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City, Kidsports discuss terms of partnership

Tom Lotshaw | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 6 months AGO
by Tom Lotshaw
| January 15, 2013 9:00 PM

Kidsports and the Kalispell City Council are still trying to iron out a formal agreement that would govern their partnership and the growing youth sports complex for years to come.

Talks are ongoing after the City Council voted 6-3 in December to spend $2.26 million on a permanent easement for the facility developed on Montana school trust land. 

A draft 40-year agreement presented for review on Monday raised a few sticking points for some City Council members.

Among those points was concern about the agreement’s length and the ease by which terms could be modified. “I just think we need to have some points along the way to sit down and look at it, evaluate it and move along,” council member Tim Kluesner said.

Under the proposed agreement, nonprofit Kidsports would try to privately raise as much or more money than the $2.26 million Kalispell spent on the easement. The goal is to raise that money within five years, Kidsports Director Dan Johns said.

Kidsports would spend money from the campaign to build more sports fields, improve parking and access roads at the complex and possibly even complete construction of Four Mile Drive out to Stillwater Road.

Extending Four Mile Drive is estimated to cost more than $1.6 million if it’s built to urban standards and would require cooperation from the state of Montana and a private developer because both have right-of-way interests in that area.

While completing Four Mile Drive would benefit the city, council member Bob Hafferman questioned saddling Kidsports with the project, saying its cost could be spread among other future developers. “I don’t believe it’s the responsibility of Kidsports to construct Four Mile Drive all the way through,” he said.

Freed from its ever-increasing lease payments to the state of Montana, Kidsports offered to start paying $20,000 a year to help cover Kalispell’s maintenance costs at the complex.

That contribution would come from the $25 user fee Kidsports charges for its sports programs. With an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 participants in its various leagues, those fees raise between $48,000 and $60,000 a year.

Mayor Tammi Fisher questioned whether that’s enough of a contribution, especially if the figure is set for 40 years. Fisher proposed that Kidsports pay $20,000 or 50 percent of the user fees it collects each year, whichever is greater, or else agree to take on more of Kalispell’s maintenance duties.

Pointing to the voter-approved lease with Kalispell Golf Association, Fisher said she wants to see equity in the city’s land leases. The golf association handles its own maintenance and pays the city a percentage of its gross income each year. 

“Kidsports will never be able to fund maintenance on this. Their user costs would be astronomical,” Fisher said. “We subsidize that cost because it’s the right thing to do at a certain level. I’m just saying the contribution should be more.”

Council member Jim Atkinson and others disagreed with comparing Kidsports to the golf course. They also argued that Kidsports and its volunteers are best suited to handle the user fee money to improve the sports complex.

“If Kidsports didn’t exist, it would be fantastic for the city to have an entity like they have and the city would put all sorts of money in to make that work to build up the community the way they do,” Atkinson said. “I would be very much in favor of doing as little as possible to hamper Kidsports and their opportunities to do what they do.”

Kidsports Treasurer Justin Sliter said the nonprofit has built an outstanding facility for Kalispell, putting in about $4 million in improvements that now belong to the city.

“You didn’t have to bond for it, you didn’t have to charge any mills for it ... The nonprofit and its donors have put that on a platter and it continues to be a great partnership,” Sliter told the City Council. “Until that easement was purchased, Kidsports didn’t assist with maintenance costs at all, and now we’re suggesting $20,000. That probably shouldn’t go on for 40 years, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Under the draft agreement, Kalispell would agree to maintain the complex’s sports fields, landscaping, roads and parking areas, water and sewer utilities and permanent fencing.

Council member Kari Gabriel said the city’s maintenance costs already have grown from $20,000 to $30,000 a year when the sports fields were on city-owned land in south Kalispell in the 1990s to upwards of $140,000 a year now. 

Those maintenance costs will grow each year because of inflation and as Kidsports improves and expands the facility. And the only other dedicated revenue source Kalispell has is a portion of the city’s general fund levy that’s dedicated to maintaining Kidsports and the city’s other parks, Parks and Recreation Director Mike Baker said.

Council member Jeff Zauner suggested a reserve fund so money is available to keep the athletic complex in top-notch shape. “Let’s plan for the future. Let’s build for the future and to maintain a fantastic complex not only for tomorrow but for 40 years down the road,” he said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.

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