The Jimmy Furlow Senior Citizen Center is now a step closer tobeing official after a granite sign on the north side of theparking lot was installed Thursday afternoon.

Brookhaven City Public Works Director Steve Moreton said name ofthe center was initially planned to go on the building somewhere.However, when the offer was made to donate the granite standingsign, those plans changed.

“(Brookhaven Monument owner) Dave (Pace) said he’d do that forJimmy, so we’re not going to put anything on the building,” Moretonsaid.

Meanwhile, officials said the projection to have the centerfinished by the end of the year no longer looks realistic becauseof continuing weather holdups.

“God only knows when this weather’s going to break so thelandscapers can get done. It’s killing us,” said BrookhavenRecreation Department Director Terry Reid. “Every time they get afew days to work, then it rains two days and they have to wait afew more days for everything to dry so they can start upagain.”

The center, which will be a place for seniors to gather tosocialize and take part in activities, now looks as though it couldbe early 2010 before it’s operational.

“We wanted to have a grand opening right before Christmas, evenif we couldn’t start the functions up just yet,” Reid said. “Butthat doesn’t look like a possibility now.”

Reid said there was a walk-through scheduled for December 15.But between landscaping holdups and a small problem with floorcovering inside, that probably isn’t feasible either.

“If we could get in there for the walk-through on the 15th, we’dbe open by the first of the year, but with the holidays and all,and all the furnishing is in a warehouse in Jackson,” he said.”It’s just not feasible.”

Moreton said the parking lot is finished, but there are stillirrigation issues to be tended to in addition to the landscaping,as well as needing to put in phone lines.

Yet officials said the completion and grand opening shouldhopefully follow close on the heels of the new year.

“I think that’s very realistic,” Moreton said.