Bodily functions are a fact of life and they say that functioning only increases with age. It wasn’t clear whether council or city administration understood that the more “mature” adult often requires more frequent visits to the restroom.
Mark Woods, who owns Woods Farm in Boones Mill, said elderly customers who come early to the market have nowhere to use a restroom. The Market building doesn’t open until 11:00 a.m. Prior to the Market renovation it opened at 10:00 a.m.
Construction at Center in the Square has taken their restrooms off the market for the foreseeable future too. It leaves customers and farmers without a facility until the Market building opens at 11:00 a.m.
Woods said that Hall and Associates charges $20 an hour to have the restroom in the Market building available before it opens. “I think that’s kind of silly because I think the Market building is a public place,” said Woods.
The city relinquished control of the Market building to the Market Foundation and they want someone there staffing it. “The foyer area cannot be opened separately without someone there,” explained city manager Chris Morrill.
Woods said that Tracie Hughes, market manager and Officer Eric Pendleton, who polices the downtown area, would keep an eye on things prior to 11:00 a.m. for free.
“It will be an issue until the Center in the Square reopens in about 14 months from now,” said Morrill. Woods anticipates that relief for farmers and customers will be forthcoming soon.
