The Cook County Community Center Steering Committee has unveiled its proposal for a new, 43,142-square-foot community center to be built with revenue from the county’s 1 percent sales and use tax. The committee has been working for months and has tried to incorporate the suggestions it has received from throughout the community regarding what should be included in the new facility.
The proposed design includes an aquatics center, wellness center, gymnasium, hot tub, sauna, locker rooms, multi-purpose meeting rooms, kitchen, banquet hall, concession stand, warming house, and administrative space.
The public will have an opportunity to discuss the proposed design and potential operating costs with the committee at two public meetings. The first will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, May 10 in the commissioners’ room at the Cook County Courthouse in Grand Marais. The second will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 11 at Birch Grove Community Center in Tofte.
The committee is currently wrestling with how to keep operating costs down. Commissioner Sue Hakes told the county board on April 26 that the committee has tried not to underesti- mate how much the new facility will cost to operate.
The committee’s preliminary figures estimate potential annual operating costs of about $1,000,000. The figures list current funding for amenities expected to move into the new facility at $600,000, with revenues on top of that expected to be about $200,000 (rounded to the nearest $100,000). That would leave the county needing to come up with roughly $200,000 for facility costs that wouldn’t already have some other source of funding, but that does not include the county needing to make up for what the city has up to this point been paying for the pool.
This may be good news for Grand Marais residents, who would no longer be shouldering the majority of pool costs. Pool use is generally spread equally among city residents, county residents outside the city and out-of-towners.
Figures obtained from Grand Marais City Hall show that averaged over the last two years, the Grand Marais Municipal Pool’s annual expenditures for normal operations have fallen short of revenues from memberships and user fees by over $200,000. In 2010, the county picked up about $70,000 of that tab, and the city came up with the rest.
Information on the 1 percent sales and use tax projects can be found on the Cook County website at
www.co.cook.mn.us.
Click on options under the words “One Percent Sales Tax” in the box on the left.
Commissioner Sue Hakes, head of the Community Center Steering Committee, answered several questions for the News-Herald regarding the project:
Q
Throughout the process of investigating communities that have constructed community centers, what have you learned about what makes a successful community center? What kinds of amenities do people tend to use, what makes the most money or loses the least amount of money, and what kinds of efficiencies can be built in that decrease operating costs?
Commissioner Hakes: The most successful community centers have two big things in common. First, they are multi-generational in programming and space. Secondly, they offer a combination of amenities that includes a swimming pool, wellness area (including walking track), and multi-purpose recreation space. Obviously, a pool is the most expensive of these amenities, but it’s also the most popular amenity and is used by all ages.
Q
What have you heard from this community regarding what it would like to see in a community center?
Commissioner Hakes: The design [that] folks will see at the public meetings reflects what the community has told us it wants. COME AND SEE IT! It was the steering committee’s desire to accommodate the wish list of all stakeholders and balance these amenities by projected revenues and costs. Now, it’s the county board’s task to decide how much of that wish list will fit within the budget constraints.
Q
How is the committee/consultant team going about the process of deciding on priorities when it comes to the design of the building and whittling operating costs down?
Commissioner Hakes: Prioritizing for the new facility sounds simple, but has actually been fairly complex. Simply put, the steering committee based its priorities on need, number of users, potential revenues, construction costs, and cost to operate and maintain. Ultimately the job of deciding what goes into the final product belongs to the county board.
Q
Are there any amenities that have been included in the proposed design that might still be cut out of the building?
Commissioner Hakes: Everything is still on the table. We could end up with everything, with nothing, or anything in between. It’s up to the public and the county board.
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