The Austin City Council is ready to take the first step across the line in the sand that has been the proposed multipurpose arena.

Tuesday, April 04, 2000

The Austin City Council is ready to take the first step across the line in the sand that has been the proposed multipurpose arena.

They argued plenty, but when it came to a straw vote at Monday’s work session, six out of seven Austin City Council members were in favor of upping the ante to bring the county’s multipurpose arena project to fruition. What the City Council plans to offer the Mower County Board of Commissioners is exactly half the difference between the original estimate of $4.2 million and an acceptable revised estimate of $5.5 million – or up to $650,000 each above and beyond what is already pledged.

For the city, the $650,000 would be in addition to $250,000 already pledged, plus an estimated $200,000 in equipment promised to the county.

However, city staff asked that the county pay the costs upfront. The city then would pay the $650,000 back over a five-year period, $130,000 a year, reimbursing the county for its costs but with no interest.

Gloria Nordin cast the lone "nay" vote. The Third Ward council member favors building a second sheet of practice ice on the flood fringe south of Riverside Arena. Nor does she think the multipurpose arena is practical or likely. After the meeting was adjourned, Nordin still was of the same mind.

"I want an option," she told city staff and fellow council members. "I want it (the land next to Riverside) surveyed and I want an idea of what it would cost to put a second sheet there. Unfortunately, I don’t have the power to get that done."

City Engineer Jon Erichson said he believed the cost of adding a second sheet of ice to Riverside probably would exceed $2 million.

While Nordin’s views were the most extreme, council member at-large Dick Chaffee argued strongly for some assurances from the county before the city signed on for any more funding. Specifically, Chaffee mentioned three items – the proposed matching loans from the city and the county for the Paramount Theatre if the theater passes the state bonding bill, the long-delayed sale of the county property needed for phase II of the city’s Courtyard Apartments, and the renovation of Riverside Arena into a community center – that he felt the two governments needed to agree on or fund together.

"Going in with all these issues unresolved is just plain old bad business," Chaffee told the council. "… I want some kind of assurance from these people that they’re going to play ball."

Even with strong support from Second Ward council member Roger Boughton, Chaffee was overruled by fellow veteran council member Jeanne Poppe and Mayor Bonnie Rietz, who agreed there were many issues, but disagreed that those issues belonged on the same table.

"I don’t want to throw too many things into the mix," Poppe said. "I think personalities need to be taken out of this and we need to think about what’s good for the community. Two sheets of ice at the fairgrounds will be good. I want us to work this out."

Lang, on the majority side for a change, told the council to look "at the big picture."

"I’ve been hearing for years from people how much we need another Shaw gym," Lang said. "If we can get the ice at the multipurpose arena and make Riverside into a community center, we have a place just like that. … We’ve got to focus on one project and get it done and agreed upon, and then focus on the next one."

Rietz will present the city’s proposal, which is being drafted by city staff today, in writing to the Mower County Board at a 9 a.m. Wednesday meeting in the courthouse. With her will be several members of the council as well as city staff who have been working with county staff for the past six weeks to determine the final estimate on the building.

Now the question is what the County Board will say.

Rietz, council members and staff are hoping for an agreement at best, and a "we’ll think about it" as most likely.

"This project needs to move forward," Rietz said. "It’s been long enough."