There are two things that don’t make money, arena’s and swimming pools and the Crookston School District and City of Crookston officials met on Tuesday afternoon at the Crookston School District office to discuss the Crookston Sports Center lease agreement and the possibility of transferring pool ownership.
The meeting was a good and open dialogue between the two entities and both sides seemed to be pleased with the productive discussion. “I would like to thank the school district for inviting us for a very
productive discussion and I am hopeful we can come to some sort of a solution for both of these important amenities to people that live here and the visitors that come to our community,” said Crookston City Administrator Shannon Stassen.
City of Crookston representatives were Mayor Wayne Melbye, City Administrator Shannon Stassen, Finance Director Angel Weasner, City Councilman Steve Erickson, and Park Board Chair Don Cavalier. School District representatives were Superintendent Jeremy Olson, Business Director Laura Lyczewski, and school board members Frank Fee, Dave Davidson and Kari Miller.
Also attending the meeting were Crookston School District Transportation Director Rick Niemela and School Board Member Tim Dufault.
The main topic of discussion was the swimming pool. The meeting started with Superintendent Jeremy Olson saying they want to keep the pool open and it is good for the City of Crookston and school district and if ownership changes hand the pool manager (Cody Brekken) would keep his job. Stassen agreed that Brekken has done a great job and they would keep him on.
The school district has limited lease levy funds and they are currently using those funds on the lease agreement with the University of Minnesota Crookston, the Alternative Learning Center and storage (for money on things they don’t own.) The City of Crookston currently contributes $66,000 to the pool and they would like to see the same amount back from the school IF the City took the pool. The school district has $30,000 they could contribute to the pool, and School Board Chair Frank Fee said they don’t want to take money ($36,000) from the general fund because they want it to go to education. Superintendent Olson said the pool is better aligned to be run by the city with their Park and Rec Department and the school district will enter into an agreement in good faith, but they are limited on how much money than can contribute. Stassen said if they left the Crookston Sports Center lease flat it would save more money for the pool contribution.
Mayor Melbye said the city is in the recreation business and could offer more programming and residents have shown they don’t want to lose the pool.
The school board members and Superintendent Olson left the room to discuss an offer and after about 20 minutes they came back with an offer.
The offer to the city was just over $200,000 for the first two years ($168,000 from the pool referendum that has two years left) and $30,000 per year for the next six years for approximately $580,000 over eight years. Stassen said they would like the green space around the pool too and the school district representatives said absolutely. “I really feel like we can make this work for both entities and we are treating our taxpayers with respect and make sure we are upfront with them and have a good product,” said Olson. “It goes back to what the mission and vision of the school and the mission and vision of the city and if it fits the wheelhouses in our vision. Right now I think the city is best positioned to take on the pool. I think they might be able to have better services because of their experience and expertise. I wanted to make sure the pool director position is held harmless, which the city is very open to. We feel we have a great person in place and I think he is a great leader for the pool.”
The final discussion was the lease for the Crookston Sports Center. The Crookston School District’s lease expired June 30 and in the 2017-18 school year, they paid $112,584. The city was looking for more money in a new contract and Superintendent Olson wanted any increase to be tied the increase in state aid funding, which the city understood. Olson said if they can increase enrollment it would help them have more funding and the city growing would help that. The City has a lease agreement with UMC that is expiring at a rate of $60,000 and the Crookston Blue Line Club. “We feel there is value there, for the district and community,” said Stassen. “Nothing makes us happier than when we see that place packed with activity. That is what we want and make sure it is something the school can afford. It is a loss leader, but we see the value in it. When you have these kinds of facilities (arena and pool) you don’t make money, you minimize losses and work on efficiencies and offer enough activities to keep it busy. We want the CSC busy and we want to make sure we keep the relationship with the school strong.”
The school district is the largest tenant (as far as the lease goes) and uses the arena for boys and girls hockey, baseball, softball, tennis, football, golf, and some other sports when needed. Olson thought that the increase should go off the previous year’s state aid increase and everybody seemed to think that is fair. “I think everybody was open and honest, everyone laid the cards out on the table and talked about what the two organizations need,” said Superintendent Olson. “The entire conversation was centered around what is best for our community and making sure we maintain the pool as a valuable resource today and in the future as well.”
A decision wasn’t made because the City of Crookston will bring the numbers to the city council and see what they think and the School Board will also discuss the numbers before any decision is made. “We will take the notes that we have and discuss it at length and put together some numbers that can show some numbers over five years, eight years, that kind of thing and we will see what they (city council) say and also the Park Board as this will fall as another amenity under Parks and Recreation,” said Stassen. “It was a great meeting and I am leaving here feeling good about things and just really enjoyed working with Jeremy and the school board, it was very positive.”
Olson also said it was a positive meeting, “I think it was as successful as it could be and we have the same goals in mind and there is some potential here.”
