The Williams City Council on March 15 authorized the city administrator to close the sale of the long-vacant bowling alley for use as a community food distribution warehouse.
The city will purchase the building, located at 470 7th St., from Alex Hussein for $400,000, using Community Development Block Grant program income funds.
City Administrator Frank Kennedy proposed multiple projects, including a park or purchase of facilities for city offices, to California Housing and Community Development.
“The food distribution center was the only project that qualified,” Kennedy said.
Williams currently has more than $1 million in its CDBG Program Income fund, which was supposed to be used for a community project or returned to the state by December 2022.
Kennedy said the city received an extension to acquire and rehabilitate the vacant building, which will also provide space to First 5 Colusa County.
The money is restricted for projects that only aid low-income residents. The city is also restricted from using the building for its own purposes for a minimum of five years.
“But it will certainly benefit the citizens,” Kennedy said.
In addition to having a rehabilitated building downtown, the Colusa County Ministerial Association will have space to warehouse food for their food distribution services provided by the local churches.
Only First 5 will be able to distribute food directly from the center for their own give-away program, Kennedy said.
The City Council, at their last regular meeting, unanimously approved the application to the state for a total of $1.5 million for the purchase and rehabilitation of the building.
“We will never actually spend that amount, but we were advised by HCD to overshoot,” said Associate Planner Katheryn Ramsaur. “You never want to undershoot because you can’t come back and ask for more.”
Once the purchase is finalized, the city will go out to bid to do the construction work, which will include a new roof and structural repair.
The property was appraised at $450,000, which allowed the city to use CDBG funds to meet the asking price.
The city hopes to have the project completed and its new tenants using the facility by Jan. 1, 2024.■