A recommendation by the 1% Community Center Steering Committee planning a new county-owned community center and pool funded by a new county sales tax may have ramifications for property taxpayers outside the City of Grand Marais.
The committee has chosen The Meyer Group and JLG Architects, which submitted a proposal together, to create the facility’s architectural design. Because of a legal obligation on the part of the City of Grand Marais, which currently funds the majority of expenses for the pool that will be replaced by the new facility, the county is likely to be on its own in funding ongoing operation and maintenance of the new pool if this team is hired.
On January 4, City Councilor Bill Lenz told the Grand Marais Park Board that because of an agreement the city made several years ago with Burbach Aquatics, it would not be able to support the new pool project in any way if Burbach was not hired. Lenz said the city had paid Burbach for estimates on fixing, rebuilding, or replacing the existing pool. The city signed an openended contract that is still in force, he said, and if the city participates in a pool project with any other firm, Burbach might sue.
A January 4 email from Community Center Director Diane Booth to a list of interested and involved parties states that an agreement with The Meyer Group and JLG Architects will be brought to the Cook County board for approval on January 18 and that ORB Management, the county’s project representative, would already have met with the two firms to discuss the development of a plan, facility design, and a preliminary schedule.
“We did not meet with Burbach Aquatics as planned in December based upon recommendations,” Booth wrote. “We will be moving forward with the aquatics firm recommended by our architects. The group realizes that puts our city representatives in a difficult position.”
When asked why the 1% Community Center Steering Committee had not met with Burbach Aquatics, Diane Booth said via email, “Cook County has contracted with ORB Management to make recommendations along with the architects in the best interests of the project. All professional firms they feel fit our project will be considered in their process.”
The Meyers Group will be the “architect of record,” Booth told the News-Herald. “All architectural firms that responded to our RFP [request for proposals] were responsible for assembling their own design and engineering team necessary to provide all design services for the project. Separate bids for all construction work, including pool construction, will be issued to trade contractors at a later date and will follow the laws of public procurement for those services.”
A January 13 letter from City Administrator Mike Roth to County Board Chair Jim Johnson states, “The city is writing to appeal to the Cook County Board that Burbach Aquatics Inc. be selected for the pool portion of the project.
“…As stated in prior correspondence, in the event that Burbach Aquatics Inc. is not selected to design and oversee construction of the aquatics center portion of the project, the City of Grand Marais and its representatives will withdraw from further participation in the process, including subsequent participation in the county Community Center Steering Committee and the project, effective immediately following the county board’s decision on January 18, 2011.”
In this letter, Roth referred to two previous letters he had sent appealing to the county board to select Burbach Aquatics so the city could remain involved.
In a January 10 email to the News- Herald, Booth said, “The city has been and will be invited to participate however they wish throughout the process.”
Increasing county costs
At the county board’s December 14, 2010 truth-in-taxation meeting, one citizen said, “Government has just gotten too big. …I think you people need to bite the bullet and cut back. …You just can’t let it run wild like a bunch of kids in a candy store.”
“I believe in cutting back,” Commissioner Jan Hall answered, “and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
The same citizen criticized the new community center project because he believed it would increase the county’s operating expenses. In response, Diane Booth said the community center committee would be informing the architects that the building could not cost any more to maintain than what the county is already paying for facilities currently housing activities that would be moved to the new building. In a January 13 phone conversation, Booth clarified that city costs are also included in cost estimates.
When the current pool in the Grand Marais Recreation Area was built in the 1970s, the county and the school district reportedly agreed to pay one-third of the cost of maintaining the pool. As costs increased over the course of time, however, the city ended up picking up most of the bill. The county increased its funding significantly this last year by agreeing to pay one-third of the pool’s operating loss for two years. It has paid the city $70,984 for 2009.
Pool expenses exceeded revenues by $218,684 in 2008 and by $213,933 in 2009. Grand Marais Recreation Area Director Dave Tersteeg expects the pool’s 2010 loss to be about $201,000. The city has been paying for the pool out of its general fund. Income from things like the campground and municipal liquor store have helped the city pay for things like the pool and the municipal golf course, which have been operating at a loss.
Unknown is how many citizens will attend the January 18 county board meeting to weigh in on the possibility that by going with the 1% Community Center Steering Committee’s recommendation, the county would be cutting itself off from the support of the city in the ongoing cost of the new pool facility.
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