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11-22-88 Parks Comm Minutes• • 0 PARKS/PUBLIC LANDS/ANNEXATION/ZONING/AIRPORT COMMITTEE MEETING November 22, 1988 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: COMMITTEE MEMBER ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT: Noel Furlong Jim Atkinson Roger Hopkins John Gunnerson Glen Neier, City Attorney Mike Baker, Parks Director David Greer Dan Johns Bud Anderson Mike Strand 4:00 P.M. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Furlong at 4:08 P.M. C. Furlong asked Parks Director Mike Baker for a report from his department. Baker said he had received a request from the State Parks Department for Region 1 for someone from the Parks Committee to participate in developing the preferred alternative for entrance fees for State Parks. This person would sit in on a public hearing on December 1, 7:00 P.M. at the Winchester Room at the Outlaw Inn. He said they are going to discuss season passes, entrance fees, etc. and to hear the voice of the public. He stated it was part of the Citizen Park Participation Program. Councilman Atkinson volunteered. There was a discussion about whether or not they had to get permission from the State Legislature to charge entrance fees. Baker also talked about what was going on in the Parks Department. He said they were just finishing up the leaf pickup and they were waiting for the weather to turn so they could get some ice started at Woodland Park. He said they had started the ice skating lesson signup today. He explained the first two weeks had already been cancelled because of lack of ice, and scheduled for the second week in December. He gave a short background on the instructor, LuAnn Pittman. Baker said they were looking at purchasing a sweeper for their tractor for the ice skating rink, sidewalks and parking lots. He said it could also be used for leaf pickup. Baker said there was a school being offered this fall dealing with raising revenue, contracts mangement, etc. He said he also had to ensure that his foreman got to an aquatic school this spring. There was a discussion about the Woodland Waterworks Project that Russell School is involved with. Baker said they had raised somewhere between $3000-$4000 and the money wasn't all in yet from the raffle -1- tickets. He explained what this money would be used for. He said •the money would not be given to us, the school kids wanted to pay the bills and decide how the money would be spent. Annexation Dav�r stated that Wayne Wolvert had applied to have the Kalispell Zoning Ordinance amended to include paint and body shops in a B-3 zoning classification, which is community business. He said the Planning Board held a public hearing and his office had written a staff report and come to the conclusion that that particular use did not fit the flavor of a community business zoning district, so they would recommend denial, and the Planning Board had also come to that conclusion. A public hearing was scheduled with the City Council on December 19 and the Council will either act on it after the public hearing or remand it to the Annexation Committee for decision. Proposed Baseball Lease. C. Furlong presented the new re -negotiated lease. C. Atkinson asked if this lease covered the ball field plus the other location. Doug Johns said no, it was strictly Griffin Field. There was a lengthy discussion about the irrigation, fertilizer and utilities negotiations. City Attorney Neier stated that there had been a provision placed in the new lease that the Lakers police and pick up all litter resulting from use of the field for its baseball activities, and maintenance and repairs. Some of other changes and additions were discussed --under Item 6 the City Parks Director will approve the use fee, and under •Item #7 the City Parks Director shall schedule the activities on the multi -purpose field. C. A. Neier also mentioned that another addition is if the City gets a minor league professional baseball team the City and the Lakers shall agree to use Griffin Field in such a manner to facilitate both programs and share equally in the net revenue because of the use by the minor league professional. team. Another change allows the City along with the Lakers to join in with the Babe Ruth Baseball League and Soccer Club to develop that second field as a multi -sports facility. C. Atkinson asked Neier if he felt there was provision enough for the City to get out of the lease if deemed necessary? Neier said there is a basis in the case of default, but no basis just to say we don't want this lease anymore and want to get out of it. The re -negotiation clause was discussed. C. Furlong said he had an objection to the fact that if there is no mutual agreement the lease still continues. He said in 5 years time we'll have a lot better view on both sides as to how well the lease is going and we can negotiate from that position. There was a discussion of the 1% rental fee, essentially there would be no money passed, it would be in -kind services. C. Atkinson asked Neier if he could foresee the City losing out monetarily, does it preclude the Lakers from requiring any further services or products, •etc. into the development of the field? Neier read the clause stating what services the City had to perform and said he thought it -2- was Baker's long-range plan to develop that entire area both north and south of the highway that's owned by the City as a park, so as far as capital improvements to the premises there's nothing in this lease that obligates us to do anything more than we've already done. There was more discussion on the use of the fertilizer and development and maintenance of Griffin Field. C. Furlong stated that with the language in Item 9 the way it is now we could end up using all of the park money on Griffin Field and he could not in any manner justify that. He said he didn't think we could commit that we're going to spend whatever is necessary to keep this field in a pristine condition when we know that we have limited funds to deal with. Baker asked if there was a way we could word this so that it says that we want to maintain a quality baseball field? C. Hopkins asked where do our priorities lie? With this language it looks like Griffin Field is a priority. Johns said if something happens to the turf the City is obligated to replace it. C. Hopkins asked if this would have to be done immediately, Johns said at least for the next baseball season. C. Hopkins said maybe there would be a case where the money wasn't there for two or three years. After further discussion it was decided to strike the last two lines of Item 9. At this point Bud Anderson spoke in favor of turning the negotiations over to the Council and getting this over with. Johns agreed and said he would like this brought to a conclusion, as we are just going through the lease again line by line and not accomplishing anything. •He said the lease as it is now is workable and for the benefit of both organizations. C. Furlong said the committee had some problems with what the negotiating committee has done. C. Atkinson said he was not asking that the lease be changed, his question was can we get sued if something catastrophic happens if there's no turf on that field and we have no money to pay for putting it back together. Neier said that's the sort of thing that ought to be discussed, the Parks Dept. and the Lakers should get together in March or September and discuss the problems we have maintaining that field. He said that language is subject to both parties being reasonable about the situation we're facing. He said if the Lakers and the City are not going to be reasonable in their demands, then they have to have an agreement that spells out each and every duty that's going to be undertaken by each side. There was more discussion on Item 9, Fertilizer. Mike Baker said that $600 for the fertilizer was an operational tool for him to use as there is no money in his budget for maintenance of any of the ballfields. He said he did not want to put the City in a situation where we could be sued or be taken advantage of. It was decided that Griffin Field would get priority use of the fertilizer, then the multi -use field. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved to strike language on Item 9 which reads "but that its obligation is to provide a turf suitable for use as a •quality baseball field and that materials needed in excess of those provided by the Lakers shall be purchased by the City". C. Hopkins -3- seconded and the motion passed unanimously. • C. Furlong said he had a problem with the 20-year term of the lease and would not support it. He said he would insist on a re -negotiation at 5-year intervals. Johns said they need a long-term lease in order to get a bank loan. He said if the Lakers weren't building the grandstands and paving the parking lot they wouldn't have any problem with a 5-year lease. C. Hopkins said throughout the process he has come to believe more and more that we don't need a lease, that better cooperation and management could be achieved through a use agreement and for that reason he would vote to take it on the floor but he would vote against it. A discussion followed that regarding the City building the grandstands and the taxpayers seeing more use available for the field. C. Atkinson disagreed with C. Hopkins and agreed with C. Furlong on the. 5-year re -negotiation. The KGA lease re -negotiation clause was read by C. Furlong and discussed for use in the baseball lease. Johns again brought up the financing problem with a short-term lease. He said he thought the Lakers were entitled to some consideration for what they're committing to do to complete an incomplete project. At this point C. Furlong asked if the lease should be presented to the Council without recommendation or be sent back for re -negotiation. • Johns and Anderson said they would like it presented to the Council. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved that the Committee send the lease back for further re -negotiations. C. Atkinson voted in favor and C. Furlong and C. Hopkins against. The motion failed. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved the Committee place this lease before the Council with no recommendation. C. Hopkins seconded, with the assumption of the changes that had been agreed to. The motion was voted upon and passed unanimously. C. Furlong proposed that the lease be presented at the next regular Council meeting on December 5th. Airport Fees C. Furlong presented Mike Strand's request for consideration for past fees paid when it was under the Airport Association. Mike Strand has asked that he be refunded the $3600 or in the interim apply that payment to the current fees until that amount of money has been used up. C. A. Neier discussed the research he did on the Airport Asso- ciation's collection of fees, which was sporadic until the Association ceased in 1986. According to his calculations Stockhill would owe $13,200 and Strand Aviation would owe $12,000, going back to when the fees were in effect. He said if the City was going to collect those fees the Airport Association would have to assign to the City its right to collect those fees. There was a discussion on who had paid their fees. C. Furlong asked • Ne.ier what he thought the chances were for collecting the past due -4- w 0 fees, he said the chances were bad. He said we could win on paper but not in the pocketbook. Mike Strand said if the City was to go back and collect from other users, they should collect from them all, not just Stockhill and Strand. He said there were a lot of users who did not pay. Mike withdrew his request for a refund of $3600, and requested that $1200 be credited towards the $50 per month, and he would continue to pay the fuel taxes and the parking fees. He also suggested that Eagle Aviation be made to pay $50 per month from the time they started up to the end of 1987. MOTION: C. Atkinson made a motion that the City Attorney drop his efforts to collect FBO fees prior to January 1, 1988. Hopkins seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Mike Strand's request for a $1200 credit was then discussed. C. A. Neier said he felt we should credit Mike Strand's account only with $50 per month paid as of January 1, 1988 when the. City took over the Airport. Mike Strand said he felt he should be allowed to be credited with the $1200. He said things have been bad out at the airport and he could really use the money. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved that the Committee recommend to the Council to forgive Mike Strand's FBO payment of $50 a month for the future up to $1200. C. Hopkins seconded but said he was concerned of the legality of giving the credit. Neier said the Council had the authority to do that. He said his chief concern was that we don't get into a situation out there where we're not collecting enough to maintain the airport. C. Furlong said he thought Mike Strand's proposal was outrageous, he doesn't think we should perpetuate the error. He said he will support the business as of January 1, 1988. He opposes the motion before the committee and will oppose it on the floor. C. Hopkins disagreed, he felt that we should right what was a wrong for a long time and if there are other people out there that have a concern about this action they could come before this Committee as well. The motion was voted upon, C. Atkinson and C. Hopkins voted in favor, C. Furlong opposed. The motion will be recommended at the next Council meeting on December 5. C. Atkinson moved the meeting be. adjourned Meeting adjourned at 7:02 P.M. Shirley Hughes, Recording Secretary -5- C. Hopkins seconded.