Pickett Hopes To Repurpose Byrdstown Methodist Building For New Senior Center

Pickett County has the opportunity to relocate and expand its senior center.

County Executive Stephen Bilbrey said the opportunity came about when Byrdstown Methodist Church was decommissioned in June. He said the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Methodist Association decided to donate the four-acre tract to the county for free.

“Pickett County, we’re out of room in a lot of places the Senior Center was out of room down there they didn’t have a lot of storage,” Bilbrey said. “As far as handicap accessibility, it’s going to make it better for our seniors.”

Bilbrey said the county is working with an engineer now to go through the building in order to make sure it is on par with standards. He said renovations will be needed regardless to redo the kitchen and make it more suitable for the commercial kitchen needs the senior center currently has.

Bilbrey said it will be some time before the county is actually ready to move into the facility and open a new senior center. He said they do not currently have a timeline for the project

“We met with an engineer, probably two weeks ago out at the building for about an hour r or s  and he walked the building and took some pictures,” Bilbrey said. “He is supposed to be back in Pickett County on August 14th and we’ll sit down with him again and see where we’re at. Hopefully, from that point, we’ll have a better idea of the time and cost it will take to do that.”

Bilbrey said the hope is that they could also move other county offices with the new additional space.