Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Cairo town officials are moving forward with a plan to convert a former martial arts facility into a community center. In November, the town purchased the former Dojo Martial Arts and Fitness Academy on Route 32 with plans to convert it into a senior center, and as a location for the town’s ambulance service. During the Cairo Town Board’s February 7 meeting, it unanimously approved a pair of resolutions to hire the Albany-based Barton and Loguidice engineering consulting firm to apply for grants to fund the senior center and to prepare a project site plan. The board authorized $5,500 to the firm for grant writing, $4,600 for interior layout design, $1,200 for asbestos abatement and $1,900 for lab analysis. “We need to knock down some walls, redo the electric and put in a kitchen,” Town Supervisor Jason Watts said. “It would be a community center where they could do Meals on Wheels and the seniors can come in and we’ll put a TV up and have some games there that they can do. We’ve talked about putting some gardens outside for people to work with.” According to Watts, Barton and Loguidice said if they could secure a grant, it could be for more than $1 million. "...That would put us right where we need to be to start really moving forward. A kitchen is going to be $70,000 to $80,000. Just by ourselves, we might be able to afford to do the community part with the help of the county. The ambulance part might have to wait because we definitely don’t have the money for that. But we do have to do something,” Watts said. There is no timeline for when the center could be completed, board member Tim Powers said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.