News of potential changes to the Harry S. Truman Regional Visitor Center at Truman Dam has caused many community members to express their concerns about the future of this beloved landmark. However, elected officials and the Truman Lake Operations Project Manager have stated categorically that the Visitor Center will remain open, albeit with some modifications which are yet to be determined.
Numerous personnel supporting various elements of Truman Lake and Truman Dam are currently scattered among multiple buildings throughout the complex, and consolidating them into one centralized location would simplify communications and decrease expenses significantly. One possible solution is to create office space for them within the Visitor Center building. Some members of the community fear that these offices would cause the Visitor Center to become closed to the public, or that it may remain open but block public access to the popular upper deck with its stunning panoramic view of Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks.
However, Jim Sandberg, Truman Lake Operations Project Manager with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), took the time to reassure those of us who love and enjoy the Visitor Center that it’s not going anywhere. “The first thing I want to say,” he asserted in a recent phone interview, “is there are no plans to close the Visitor Center at this time.” Sandberg is committed to finding a “win-win solution” that best serves the public and the USACE–within the scope of unavoidable budget restrictions.
“It’s like everything else,” Sandberg explained. “Costs are increasing and expenses have gone up,” creating the need to examine the funds available in the budget, and make choices on where exactly those funds are best allocated–a relatable task to many of us. Sandberg explained that the Visitor Center–and its neighboring buildings associated with Truman Dam–have expenses many of us would find familiar: utilities, heating/cooling, trash removal, janitorial and groundskeeping responsibilities. Due to those expenses and limitations in funding and personnel, the Visitor Center is currently only able to open Friday-Sunday and holidays–typically the Center’s busiest days in terms of visitation. The Center relies heavily on help from volunteers who donate their time to staff the Visitor Center in order to keep it open on even those days.
Meanwhile, the USACE personnel continue their duties from the abovementioned offices scattered nearby, in various roles for various departments. According to the USACE page for Truman Lake, “the staff at Harry S. Truman Dam and Reservoir work together to manage the project in accordance with the authorized purposes: primarily flood control; and secondarily hydroelectric power generation, fish and wildlife management, and recreation.” The Visitor Center, as it currently functions, has historically relied on funding from the “recreation” budget. Combining departments under one roof in the Visitor Center in particular could allow those respective departments’ budgets to contribute to maintenance and upkeep of the Visitor Center building itself.
In other words, it’s as if the various USACE departments at the lake complex are a group of friends each paying rent on separate apartments, with separate rent, gas, electric, and water bills. Now, they’d like to move in together as roommates to split those bills. By Sandberg’s estimates, consolidating personnel from these separate buildings into one location could cut utility expenses by approximately half. And the funds currently being spent from each department to maintain a separate building could be contributed to the Visitor Center.
Sharing expenses makes sense economically for the team, but where are these offices going to go? Warsaw resident Lisa Treece specifically expressed her concern to us about losing the overlook from the upper floor of the Visitor Center, calling it “amazing, and the primary reason many people come to the Visitor Center.” Many online commenters have shared similar fears of losing the overlook to future office space.
Sandberg agrees the view from the overlook is beautiful: “You might think it’s just what you see on the bluff outside, but it is different inside the building. It takes you up and over the lake. I understand why our visitors enjoy it, and I definitely want to preserve that experience for them.” Sandberg emphasized that no decision has been made at this time as to what changes exactly will take place at the complex: paperwork has been submitted, funding has been requested, conversations will be had, decisions will be made–but it all takes time. While a new solution for team offices is needed, that still might be an entirely new building outside of the Visitor Center. It might be an addition built onto the existing building. Sandberg stated that he thought using the Visitor Center would be the most economical option, but if that happens, the utmost care would be taken to allow the greatest use and benefit to visitors while still fulfilling the functions of the Truman Dam project to a high professional standard.
Our elected officials seem to share the same commitment to preserving the public’s enjoyment of the Visitor Center: Congressman Mark Alford posted on social media that he is “following the situation at Truman Lake” and published an update that echoes Sandberg’s statement to us, in bold and underlined type: “there is NO plan to close the Visitor Center. Instead, [staff from the Army Corps] explained that they will soon be posting a solution to the funding problem to ensure the Visitor Center remains open.” The update also stated that Alford “has visited this center several times and plans to continue to be actively involved in this process…Congressman Alford looks forward to working with residents of Benton County and the Corps to ensure the Visitor Center remains open.” Sandberg also stated in our interview that Alford’s predecessor Vicky Hartzler and Missouri Senators Schmitt and Hawley have shown support for the Truman Dam project and in finding solutions to keep the Visitor Center open to the public.
There is one caveat regarding the Visitor Center closing: a storm earlier this month blew one window out of its frame entirely and damaged three others. The Visitor Center was able to reopen for the time being by boarding over the missing window and is currently waiting for the arrival of a replacement. When that happens, the Visitor Center will close temporarily to install the new window but will reopen as soon as safely possible, with our beautiful panoramic view replaced in full.
I asked Sandberg what, if anything, community members could do to help sustain the Visitor Center. “Volunteer,” he answered readily. “We can always use more volunteers to help us keep the doors open, and if we had enough people, we could be open more days than we are now.” If you are able to donate your time to help keep our beautiful and beloved Visitor Center open, please reach out to 660-438-2216 or 816-389-3810. And to the current volunteers who are already working to keep the doors open, from all of us at Radford Media Group and the greater community who enjoy and appreciate the Harry S. Truman Regional Visitor Center at Truman Dam: thank you, sincerely, for all that you do.
Written by Adrianne Nichols, staff writer
Photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District
