Standing room only crowd at council meeting questions need for community center
Published by Jeff May 30th, 2007 in City.
Wednesday night’s crowd at a called Monticello City Council meeting was standing room only. On the agenda Wednesday night was discussion of the proposed community center/recreation/municipal building that has been the center point of Mayor Joe Rogers’ term to date. Members of the city council at their May 17 meeting decided to table discussion of the topic until tonight, when more details were to be presented to them. Participants included members of the Monticello Police Department and Fire Department, business leaders and other members of the community.
Mayor Joe Rogers opened the meeting by introducing Sonny Jansson, the city of Sherwood Parks Director. Jansson explained in depth the process that his city had gone through to build and develop the program of their recreation center. Sherwood’s 47,000 square foot facility, he explained, is only a recreation center and was built in 2002 at a cost of approximately $3.2 million. Monticello’s proposed facility is roughly 42,000 square feet, and the projected price tag on it is almost $10 million.
Members of the community peppered Jansson with questions, ranging from the programs that were offered in the city to how the facility supported itself financially. Sherwood, Jansson said, has a population of 24,000 and also draws about 200 of its members from the North Little Rock area. Total membership of the center is between 1600 and 1700. Operational costs for the Sherwood facility are in excess of $600,000 per year. Almost half of that is staff salaries, which Rogers says will not be as big a factor for Monticello’s proposed facility. Sherwood receives a subsidy for operational costs from the city in the form of a “hamburger tax”, which for Sherwood entails a 2% tax on all prepared foods sold. Council members and community members questioned Rogers and Jansson whether Monticello would be able to financially support such a facility with similar operational costs.
In several sharply-worded exchanges, members of the community and business leaders indicated that they opposed the downtown post office, city hall and old fire and police stations being torn down. Others questioned the decision to locate the new center on the W.C. Whaley property, saying that such a facility would not preserve the historic nature of the Main Street corridor.
Police Chief Robert Rosegrant and Fire Chief Curtis Donaldson each made presentations related to the rundown conditions of the police and fire stations, citing the need for new facilities. Several questions were asked related to whether the current facilities could be suitably renovated for continued use, either by the police and fire departments, or perhaps for use as city hall.
After almost two hours of discussion, Mayor Rogers thanked the public for coming and said that the council would deliberate later on the nature of the proposed center and its details.
MonticelloLive is pleased to present the audio podcast of the Wednesday meeeting:
You may fast forward or rewind through the podcast by dragging the slider.
Possibly Related:
fire chief’s name is Curtis Donaldson
Thanks, Jason! Sorry, Curtis. It’s been corrected.
Just random thoughts…
- Mark my words — they are vastly underestimating the operational costs of a recreation center. It’s easy to say now that you can trim staffing numbers by using volunteers or members of the university community… But once the center opens, the need — and the cost — of more paid staff will be evident. I know that the city I work for (Maumelle) ran into the same problem when they opened their community center in the first part of this decade.
- Who has seen the conceptual drawings of the site? Is there any chance that the buildings — if built — will fit with the “historic” theme of Main Street and downtown?
- The idea of a fire station near a residential neighborhood is not unheard of. For instance, nearly half of Little Rock’s 20 fire stations are in or near residential neighborhoods. Also, I would estimate that the Monticello Fire Department responds to between 100-150 calls a year — the the worry of constant sirens is unfounded.
- Is a fire station in the center of town neccessary? Would it be better to have three *staffed* stations equally spread through town to allow protection to the city today and to the new parts of the city that Monticello is sure to add through future expansion? Perhaps building two stations in better geographical locations — north and east, maybe — would be better than building one headquarters station that is landlocked in the center of town.