Community center budget downsized

With an audience of 18 community members, the county board spent well over two hours at a work session January 24, 2012 discussing its thoughts on projects to be funded by the county’s 1 Percent Recreation and Infrastructure Tax.

The extra sales and use tax is bringing in about $1,150,000 a year, according to Cook County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers. Over the next 20 years, about $587,000 of the annual revenue will go toward paying back $8½ million in bonds. The interest rate the county got in November was under 3.2 percent, and if it could get the same interest rate again, the current 1 percent revenue could cover another $8¼ million in bonds.

County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers told the board that if they bonded for the total $20 million or didn’t get as good an interest rate as they did on the first set of bonds, the current revenue would not cover payments unless they went with a payback period of longer than 20 years.

May through November 2011 brought in 5.63 percent more 1 percent revenue than May through November 2010 when the tax was first collected.

Community Center

One of the proposed projects planned for 1 percent funding is a new community center, but the committee considering options for that building has not been meeting for a few months pending word on whether the City of Grand Marais will be participating financially.

At the county board meeting a week before, a group of hockey advocates brought a design proposal to the board, at its request, for a new hockey rink with a building that could function as a warming house but also provide storage and be used by numerous recreational groups. The entire project, including indoor and outdoor amenities, came to almost $1.2 million, with the building cost projected at $700,000. Some board members weren’t interested in a building this substantial, but Commissioner Fritz Sobanja thought it would fit community needs well enough to preclude a need for a multi-million-dollar community center.

“They’re all great concepts,” Sobanja said at the work session. He hoped they would consider what was best for the entire community. “What works out best for some,” he said, however, “doesn’t work out best for others, and that’s life.”

Sobanja suggested that the board work on getting help from other entities to fund the recreational amenities that various sectors of the community have asked for. “There are partnerships involved in these processes,” he said.

Sobanja had met with representatives from a YMCA and suggested that they consider having the YMCA run the community center. Such an organization has access to a lot of funding sources and might even be able to find a large benefactor that the building could be named after. “I’d rather see a private individual’s name on a building,” he said, “than a government name on a building.”

Commissioner Jim Johnson, absent while receiving medical treatment, wrote a memo with his opinions on the subject: “The community center is becoming less viable the more it gets fragmented out,” he wrote. “The library, the seniors, the curlers, the school, ….the city, and now the hockey group prefer to have their own facilities. We already have two fitness centers in Grand Marais, and public support for the project is not exactly overwhelming.

“Given these factors I think it would be risky to make plans at this time until these issues are resolved within the community, which may take a long time.

“How much money should we save out for this project? I don’t have a clue, but I do know that the cost of maintaining all of these separate facilities should be of serious concern to us.”

Johnson also addressed the need for wetland mitigation if a new community center and ball field were built in the northwest corner of the county’s property just west of the school. “… This is one case where the wetlands need to remain in place to protect the City of Grand Marais from further water damage during extreme runoff events,” he wrote.

Johnson has not forgotten that biomass energy was another project approved for 1 percent funding. “Biomass is catching on nationally as a credible source of energy,” he wrote. “I think it will be important to carve out at least one million (maybe two) for these potential projects. I anticipate that there will be many grant opportunities for biomass projects in the future, and if we can provide for match money out of the 1 percent funds, that could be extremely valuable in leveraging those grants.”

Commissioner Sue Hakes, on the Community Center Committee, said the committee did assess the needs and wants of the community. “… We promised that the input we got from the public would be paid attention to,” she said. The public “seems concerned,” she said, particularly regarding the potential cost of maintaining the building as proposed.

Having amenities such as a community center is important to young families, Commissioner Hakes said. Kids need to have a place where they can “take their coats off” in the wintertime and learn how to swim, she said. “It would be a crime to wake up in 10 years when that pool goes away – and it’s going to go away – and say, ‘Why didn’t we build a community center with a pool and youth rooms?’” Hakes said.

The facilities proposed by the hockey group for the area behind the current community center certainly fill their needs, Commissioner Hakes said, and those of some other groups as well, but “I think it’s way too expensive for what we get,” she said. She said she could not support keeping up the current community center building, a new community center, community activities in the Cook County Schools complex, and a “warming shack.” She said they could have a good hockey facility with a less expensive warming house and a community center with a pool that would be a draw for outsiders coming here for hockey tournaments.

Community Center Director Diane Booth said the Community Center Board of Trustees wants to help the hockey group get what they need. They should put up a solid structure, such as a cement block building, that won’t need repair in 20 years like a cheaper building would. They could work with the Community Center Committee on dovetailing the uses of the two buildings.

“If we could get the same thing Birch Grove Community Center is getting,” said hockey proponent Gail Anderson, “I think everybody would be happy.” One percent funding is paying for recreational improvements to Birch Grove Community Center, including a new hockey rink and a warming house with rest rooms and storage.

Commissioner Sobanja said he would like to see a “multi-purpose slab” for hockey and other uses built this summer, even if a building doesn’t go up.

Commissioner Hakes suggested that the northwest corner of the county property might not work well for a number of sports taking place near there, such as tennis, hockey, and figure skating.

Commissioner Jan Hall said she didn’t want to be saying “yes” to some groups, such as Superior National at Lutsen golf course proponents, and “no” to others such as the hockey group. She indicated the 1 percent tax was intended to support all types of recreation in the community.

Superior National golf course

Superior National at Lutsen Golf Course Manager Bob Fenwick reported that funding seems to be promising for a remodeling of the course that is expected to bring a dramatic increase in usership from around the country. They may be instructing their architect to make fewer landscape changes in order to minimize complexity and cost, he said. The Mountain Nine holes will remain the same, but River and Canyon will be transformed into 18 “elite” holes.

The county board recently increased its allocation for this project from $1.8 million to $3.1 million. The golf course will be seeking funding from other sources as well. According to Fenwick, “The $3.1 million is critical.”

Library settling

Consultant Tom Wacholz told the board that the new library addition will do some shifting for a while, and this is normal. State statute requires projects like this to have a one-year warranty, and a warranty walkthrough will be done 10-11 months after the job was completed.

The board’s plan

The board, sans Commissioner Johnson, voted unanimously to lower the community center allocation to $9,000,000 out of the $20,000,000 that can be collected with the 1 percent tax (plus the cost of bonding). This includes all outdoor recreational amenities around it, such as ball fields, a hockey rink, and a warming house.

The board also decided to reconvene the Community Center Steering Committee to take a new look at the project, considering the new budget and the proposal by the hockey group.

Projects to be funded by the Cook County 1 Percent Recreation and Infrastructure Tax and amounts approved by the county board: