LIBERTY — A youth recreational center used for community events and activities may soon need repairs.

Toward the end of last week’s Liberty Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Brian Knight reported that school officials had to shut down the Liberty Youth Recreation and Impact Center (LYRIC) for a few days because one of the volleyball posts had fallen down.

“We wanted to ensure it was safe after we discovered there were some wooden beams that were broken,” Knight said.

Knight said DeSalvo Construction moved quickly to ensure that the building was structurally sound, providing board members with a report and pictures with written observations on the back of them.

“The good news is, the building itself is in good condition. The gymnasium floor sits on cement beams, which are very structurally sound,” Knight said. “There was no extreme damage or anything — just basic wear and tear. No evidence of slabs cracking, anything of that nature.”

Knight said nothing warranted a massive repair from the inside’s standpoint, but DeSalvo provided recommendations, such as making sure the entire slab was reinforced if the floor was to be replaced.

Knight said the LYRIC’s gym floor needed an upgrade, asking school officials to find out as much as they could about the flooring and the structure to get the closest estimate possible, adding that they’ve evaluated different options for materials.

“We’re looking at everything from new hardwood all the way to a synthetic gym floor that’s being used based on some successes other districts have seen using that,” Knight said. “We did go put in a request for the roof; the roof is, when I say shot, it’s shot. Regular leaks, we’re going to have more damage, which is going to impact the structure.”

Knight said officials will need to decide what the district’s next steps will be as they start to gather information and develop a cost analysis.

“Bill (Dawson) did look at the possibility of building a steel building; it’s like $700,000, so we kind of set that to the sideburner since the building itself is structurally sound,” Knight said. “If we’re going to continue using it as a community resource, we should consider the cost of a new roof — flat roof, metal roof — whatever we decide to do with it.”

Knight said they also need to look at the gym floor.

Board member David Malone said storage was what the gym was originally used for when the old high school was torn down, accumulating a ton of junk until it eventually got cleaned out.

Adam Earnheardt expressed the belief that doing away with the space would wreak havoc.

“How do you think we explore — since it is used outside of the school as just a community resource, that there may be some funding or grants?” Malone said. “All of us didn’t realize how lucky we were with the old high school, that it had three gyms in it.”

“Even though two out of the three weren’t the prettiest gyms, they were still, though, two additional indoor spaces that you could do things that, you know, we don’t have now.”

Knight said they plan on gathering as much info as possible, with the intent to collaborate with the board and make some decisions on the best approach once they feel comfortable.