Council approves additional appropriations
PLYMOUTH — The public hearing for an additional appropriation of $150,000 that would be used for the operating of the Dr. Susan Bardwell aquatic Center was held during Monday’s meeting of the Plymouth Common Council.
Clerk-treasurer Jeanine Xaver stated that the public hearing has been advertised and that the $150,000 would be paid from the Rainy Day Fund.
There was another additional appropriation in the amount of $315,000 for the East Laporte Street Footbridge Fund. Xaver stated that there is currently a cash balance of $787,000 in that fund.
“The $315,000 being requested tonight is in appropriation, which is permission to spend a portion of the existing cash in the fund,” said Xaver.
She also said that at the prior council meeting, there was a contract signed in the approximate amount of $29,200 for the footbridge project. Construction is scheduled to be let in October.
While there was no discussion concerning the footbridge project, there was plenty of discussion about the aquatic center.
Council Member Greg Compton asked if it was the City’s responsibility to pay for the aquatic center’s expenses.
“The city has no responsibility to pay any of the operational expenses of the aquatic center,” Sean Surrisi, city attorney, replied.
Compton then asked if Plymouth Community School Corporation (PCSC) and ancilla College have been reached out to for help in facilitating the center.
“There has not been a meeting with a direct ask of those other entities as of yet,” Surrisi said, adding that the intention was “to get an approval of some funds to operate the facility in the interim with the intention and hope that all of those funds would not be expended throughout the course of the year as other discussions are ongoing.”
Compton then suggested that the request be tabled and that PCSC and ancilla College be brought to the table to see if there could be a cooperative effort in keeping the aquatic center open. “The other part of it is, I think I would like to see the
advertising re-advertised mentioning in the advertisement in the hearing that this is for the pool. It didn’t say that, it said capital outlays.”
Surrisi replied to the advertisement of the public hearing that he would “venture to say that more people that are interested in this have probably heard through the news coverage than read the legal ads.”
Compton said that if tabling the request wouldn’t work out, “I think we shouldn’t just hand out over a year’s worth of expenses. I think maybe we should do it in a quarterly basis and review that to make sure it’s properly, it’s an unusual circumstance no doubt. And it’s a big expense for the city. And in the meantime, try to figure out what in the world has gone wrong with this.”
Surrisi addressed Compton’s “what in the world has gone wrong with this” statement. “A key partner has failed to live up to his obligation.”
The city attorney also clarified that approving the additional appropriation doesn’t necessarily mean all $150,000 will be spent. “This is just the authorization to be able to spend funds. There would have to be contracts and documents to figure out what, if any, of those funds would later be committed to the effort,” he said.
Compton asked Surrisi roughly how many months the aquatic center has before funding needs to be found. Surrisi clarified that the end of March would be that date.
Council Member Robert Listenberger disagreed with Compton’s suggestion of only appropriating $15,000 for the month of April.
“But we don’t know, when we’re talking to people, and they don’t know the future. Like, in May, we may not have funds to operate, it’s going to be more difficult for anybody to say ‘okay, we’ll kick in’ or whatever. So, I’d like to just get this done,” said Listenberger.
Listenberger did agree with Compton in that they need to speak with Ancilla College and PCSC. They asked Surrisi if it would be possible to set up a meeting, the city attorney said that it would be.
Most of the council members were in agreement that they would feel comfortable approving a smaller amount of funding. The amount that Compton suggested, however, was too small an amount.
When the floor was opened up to the public, there were three people that physically attended and one comment from the online attendance that commented.
The first was Leanne Senter, who volunteers her time in operating the aquatic center. She explained the operations of the aquatic center and described the activities that go on there. She also explained the pricing for memberships and for single visits.
“I’m not going to ask for money,” Senter said. “But I am going to ask for time to get it going.”
The next person to speak was Joe Martin Jr. who asked the council to support this request.
Mayor Mark Senter talked about how an aquatic center can effect economic development.
“It brings economic development to our community, to our city,” the mayor said.
Ryan Schafer said that the city should look long term in regard to operating the center. He also remarked that 2020 was a “unique year” due to COVID.
Paul Wendel commented online, asking the council to pass the $150,000 amount.
When all the comments were heard, the public hearing was closed.
Compton made a motion to approve the additional appropriations for the footbridge project and for the aquatic center. In that motion, he stated $50,000 for the aquatic center.
The motion was seconded. Then, a motion to amend it to say $75,000 instead of $50,000 was made. The amendment was passed with a vote of 5-1 with Compton voting against.
The motion to approve the additional appropriations with $75,000 for the aquatic center was unanimous.