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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - February 11, 2020 1 Mayor Jerry Merrill Council Members: Christopher Mann Jordan Busby Mikel Walker Tisha Flora Brad Wolfe Bryanna Johnson City Staff: Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Matt Nielson – Finance Officer Keith Davidson – Public Works Director Alan Parkinson – Planning & Zoning Administrator Scott Johnson – Economic Development Director Deborah Lovejoy – City Clerk 5:30 P.M. City Hall Roll Call of Council Members: Attending: Council Member Flora, Council Member Mann, Council Member Johnson, Council Member Wolfe, Council President Busby and Mayor Merrill. Council Member Walker joined the meeting via cell phone. A. Discussion regarding the cost projections for the Baseball Quad – Keith Davidson Mayor Merrill welcomed everyone to the City Council Work Meeting. He thanked the audience members for the interest they have shown with this project and for the community. There were rumors the city was going to take money from the Street Funds to pay for the baseball quad. The city is not taking any money from the Street Budget because that would be illegal. Mayor Merrill explained the discussion to build a baseball/softball complex has been in question for many years. The city has built multi-use fields at Riverside Park. The different baseball/softball leagues and associations have struggled in Rexburg due to the lack of baseball fields. A rendering of the proposed baseball quad was viewed on the overhead screen. Public Works Director Davidson said when the initial cost projections for the baseball quad were determined, they discussed several options to decrease the expenses for the quad. Some of those cuts included concrete work and reducing the size of the parking lot. There were discussions with the School Districts to request the utilization of their parking lot. There are areas for future expansion. In the upper left corner grass will be planted. Council Member Mann asked, the concrete work cut from the initial design, what will go in its place? Public Works Director Davidson said grass will be planted in place of a concrete path. Public Works Director Davidson said the sprinkler systems from the current fields will be utilized to reduce the expenses. The existing grass will be transplanted to the new fields. City Staff was reviewed many different options to reduce the expenses. Mayor Merrill mentioned there was 1.6 million dollars collected from different sources for the baseball quad. Some people have indicated the 1.6 million dollars was budgeted for the baseball quad that is not the case. The city knew the cost for the baseball quad was going to exceed the 1.6 million dollars. 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 x 2101 Fax: 208.359.3022 deborahl@rexburg.org www.rexburg.org City Council “Work Meeting” Minutes February 11, 2020 2 Mayor Merrill said city staff has meet with several representatives from the baseball leagues. They discussed different ideas for field usages to save money. The city’s goal is to make the baseball quad as usable as possible to draw people to Rexburg and to have a place for the children to play baseball. Zach Sutton said he has served as the President of the Madison Baseball Association for a number of years. There has been a need for more baseball fields in Rexburg for over 30 years. The lack of fields has created challenges for baseball tournaments and the different leagues. He said not only is it difficult to find fields to hold games but even more difficult is finding fields to practice on. Last year they estimated 500 children participate in baseball in Madison County alone; this number doesn’t include the children participating in softball. The need for the baseball quad is high. Mr. Sutton indicated he met with a representative from the City of Idaho Falls to discuss the number of non-school baseball fields available. They have a total of 23 baseball fields throughout the City of Idaho Falls. The City of Blackfoot has a total of nine non-school baseball fields. Pocatello has over 25 baseball fields and the City of St. Anthony has seven. He mentioned Rexburg does a fantastic job of maintaining the baseball fields; however, there just isn’t enough fields to accommodate the demand. Mr. Sutton said the location for the proposed baseball quad is a great location. There has been discussion about building the baseball quad without lights. The games are mostly played in the spring when sunset is around seven o’clock in the evening and there isn’t enough daylight to schedule games past seven o’clock. He said without the lights, they would only be able to play four games. There are baseball fields at Smith Park; however, because it’s a public park they compete with other patrons to use the fields. The baseball quad is a tremendous need for the community and he believes the city is behind the times in providing more baseball fields. Mayor Merrill mentioned Council Member Walker joined the meeting via cell phone at 5:48 P.M. Council Member Johnson asked for clarification regarding the set budget for Fiscal Year 2020. The budget item for the baseball quad was set at 1.7 million dollars. Mayor Merrill explained the 1.7 million dollar is money saved and set aside for the baseball quad. The actual costs to build the quad was not known at the time the money was set aside. Now, there are plans drawn, estimates and bids received to know the actual costs. Council Member Flora indicated when funds are set aside to complete a project that is the budget. She mentioned there are three options: 1. Use the budget amount of 1.7 million dollars to build a baseball quad. 2. Compromise on which items can be removed and possibly added later. 3. Or fund the entire project at the projected cost of $2,569,600; however, she does not feel comfortable with funding that amount. Council Member Flora said she prefers to cut back on some of the items to reduce the expenses. Mr. Sutton said there are three current baseball fields with lights, it doesn’t make sense to build a complex like the one being dicussed without lights. The baseball games aren’t able to start sooner in the day because parents aren’t off work to take their children to the game. Discussion regarding number of games scheduled during the day and the time of when the last game starts. Mayor Merrill mentioned there were bids received from two different companies for the baseball quad lights. The bids came in at exactly the same amount. When city staff asked the two companies to upgrade the lights to LED. One of the companies said they would upgrade the lights at no additional cost. The other company said it would cost $80,000 more to upgrade to LED. Mr. Sutton said the City of Idaho Falls has a large adult softball league and almost all of their games start at or after 7:00 p.m. The City of Rexburg used to have a baseball/softball adult league. Seth Robins said he is a member of the Girls Softball Association. He said if the work on the baseball quad begins in the spring, it could potentially take out two softball fields. He wondered if 3 the peripheral work could begin first. Mayor Merrill replied city staff has considered the option of preserving those fields until spring and into July to not hinder the baseball season. Kristi Bennion asked for clarification regarding the funds allocated for the baseball quad project and which accounts the remaining money needed to fund the project will come from? Mayor Merrill reviewed the funding sources. Mayor Merrill mentioned other possible funding sources including, Madison County, Rocky Mountain Power and private donors. Mrs. Bennion explained she is on the City’s Parks Committee and she is concerned with the $300,000 transfer from the Parks Impact Fund. She said she received a letter from the city regarding plans for the Barney Dairy and Steiner Parks. She asked if those plans will be postponed due to the fund transfer for the baseball quad. Mayor Merrill said the city is applying for grants to fund some of the items for the Barney Dairy Park. Council Member Flora clarified when a million dollars of the budget is spent on one project ultimately the city is saying no to other projects. Mrs. Bennion questioned if there have been other city projects that have gone over budget by one million dollars. Mayor Merrill replied yes, there have been several projects that have been over budget. Mayor Merrill pointed out the longer the city waits to complete the baseball quad the more expensive it becomes. He emphasized how important it is to complete the project correctly. There has been discussion about installing the lights later; however, waiting to install the lights will end up costing more money. Council Member Wolfe explained a transfer from the General Fund of $570,000 causes some concern; however, the funds are available to complete the project correctly. He said he has been working on several solutions to be able to complete the baseball quad completely including lights. He has reached out to other entities for donations. Those entities would be willing to sponsor sections of the baseball quad as long as those sections are named after the sponsoring entity. The estimated number of possible donations from these entities is about one million dollars. Council Member Flora thanked Council Member Wolfe for his work in reaching out to possible sponsors. She said a good compromise for her would be for the city to fund 2.1 million dollars for the baseball quad. There are items in the project that may need to be postponed in order to stay within the 2.1 million dollars. One of those items is the concession building. Josh Garner indicated his family donated the land where the baseball quad is being proposed. The city residents have waited a long time to have the baseball fields built. Mayor Merrill said the concession stand, restrooms and storage building could be built later; however, the preference is to build the entire project as planned. He believes enough funds will be collected to complete the project as planned. The decision before City Council tonight is to make the commitment to fund the project at a level they feel comfortable with. Josh Garner said there are people in the community willing to donate to the baseball program. His baseball team was able to raise $12,000 in three weeks. Mr. Garner said there is a need for the baseball fields and this may be the city’s only opportunity to have a baseball quad built. 4 Council Member Mann asked the following questions: Are the bleachers included in the bid amount? What is the cost for the bleachers? Mayor Merrill replied the bleachers are not included in the bid. Council Member Mann questioned if the plans include a storage unit and does the city own baseball equipment? Mayor Merrill said the plans include a storage unit and the city owns some baseball equipment. Council Member Mann said a commitment from Madison County to participate in the cost for the baseball quad is important. He asked if the leagues will be charged to use the baseball quad. Mayor Merrill said the leagues will need to pay field preparation fees. Madison County Commissioner Todd Smith said he mentioned the project to the commissioners; however, they did not discuss the project in detail because it was not an agenda item. He believes they are interested in participating. They will discuss the project at their next commissioner’s meeting. There may be some in-kind work the county could assist with for the project. Discussion regarding the need for proper lighting for the baseball quad. Kevin Flanary quoted “if you build it they will come” this truly is the case with the baseball quad. He mentioned Rexburg Rapids people come from all over the surrounding areas to use the pool. There has been a lot of discussion about the expenses to build this project; however, not much discussion about the opportunity to build a community economically. The hardship of not having sufficient baseball fields has been placed on the children desiring to play baseball. The city has also suffered because of the loss of business baseball tournaments generate for a city. He compared the population of Montpelier with Rexburg. Montpelier has less than 3,000 residents, they host eight baseball/softball tournaments a year bringing in millions of dollars to their economy. The City of Montpelier has invested in their children. There has been costs in loss of opportunity for the children and in revenues for Rexburg businesses due to not being able to host baseball tournaments. The City of Rexburg needs to invest in the children and the progression of the city. Roland Griffith said he was not born and raised in Rexburg; however, he spent 43 years of his life in public service some of those years he was elected. As elected officials, the cost benefit analysis is reviewed. He asked Council Member Mann to state a negative outcome if the baseball quad is built. He said the reason he asked this question to Council Member Mann is do to his position with the Chamber of Commerce. When people look to moving into an all American city, that city normal has nice big baseball fields which Rexburg is not there yet. He asked what the Chamber of Commerce is going to do to help the city in bringing more people here. Mayor Merrill said Council Member Mann works really hard to promote Rexburg and the business community. Council Member Busby said he agrees with Council Member Flora of budgeting 2.1 million dollars to build the baseball quad. He also agrees with Council Member Wolfe to seek donations for the remaining amount, this will allow the baseball patrons the opportunity to donate as well. Mr. Sutton said he would prefer City Council to approve to build the baseball quad to its entirety and still seek donations. Jamie Smith said her kids grew up playing soccer and they rock climb; however, she is in favor of community recreation. Her thoughts at the start of the meeting was a million dollars is too much to be over budget and ready to say, they need to wait another year until the funds are raised. She said she agrees with setting a dollar amount and raise the remaining costs. There is a small percentage of citizens being represented here tonight and perception is important when spending tax payers monies. Council Member Wolfe said he has coached baseball and football. He believes team sports are very important for children to participate in. There are life lessons learned in team sports. Mayor Merrill mentioned Council Member Wolfe coached NFL Player Aaron Rogers in Grid Kid Football Program Discussion 5 Mr. Woodcock mentioned the cost to build the concession stand will be more expensive if built later. Council Member Flora moved to approve 2.1 million dollars to build the baseball quad with the transfer amounts from the General Fund and Parks Impact remain the same percentage; Council Member Johnson seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Mann Council Member Johnson Council Member Walker Council Member Wolfe Council President Busby The motion carried Adjournment 8:47 P.M. APPROVED: ________________________________ Jerry Merrill, Mayor Attest: _____________________________ Marianna Gonzalez, Deputy City Clerk