After the Duck Hill Lions Club disbanded recently, the Town of Duck Hill will take over operations at the Duck Hill Community House.
The Community House, located just north side of the Duck Hill Post Office, was donated to the town following a train crash on October 19, 1862, that killed 34 Confederate troops, according to late Duck Hill historian Norman Ezell. The dead were laid to rest in a “grove of oak trees on the west side of what is now State Highway 404.”
Board attorney Adam Kirk said he found a deed showing that the old cotton gin belonged to the town, but couldn’t find anywhere where the town owned the community house. Kirk said he could file a petition with the Chancery Clerk’s office to have it put on record in the land book that the community house belongs to the Town of Duck Hill.
Mayor Joey Cooley said the town would have to add the community house on to the town’s insurance policy.
“What do we do when people ask us can they rent it? I know there’s something planned,” Alderwoman Linda Bennett said.
Aldermen discussed rental fees for the house as well. Alderwoman Shernell Everett said in the past the fee included a $100 deposit, and the only thing asked of those using the house, is to clean up the facility after the event. She said someone from the Lion’s Club would inspect the house after it was used.
Kirk suggested the town put a deposit on the building, and if were if cleaned properly and left in the same condition found, the deposit would be returned.
Cooley said the town already uses forms to rent out the old Duck Hill High School Gym, and the same could be used for the community house.
