The members who serve on the committee to seek non-profit uses for the Shady Rest Home facility in Plymouth met for their organizational meeting Thursday morning.
The Shady Rest Home was in the care of The Bowen Center, but a few new state standards caused the administration to shut down operations. The Bowen Center staff gave care to adults suffering with mental incapacities. Due to that decision, the Shady Rest Home is now back in the hands of the Marshall County Commissioners. The property was turned over to the county on Aug. 1.
Commissioner Kurt Garner said the group met at the facility to discuss possible uses and tour the building.
“Different ideas came up – a veteran’s home, a transitional kind of home, senior housing, and different types of housing. On the commercial side of things, we discussed the possibility of a conference center space or museum space. Really at this point the options are wide open,” explained Garner.
The first step is advertisement of the property and what the space has to offer. To get the ball rolling, Garner said the committee will consider soft proposals and go from there. The initial paperwork will be coming in the next few weeks.
Until this process gathers ground, the county will take steps to maintain the building until an occupant is chosen.
“Our buildings and grounds crews are the ones that are responsible for just maintaining security, lawn mowing and general kind of upkeep. The commissioners are planning to essentially winterize the building because we don’t anticipate new use before winter. We’ll go through and we’ll try to eliminate as many expenses as possible.”
He added that the Shady Rest Home building has been a facility to help serve the needs of Marshall County residents for over 100 years and the committee is looking forward to seeing it continue to thrive for residents who are in need of services.
“The building has had about a million dollars worth of improvements made to it in the last decade or two so we’re in much better shape in terms of Marshall County than in other counties that have their county homes that are in need of serious repairs. We feel pretty good about the condition of the building. I think that was something that came out as the committee walked through the building. A number of them were actually impressed with how good of shape it is actually in.”
The nine members of the Shady Rest Home committee include County Council President Judy Stone, Commissioner Kurt Garner, Plymouth City Council member Bill Walters, Veteran’s Service Officer Pam Betz, Ward Byers from Marshall County Community Corrections, Clerk Deb Vandemark, Dustin Schafer from the Neighborhood Center, and community members Dennis Beville and Scott Olds.
