HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter from William Nichols
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WmTE PETERSON
ArrORNEYS AT LAW
KEVIN E. DINIUS
JULIE KLEIN FISCHER
CHRIsTOPHER D. GABBERT
WM F. GrGRAY, In
T. Guy IiALLAM **
JILL S. HOLINKA
JOHN R. KORMANIK"
WILLIAM A MORROW
WILLIAM F. NICHOLS **
WHITE PETERsoN, P.A.
CANYON PARK AT TIm IDAHO CENTER
5700 E. FRANKLIN RD.t SUITE 200
NAMPA, IDAHO 83687-7901
TEL (208) 466-9272
FAX (208) 4664405
CHRIsTOPHER S. NYE
PmuP A PETERsoN
TODDA. ROSSMAN
TERRENCER. WIDTE**.
Email: wfn@whitepeterson.com
* Also admitted in CA
** Also admitted in OR
.** Also achnitted in W A
April 30, 2004
JoAnn Butler
Spink, Butler & Clapp
PO Box 639
Boise, Idaho 83701
RECEIVED
APR 3 0 2004
C"Ity of Meridian
CitY Clerk Office
Re: City. of Meridian/Cherry Lane Recreation, Inc.
Dear J oAnn:
I realize that you are out of the office, but needed to send this letter now rather than wait
until after you have returned.
As I indicated in my voice mail message to you, the City is looking for some indication
that your client is willing to discuss reimbursement to the City for any funds, other than grant
funds, the City invests in infrastructure for the golf course.
The return voice mail message from your assistant, Ms. Gallivan, and a subsequent
telephone conversation I had with her, indicate that your client does not want to renegotiate the
lease under any circumstances, that your client is reluctant to consider any reimbursement, and
that your client believes the golf course was never adequately constructed and therefore the City
is liable to fix the problems.
The apparent position of your client seems to be that the City must invest the necessary
financial resources required to bring the golf course condition up to a reasonable condition, and
Cherry Lane Recreation, Inc. will not reimburse the City for any of these costs. In short, the City
must invest approximately $1.5 million but only receive the current lease rent of $6000 per year
for the remaining term of the lease.
The City is exploring grants and other options to fund the necessary infrastructure
improvements, but the preliminary indications are that grant funds are likely either limited in
amount, or otherwise unavailable for a leased course. If this turns out to ultimately be true, the
only way the City can fund $l.5M of improvements would be to take the funds out of general tax
revenues or through a voter approved general obligation bond. In other words, it appears that the
only source of sufficient funds will be the taxpayers.
(
JoAnn Butler
April 30, 2004
Page 2
The City needs to know, defInitively, whether your client expects the City to fund, at City
expense, the infrastructure improvements noted in the USGA and Citizen Committee reports. If
your client truly expects the City to make this kind of investment and receive no reimbursement
in return for the remainder of the lease term, we need to know now.
Please review this letter with your client and let me know its answer to the questions
raised. I would like to make a report to the City Council at the May 11, 2004 Council meeting.
Thank you.
Very truly Yo~S' ~
William F. Nichols
cc: Mayor De Weerd
Councilmembers
Doug Strong
Stacy Kilchenmann
Will Berg, Jr.
Z:\Work\M\Meridian\Meridian 15360M\Mayor and C01.U1cil\Letter JoAnn Butler Cherry Lane GC 04 30 2004.doc