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Our city council on December 5 approved PDP2005-154 on the agenda, which is the planned development of the Norman Murray Community Center. The approval was necessary in order to meet grant deadlines established by the state, which has given the city a $3 million grant for the expansion. When combined with other money from the city and the foundation, the center is budgeted at about $5.5 million. Several very obvious inconsistencies developed during the council meeting. In order to create enough parking for the structure, one soccer field would be eliminated. In the discussion, one council member proposed building a new field at the community center for $1.9 million. Leveling dirt and creating a new level field will cost $1.9 million? Which gold-plated shovel are they using? To add confusion to the issue, the council discussed entering into joint-use agreements with school districts for available fields. The city's experience with shared facilities has been poor. The city is still paying a large percentage of the electricity and utility bills for the Nadadores and YMCA swim center, and it probably costs several hundred thousand dollars over the length of the arrangement, even though the city was out of it years ago. We can be thankful for Council Member Gail Reavis' diligent follow-up on this issue at one of the last council meetings. The city is way over budget on the architectural work for the community center expansion. The building designs look good, and the architect explained them very well and has done a good job. The building expansion has been redesigned so many times due to changing city requirements that it has become a moving target. We have some very fine council members who work hard for our city and try to do the right thing for our citizens. The problems begin when some council members fall into the school district joint-agreement process every time and, as a consequence, the whole discussion breaks down. James Edward Woodin |
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