Park deal final between city and school board

EDMONTON — It’s official.

Metcalfe County students will continue to play football, baseball, softball and tennis at Edmonton Memorial Park.

An agreement between the city of Edmonton and the Metcalfe County Board of Education for use of the athletic facilities at Edmonton Memorial Park was unanimously approved Monday night by the school board.

The school board’s action falls on the heels of the Edmonton City Council’s decision Friday night to approve the same agreement with a vote of 5-1.

Board member Greg Harris commended the two governing bodies for their efforts in working out the agreement.

“I wanted to thank everyone who worked so hard to negotiate this contract for the city park. I think it’s very (important) to our community that our children have a nice place to play; a showplace park — something we can all be proud of,” he said.

The four-year user/maintenance agreement states that the school system is allowed to use the athletic facilities at the park at a cost of $12,000 per year. The agreement will automatically renew from year to year unless either party had provided notice of termination, in writing, to the other party no later than 60 days prior to the termination date.

Prior to agreeing on a fee of $12,000 per year, the city council turned down a proposal from the school board that would have paid the city $17,500 per year for use of the park for a period of four years by a vote of 3 to 2.

The city council agreed to reconsider the agreement at the urging of Councilman Coy Wilson, who initially abstained from voting on the issue.

The $17,500 proposed agreement followed the original agreement between the city and the school board, during which the school board paid $30,000 per year over a period of four years. When the original contract between the city and the board of education expired, Garrett and Thompson began negotiating a new contract that covered only the use and maintenance of the park’s athletic facilities.

“I know this has been a tough situation for our community and it was never intended to be, but I think things have all worked out in the end and I want to express my appreciation to Mayor (Howard) Garrett and the city council. Mayor Garrett said eight years ago he had a vision of building a city park in Edmonton and when he indicated that to me one day I began to think how can we get involved to make it better,” said Steve Thompson, school board chairman.

Over the next year Thompson said he and Garrett worked out an agreement that would allow the board of education to get involved and “make it better for all age groups.”

Per the agreement the city council agreed to let the school board use the park’s athletic facilities at a cost of $30,000 per year for a period of four years. Thompson said he and Garrett discussed the board of education and the city entering into a user/maintenance agreement at the end of the initial four-years.

“That’s where we had landed. The park is an asset to this community and the school board is privileged to be part of that,” Thompson said, adding the school board wants to be a part of the community and to be able to take part in something so special for a community the size of Edmonton says a lot about the cooperation of everyone involved. “We hope our partnership is going to be on and on and not just on city parks but the other areas we can venture into help students in our community. It’s been a lot of hard work but we’ve reached an agreement that hopefully everyone understands is for the benefit of this community, especially our kids.”

Some parents were present at the meeting to witness the board of education’s actions.

Ellen Holley, who has two boys who play football, was pleased to see the board of education finalize the agreement.

“I love it. I’m so glad they kept to an agreement and it’s all worked out,” she said.

Her biggest fear during the negotiation process was that a wedge between the city and the school board would form.

Holley’s boys turned out for the city council meeting Friday and were happy to learn that the city council was willing to accept the board of education’s offer of $12,000 per year for a period of four years.

“They were giddy,” she said. “They got their home back. They are very happy. We are all very happy.”

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