By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — A community resource with a doubtful future just a few years ago will follow up its recent grand re-opening with expanded hours and additional programs.
City officials announced last week an updated schedule and list of offerings from the Taylor Recreation Center, 23555 Goddard Road, a facility that had been reduced to limited hours and temporary closures during recent years of strained city budgets.
Last month Mayor Rick Sollars cut the ribbon to re-open the center as a full-time service, and the membership drive that followed attracted enough resident support to expand hours and services.
Beginning Dec. 1, the center will be open from 6 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday — extended beyond the previous 10 a.m. closing — and again from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday hours will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., a membership-requested adjustment from the previous 9 p.m. closing.
Sollars said center hours and schedules will continue to be evaluated as membership stabilizes, to include possible Sunday hours beginning in 2015.
Heading into winter, the Recreation Center will offer a variety of regular programs and special events. Current courses available to residents include zumba and step aerobics, Yellow Tigers karate, cardio cross-training and kickboxing, Team Overlooked basketball, animation classes and Motor-Vation fitness for special needs students.
Also at the center are personal massages, racquetball, wallyball, golf and a basketball court available for rental.
Special events include a Mom-2-Mom sale, blood drive, free women’s self-defense courses and raffles — with a current contest offering a football autographed by Joique Bell of the Detroit Lions.
City recreation officials are interested in resident feedback, and ask for inquiries at 734 374-8900.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])