City commission hears daycare expansion plans

For Holton City Commissioner Marilyn Watkins, an ongoing concern voiced at previous commission meetings is a lack of available daycare spaces in Holton for parents seeking care for their young children while they’re at work.

At the commission’s Monday, July 15 meeting, Watkins said she “got two victories for child care” after hearing that expansion plans at Holton’s New Life Nazarene Church would include space for a day care center and noting the commission’s approval for a letter of support for grant funds that would aid the Jackson County Early Childhood Development Task Force.

Commissioners met with New Life Nazarene Church representative Marty DeVader on plans to remodel the former Holton Manor assisted living facility, which the church purchased in late 2016 as its new home, with about one-third of the building’s 15,000 square feet to be utilized for day care purposes and another portion of the building to be used as “temporary housing” for people who need it.

DeVader presented commissioners with initial plans for expansion at the church building, which was also known as Merry Manor in previous years, noting that a daycare center would be placed at the south end of the building and may open to the public before all renovations at the building were completed.

“We don’t want to add onto the building in any way,” DeVader told commissioners. “The size of the building is not going to change, although we can change the size of some of the rooms… We just want to be a blessing to this community.”

Part of being that “blessing,” DeVader told commissioners, involves remodeling the north end of the building into temporary housing, adding that while the church did not want to establish a “rescue mission,” having that temporary housing available would benefit people such as a Holton resident who had lost her house in a recent fire.

“We could have given her a place to stay, free of charge,” he said. “You could stay here until you get back on your feet, and if you’re a mother, we’ll have a daycare for your children.”

The remodeling plan also includes setting up a church sanctuary, rebuilding a kitchen and rewiring the entire building’s electrical services, DeVader said, adding that the church is seeking grant funds to help set up the daycare center. He added that the church is working with Topeka architect Bryan Falk on the remodeling plans and the grants.

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