Item 3 . Private property owner's request for license to use city street
- "We can't go to the state (to secure additional gas well drilling permits) until we have the right to go across (Alpha Drive)" "Please dont give in to the hysteria about residential drilling." Mr. Klotzman, asking for a legal license to use a portion of Alpha Drive, in order to expand the number of gas wells that Bass Energy (the company suing the city for $ 6 million) can drill for Klotzman on or near Alpha Park.
- "I am not interested in turning Alpha Park into Gas Well Alley." Kathy Murphy, Ward 1 Councilwoman.
- "I'm in the business of what-ifs." "This (request) opens a pandora's box." My hero of the day, Fire Chief Turner.
- "Do other cities give licenses to private individuals (versus utility companies) to use city streets?" "No.""No." "No.""No." Question by Mayor Coleman. Repsonses by the acting city engineer, the acting building commissioner, Fire Chief Turner, and the city's Service Director.
This is the second time that Mr. Klotzman has approached the city, asking for a license that would allow him to legally connect privately-owned property on both sides of Alpha Drive for purposes of drilling gas wells.
Bass Energy has already obtained a permit to put a gas well on Klotzman's Alpha Park property, but Klotzman wants to combine that property with other acreage on the other side of Alpha Drive, in order to increase the number of gas wells drilled in that area. To do this, he has to obtain a license to use Alpha Drive, a city-owned street. If the city says no---which is an answer that Klotzman was clearly unwilling to accept last night---then he will still be able to install one well on his own property on the east side of Alpha Drive, but he will not be able to use that property to create a large, multi-well drilling site that straddles both sides of Alpha Drive.
Item 9. Business proposal by Team Energetics, a private fitness club
- "I have not read the proposal, but I am dead set against it" Ted Anderson, Ward 4 Councilman.
A recent Sun Messenger article reported that Team Energetics, a fitness club that offers conditioning training to Mayfield High School athletes, hoped to enter into a business partnership with several local cities. As descibed in the story, the club intended to ask for yearly payments from the cities, in exchange for offering free and/or discounted memberships to city employees and residents.
Most of the council members took the time to read the proposed contract and to entertain the idea before deciding not to support Team Energetic's proposal.
Item 4. Old Pool House Renovation Project
- "The lowest bid (which did not meet bid specifications) totaled $269,000. The lowest compliant bid was $ 299,000." City Service Director, Tom Evans.
- "This (project) started at $70,000. Then it became $ 150,000. Now it's $300,000. Is this feasible?" Scott Mills, Council President.
- "One party has challenged the low bid and has told us their suspicion that it is an underbid. We don't want any (legal) exposure." "I think we should do a work session with Park & Recreation (Commission) to meet and work with them." Cathy Murphy, Ward 1 Councilwoman.
- "We (the Park & Recreation Commission) did this (the design for the proposed renovation project) as minimally as possible already." "I am looking at $193,000 (the noncompliant low bid for the building only). It's a little high." "All the other stuff (the other work necessitated by the proposed renovation) I'm not looking at it." "You take Home Days away, and it all disappears." Ted Anderson, Ward 4 Councilman.
After presenting the Park & Recreation Committee's (P&R) new 5 year plan for the park to council late last fall, Councilman Anderson announced that the Committee's top priority project was to spend taxpayer money (not money from their own, separate funds) to renovate the Old Pool House building for use by the 8 week summer day camp program. Mr. Valentino, a member of P&R (and candidate for Ward 3 council seat), also insisted that the outdoor electrical outlets (used for Home Days) should be removed as part of the project. The price tag for the project they told council was $75,000.
(As background, the campers traditionally number around 100. They use Millridge School---at an average yearly cost of less than $200 (over the last five years)---on rain days. Otherwise, they use the existing pavillions in the park as their home base on camp days.)
A member of the city's Architectural Review Board told council several months later that he thought that the project would cost $150,00---not the $75,000 reported to council.
The proposed renovation entails much more than simply moving a few walls and renovating existing bathrooms in the Old Pool House building and is much more than a simple indoor camp shelter. The P&R-approved drawing includes both large and small meeting rooms for approximately 190 people and a new expansive outdoor porch/pavillion. In fact, the existing building is a small component of the project, as currently designed.
Also, because the Old Pool House building is currently in use---the Service Department has a workshop in the building, which is used for performing park maintenance tasks, and Home Days and the baseball teams use the building for winter storage---the project necessarily includes relocating both the storage and the workshop, as well as replacing the outdoor electrical outlets per Mr. Valentino.
Item 8. City Hall Church Property
- "When we purchased it, we had no identifiable need for the building." Councilwoman Cathy Murphy
- "Right". Mayor Coleman.
- "It was unpleasant to be in there (when council toured the church building last year)." Councilman Frank Legan, who, in the press, has been trying to convince the public that the building is useable.
- " I cant believe that we can't renovate it for some government use." "I don't want to spend $500,000 for a lawn." Councilman Ed Hargate.
The Back Story.
According to sworn deposition testimony, Bass Energy told city officials that the then-existing city hall property was not big enough for a gas well, but with the church property, they'd have enough space to drill a gas well at city hall. The city began taking steps after that meeting to buy the church property. It was purchased for $ 300,000 in late 2007.
The city got an estimate for razing the building, including removal of the septic tank and the parking lot: $ 137,000.
More than a year ago, members of the public were barred from accompanying council on a tour of the building---for safety reasons. The church building has a septic system, a leaking roof, and has been left unheated for several years.
The estimate for renovating the building: $ 773,000.
Stay tuned...
