Ballard King, specialist in doing feasibility studies for community centers, was hired at the request of LHB consultants for Cook County in 2009. In spring/summer 2009 there were discussions which included question sessions in a phone conference with Ballard King. Commissioners Martinson and Sobanja said the Ballard King feasibility study was passed around during discussions. The Ballard King study, more than 50 pages long, was not provided to Diane Booth, Community Center director.
Fast forward to just after approval of the 1% sales tax in the fall of 2009. A somewhat revised steering committee is operating. Early in the process there is a request that a feasibility study be done. The committee rejects the idea. Commissioners Martinson and Sobanja do not step forward to inform everyone that a feasibility study has already been done by Ballard King.
Fast forward to a point in the 2½ year steering committee process. Diane Booth, community center director and steering committee secretary, requests a feasibility study. Commissioners Martinson and Sobanja do not step forward to offer the Ballard King feasibility study.
Fast forward again to the present. Wednesday, June 12, 2012 at a steering committee meeting, Diane Booth again proposes a feasibility study be done. Commissioner Martinson waves the Ballard King study for everyone to see saying they already had a feasibility study. Diane Booth has not seen the full study, many steering committee members have not seen it, and the public has not seen it.
I absolutely trust Diane Booth. Read Diane’s letter to the editor, June 16, 2012 News-Herald. She is meticulous in keeping minutes and steering committee records and is passionate about a community center. The 50-page Ballard King feasibility study document was simply never provided to her, the committee or the public.
A feasibility study guides planning so why was the Ballard King study withheld from the public and from the steering committee? A $9.5 million project certainly justifies having a feasibility study done or having the Ballard King study updated. Why is the Steering Committee afraid of an unbiased third-party study to insure the project’s success?
Molly Hoffman
Grand Marais
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