Day care to honor former mayor

A dedication ceremony for the Bob Reily Early Learning Center will be held on Sunday, January 31 at 1:30 p.m.

The dedication will include a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Chamber of Commerce to rename the Colorado City Day Care in honor of Bob Reily.

The Day Care facility was built in 1997 through grants to provide childcare for employees moving to Colorado City to work at the new prison.

“One of the purposes of the center was that everybody wants a nice place for their kids,” said Reily, who was on the city council at the time the building was constructed.  “It has a lot of economic value for the community.”

“We had just opened the prison and people moving in to work at the prison were commuting from Snyder and Big Spring because they had to leave their kids at day care there,” he said.

There was a previous day care facility on 10th Street originally under the jurisdiction of the Community Action Program in Abilene.  PPI in Sweetwater took over the program, according to Reily, and obtained grants through the efforts of Gladys Gertz to remodel the old building.

“She realized it was throwing money after bad to remodel an old building and approached the city council to apply the funds toward a new building,” Reily said.

Inmates from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice units in Colorado City provided the labor to construct the entire building, according to Reily. “They did everything except the electrical and plumbing,” he said.  “It came out to around $10 a square foot in cost.”

The Colorado Independent School District runs the day care program now, providing daycare for teachers and school employees, as well as local residents.

A petition by citizens last summer was brought to the city council requesting the building be renamed in Reily’s honor.

Reily served for 17 years on the city council and on the hospital board for 19 years.  He is a retired football and track coach from CISD and worked in insurance.  He has served the city of Colorado City as a past mayor and is currently president of the Library Board and Keep Colorado City Beautiful.  He serves as the chairman on the Housing Authority and is a member of the Colorado City Lions Club.

His honors include being a past recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award and the Elmer Martin award.

Mayor Carol Sue Dakan will speak at the ceremony, which is hosted by the City of Colorado City. There will be a reception immediately following the dedication ceremony.