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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 27, 2004 C/C Minutes Meridian City Pre-Council Meeting January 27, 2004 Page 14 of 19 Watson: Maybe briefly, yes. It would obviously be in draft form, but - I hate to bog you down with this because I knew you'll have at least two looks after I go to BCA, but I can certainly do that. Nary: Council do you have other questions? No. Just one that I guess, I have Brad. Timing wise it seems a little strange, I mean you are asking basically for us to pass a resolution or some motion or something accepting the plan, but we don't - we are sort of committing to some degree to the schedule of improvements, but we are not going to get the financial plan that the money is available to do that for another couple of months. Is that just cause of the timing, we just have to do it that way? Watson: It could be and when I ask for the resolution I don't anticipate that being in the next couple of weeks. We need to get DEQ's comments back and see if we need to rework anything and get the collection's system document finalized. I anticipate this to be like a two-month process. Hopefully, that will somewhat coincide with at least the draft financial plan. Nary: So, we could hold off at least on that and have that as part of the discussion of that draft financial plan and then schedule that at the same time with the pre-council session and then we could have a resolution or something after that. Watson: Sure, I think that would work great. Thank you very much. Nary: Thanks for bringing all your gang with you. ***End of Side 1 *** ItemS. Discussion of Ice Skatina Facilitv: Nary: Next item is the ice skating facility. There is a memo that is part of your packet and I don't know that there was a presentation, Madam Mayor, on this or-- De Weerd: Mr. Nichols can introduce the parts he needs to - so we kind of know the direction Council is going. Nichols: Mr. President, Madame Mayor and Members of the Council. Some months ago I did a memo to the Mayor and Council that outlined additional information that needed to come from the Council in order for me to proceed with drafting a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ice Skating Facility group. The tentative idea is to have that facility on the Borah property on the comer of Cherry Lane and McDermott, which the City has about 30 acres there. The group needs to know when the City will have infrastructure available, so that when they go to potential donors they can say here is the City's plan for when those things will be there. So, the donors will know when they have to come up Meridian City Pre-Council Meeting January 27, 2004 Page 15 of 19 with their pledge and that sort of thing. So, I have outlined in the memo the additional information that I need to be able to go back to that group with some sort of Memorandum of Understanding and that's - we just haven't had a chance to have that discussion and for the Council - whether it's three years, ten years, two years, one year or whatever it is. De Weerd: Mr. President. Nary: Madam Mayor. De Weerd: I had also talked with Charlotte Catlett, she is somewhat leading this effort and at this point, which might come before the Memorandum of Understanding they want a letter of intent. I don't know what all planning we'll need to do for answers they need to have the letter of intent of what those qualifications - Nichols: Well, Madam Mayor, Mr. President, Members of Council when I met with Bob Aldridge one of the keystone pieces was when are facilities going to be out there so that we could actually put up a structure. So, I would think that is still is a key piece that needs to be in a letter agreement, letter of understanding, memorandum of understanding, however you want to characterize it that would set out what the City is willing to do when the City thinks those services will be there. How much ground is going to be made available? How might that be located? A lot of those things we have already discussed, but it's the timing of the infrastructure that I need to go forward. Nary: Council Members too, one of the things that might be helpful - we haven't had what I consider a full-blown presentation of this project. It was something that was brought to the City a few years ago. There has been some discussion about it, but I know there are at least two of you that probably hadn't heard anything about it before you saw this memo. So - Mr. Wardle go ahead. Wardle: Mr. President and Mr. Nichols, I guess I'll address this to you because we are talking about the memorandum. I am actually familiar with the project. One of the questions that I do have before this City commits to a timeline when we are going to provide services and then obviously when the property will be zoned and donated and all of the things that need to happen is unlike the memorandum of understanding that we had with Adventure Island Playground, where that was to be built and then donated to the City, it is my understanding this group will be operating this ice rink and with that in mind, I believe we need to see some sort of a plan for the operation of that in conjunction with the City committing when we are going to provide services and then start the, I guess, our partnership together. Have they given, Mr. Nichols, any indication as to whether they are going to provide that at the time that we provide information to them? Meridian City Pre-Council Meeting January 27, 2004 Page 16 of 19 Nichols: Mr. President, Mayor and Members of the Council. The group has formed a non-profit corporation. They received 501 (c) (3) status from the IRS, so they have gone a lot farther than many groups have. They have a board of directors, which includes, I think one of the Supreme Court Justices is on the - they have got a pretty broad-based group that has come forward with this process. In terms of the actual operation they - I know in previous discussions privately with them that they are looking at putting up two sheets of ice. They have some idea with regard to what works in a facility design. We have emphasized from the very beginning that if this were a situation where they built this facility on City property and ran it, it would have to be one at least as we staff represented to them was no cost to the City, it wasn't going to be subsidized by the City, so they are not going to go forward with a however many million dollar structure unless they know that they are going to be able to operate it in the black or at least break even. As far as a business plan that shows how they are going to market it and those kinds of things, I don't think they have got there yet. They are trying to focus on raising the money, the pledges to be able to put up the structure and as they get closer to their goal, they would then begin that process of laying out what the operational costs would be. There were some other questions I think we raised in terms of are we going to let commercial vendors have a food booth inside, is that any concern to the City? There are some other things that may have been outlined in the memo, we just need you to (inaudible) - I am sure they would be glad to come and present to you where they are at, what they have done, where they need to go, but I know that they have hit a road block in fund raising because they can't really go to a corporation and say we would like you to donate some money because they can't tell them when it's going to be built because they know it can't be built until sewer is available. Nary: Council members. I think we have got really two issues before us. One is when is facilities going to be available for that site, regardless of what's going to be there, whether it's the size (inaudible) or anything else. Those are decisions we have to make, but also if there is at least a desire to have a little more information before proceeding further and for Mr. Nichols to be putting this MOU together and letter of intent or whatever form we want to use, would that be the Council's preference? I can get a hold of these folks, Ms. Catlette, Mr. Aldredge and see if they would be available in the next week or two to come and give us a little bit more detail. At one juncture in the past, we were looking to pattern this after some other facilities in the Valley like the Optimist Club and some of the other types of facilities that have been used at long term leases, but you know, I think there appears to be some questions on folks faces and I think maybe - would that be helpful? Would you like me to do that? I can certainly try to book that within the next couple of weeks, so that we can proceed on this and move it along. Bird: That would be my preference, Mr. President. Nary: Mr. Strong, do you have any comment on this? If you don't, it's fine. Okay. Mr. Rountree. Meridian City Pre-CounCiI Meeting January 27, 2004 Page 17 of 19 Rountree: Mr. Nary. If the question is simply whether or not or when sewer is going to be out there, that is one thing, but I read in the memo a bunch of other things that they are asking from the City to take a position on. Though obviously, the sewer is probably the most costly initial item, there are some things in here in terms of whether or not the City wants to take over the facility at the end of the lease, etc., and apparently we need to address. So, I would like more information and be able to talk to those, but as far as the sewer I think we could probably give them a projected date on that. Nary: If the Council is all right, what I will do is try to get a hold of Ms. Catlette or Mr. Aldridge and try to see if we can schedule it within the next two weeks to come and give us a little more presentation on what they are really wanting and give us a little bit more and make those decisions to assist Mr. Nichols in this MOU because you are looking at some long term commitment for the City to have a facility there whether we are going to turn it over at the end of the day or whatever happens to it, so I will ask to do that and we'll put this back on in a week or two. Item 6. Proposed Fees for Picnic Shelters at Chateau Park and Meridian Settler's Park: Nary: Next item on our agenda is the proposed fees for picnic shelters. There is also a memo in your packets about that, basically I think all we are looking for is we have to have a public hearing on these fees. I think we had another fee hearing that we already talked about. Is there a way we can combine those, or do we have to burden us twice with having those things? Great. Well, basically, I think Council all we are looking for at this juncture is if they are at mind set to consider these proposed fees from the Parks Department for the shelters that we set a date. Do we have a proposed date Mr. Berg? Berg: No we don't. Nary: Okay, so we can set a date that needs to be at least three weeks from now, preferably longer, but before people start using them, so before summer. Berg: Yes sir. Rountree: Mr. President, if I could add just one thing. Mr. Nichols and I had discussed some issues and trying to draw up maybe in the ordinance that includes all parks rather than having to just keep adding - when we build a new park we add a new fee and so we are going to maybe try and clean that up also and make sure we are consistent through all the parks maybe with a square footage of a shelters, something in that nature so that - just because we add a new park we have to attach that fee the way the resolution is written. So, we are going to try and take care of that.