HomeMy WebLinkAbout04Apr30 White PetersonWHITE PETERSON
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JUtm KI.EUa FISCHER
CHRISTOPHER D. GABBERT
WM. F. GIGRAY, III
T. Gar HALLnM"'
Ju.L S. HOLirIKA
JOHN R. KORMAMK y
WII.LIAM A. MORROW
WII,LL4M F. Nlcxots *•
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
WHITE PETERSON, P.A
CANYON PARK AT THE IDAHO CENTER
5700 E. FRANKLIN RD., S[JITE 200
NAMPA, IDAHO 83687-7901
TEL (208) 466-9272
FAX (208) 466-4405
CHRISTOPHER S. NYE
PIIA.IP A. PETERSON
TODD A. ROSSNfAN
TERRENCE R. WHITE •s*
Email: wfn@whitepetersoo.com
April 30, 2004
JoAnn Butler
Spink, Butler & Clapp
PO Box 639
Boise, Idaho 83701
Re: City of Meridian/Cherry Lane Recreation, Inc.
Dear JoAnn:
` Also admitted in CA
*' Also admitted in OR
srs Also admitted in wA
RECEIVED
CityofMeridian
City Clerk Offico
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 yow client is willing to discuss reimbwsement to the City for any funds, other than grant
fixnds, the City invests in infrastructwe for the golf cowse.
The return voice mail message from yow assistant, Ms. Gallivan, and a subsequent
telephone conversation I had with her, indicate that yow client does not want to renegotiate the
lease under any circumstances, that yow client is reluctant to consider any reimbwsement, and
that yow client believes the golf cowse was never adequately constructed and therefore the City
is liable to fix the problems.
The apparent position of yow client seems to be that the City must invest the necessary
financial resowces required to bring the golf cowse condition up to a reasonable condition, and
Cherry Lane Recreation, Inc. will not reimbwse the City for any of these costs. In short, the City
must invest approximately $1.5 million but only receive the cwrent 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 infrastructwe
improvements, but the preliminary indications are that grant funds are likely either limited in
amount, or otherwise unavailable for a leased cowse. If this turns out to ultimately be true, the
only way the City can fund $1. SM 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 sowce 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 yours,
William F. Nichols
cc: Mayor De Weerd
Councilmembers
Doug Strong
Stacy Kilchenmann
Will Berg, Jr.
Z:\Work~Meridian~tvferidian 15360M~Mayor and Council~Letter JoA~ Butler Cherry T..ane GC 04 30 2004.doc