If a solution were found, the board would consider being a partner in keeping the doors open,” he said.

The SOA met June 14, with discussions about the Sawyer Community Center a major talking point.

Discussed at that meeting was the possibility of the YMCA of Marquette County conducting programs at the center. Other financial possibilities discussed included seeking 2 percent gaming revenue funds from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and soliciting grants from area businesses.

Throenle indicated at Monday’s SCA meeting that specifics about what’s needed to keep the center operating should be put on the record so the SCA can move forward.

Figures from Forsyth Township show it cost about $117,000 to run the center in 2015-16, and almost $113,000 in 2016-17.

David Rushford, a member of both the SOA and SCA, said the center’s future is the authority’s biggest focus now.

“I don’t disagree with anybody here saying time is running short,” Rushford said. “The SOA is not stupid. They also know time is running short.”

The level of participation from the YMCA or Salvation Army, should either organization become involved, is yet to be determined, he said.

“The SOA is clear that the best thing for the Sawyer community would be to have that building run in a way that it benefits all ages and it remains in some sort as a community center, or community-based facility,” Rushford said.

The SOA’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Sawyer Community Center.

There was at least one bit of positive news at the SCA meeting.

In the event the center does close, the Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center is working with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on a memorandum of understanding to move a MDHHS employee who deals with insurance eligibility at the community center to an UGLFHC facility across the road, said Elise Bur, UPGLFHC administrative director.

Rushford said he and members of the SOA with whom he’s spoken understand the level of importance the Sawyer Community Center carries — and the time frame.

“The clock is ticking,” he said.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.