The Community Center Steering Committee is in high gear planning what is most likely the biggest construction project to be funded by the county’s 1% sales and use tax. Deciding whether to compensate the volunteers and feed the committee and consultants lunch became a bit of an ordeal at the county board meeting on Tuesday, February 22, 2011, however.
“We had a really productive week last week,” Commissioner Sue Hakes, chair of the committee, reported. They spent one day talking about what kinds of programs might be housed in the new facility and the next on how to design it to meet those needs.
The committee spent one day working from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. without taking a break, although they brought in sandwiches from Subway for lunch. County Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers said the state auditor’s office considers allday meetings an efficient way to conduct business, especially when people are coming from out of town. Commissioner Hakes asked the board to authorize her to provide lunches for the committee on the county’s dime when these types of meetings take place and to pay a $30 per diem and mileage to those who weren’t already being paid to be at the meeting.
Jan Hall asked whether people could bring their own bag lunches like she and others do for many of the meetings she attends. Hakes said, “We’ve got people coming from Lutsen and from out of town, and they’re volunteering hours and hours and hours.”
“I have a problem with buying lunch,” Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said, “and I have a problem working through lunch.” He is also on the Community Center Steering Committee and was at last week’s long meeting. “People are getting very fatigued” at such meetings, he said, adding that fatigue leads to misunderstandings. He said he would prefer to take a break and go home for lunch. “We’re humans. We’re not machines,” he said. “I’m 100 percent for going someplace and getting some fresh air and clearing your head.”
“I hear your point, Fritz, and I agree,” Hakes said. “Those meetings are tough.” She maintained that she believed it would be appropriate to provide lunch for volunteers and people from out of town, however.
Auditor-Treasurer Powers said members of numerous other committees – such as the Revolving Loan Fund Committee, the Human Services Advisory Board, the Planning Commission, the Soil & Water Board, and the Extension Committee — receive $30 stipends and mileage for attending meetings. One thing that distinguishes the Community Center Steering Committee from these other groups is that it is a time-limited entity working on a one-time project.
Commissioner Hakes made a motion to approve – per county policy – paying otherwise-unpaid Community Center Steering Committee members a $30 stipend plus mileage. After a long pause, Jim Johnson seconded the motion.
Sobanja indicated he didn’t want to feel pressured to hurry up and make a decision on Hakes’ request.
Johnson said he wanted to be fair to all the committees. He asked Powers to find a written policy on such matters. “It’s a can of worms,” he said.
Hakes’ motion failed with a vote of two ayes from Hakes and Hall and three nays from commissioners Sobanja, Martinson, and Johnson. In answer to a request for confirmation that Johnson had, indeed, seconded the motion, Board Secretary Janet Simonen emailed that Johnson seconded it “for the purpose of discussion.”
Amenities under consideration
The committee is looking at the facility including an ice rink for curling, hockey, and recreational skating; an aquatics center for lap swimming and recreation; a gymnasium for basketball, volleyball, and tennis; a fitness/wellness center with exercise equipment; multi-purpose space for special events; and outdoor recreational amenities. The budget is $8-12 million.
“We are seeking ways to combine spaces,” Commissioner Hakes told the News-Herald. “We are continuing to gather information regarding cost to build, operating and maintenance costs, and potential revenue sources. We simply cannot build a facility that we can’t afford to operate; this will drive our decision-making.
“We are in the process of making programming decisions,” said Hakes. “Can we afford each of these major spaces or will we need to eliminate some? If so, what will we eliminate?”
In July of 2009, LHB, the consulting firm working with the committee of elected officials that was deliberating potential tax-funded projects, came up with maximum costs estimates for each project being considered at that time. The community center was expected to cost up to $12 million, and improvements to the outdoor recreation amenities on current Community Center land were expected to cost up to $3 million.
The steering committee
Five sub-groups have been formed to focus on major considerations in the project: ice, aquatics, staffing, youth, and finances.
The committee recently added Bob Fenwick as a representative from the community at large and Paul Sporn as a representative from the Grand Marais business community. Two slots remain open for representatives from the City of Grand Marais, but they are likely to remain open since the city stepped out due to a contractual obligation to an aquatics design firm that prohibits the city from participating with any other firms in a project that would replace the city’s current municipal pool.
Also on the committee are Community Center Director Diane Booth, at-large member Jeanne Anderson (also a school board member), Cook County Visitors’ Bureau Events Director Maggie Barnard, West End business owner Jeff Latz, Community Education employee and AEOA board member Andra Lilienthal, Cook County Local Energy Project and Firewise volunteer Paul Nelson, Community Center representative and Gunflint Trail business owner Sue Prom, Council on Aging representative and C.P.A. Karen Kritta Saethre, ISD 166 Superintendent Beth Schwarz, and ORB Management consultant Wade Cole.
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