Accountant Darwin Viker hit the nail on the head when he told the Austin City Council’s finance committee that one side of being a financially healthy city was lots of funding requests.

Wednesday, May 24, 2000

Accountant Darwin Viker hit the nail on the head when he told the Austin City Council’s finance committee that one side of being a financially healthy city was lots of funding requests.

Monday’s two-hour finance meeting bore out that observation. First on the agenda was a school district delegation of four, headed by school board member Amy Baskin and Superintendent James Hess. Second was a delegation of private citizens with gymnastics on their mind.

School district representatives asked for a $68,000 loan to relocate a baseball field from Wescott Field to Todd Park. The field will be removed to make way for an all-purpose field in the first stage of the Wescott renovation. The work at Todd Park would have to begin this summer, however, to lay the ground work, and the group of community members who are spearheading the renovation efforts don’t have any money yet, hence the request for a loan.

"We do have some strong commitments," Baskin assured the council. "We haven’t been ready to start fund raising yet."

The first phase of the renovation has been estimated at $1 million, and would include making a new track and field area, removing the old track from the football-soccer field and relocating the baseball field at Todd Park.

Third Ward council member Dick Lang wanted to know whether there had been a lot of negative comments about the project, because of the district’s financial problems in the past.

"This (Wescott Field) is a community project, not a school district project," Baskin explained. "It wouldn’t be fair to the taxpayers to use district money to move a baseball field when we’ve had to cut teachers from the classrooms."

Although Baskin said she didn’t expect a response at the meeting, the members of the finance committee – Chairwoman Jeanne Poppe, council member at-large Dick Chaffee and Lang – voted unanimously to loan the district the requested $68,000 at no interest with the understanding that the city would be the first to be paid back once the fund raising was finished.

The money will come out of $275,000 originally set aside to match the requested – and subsequently denied – state grant to the Paramount Theatre.

Unanswered at the meeting was the question of who would pay the much larger cost for installing bathrooms, lights and additional parking at the diamond that the district had earmarked for a potential future undertaking.

However, Park and Recreation Director Denny Maschka told the committee he felt that the lights and other items should come sooner rather than later.

"We’ve never had lights at the other field, although we agree they’re wonderful things to have," Baskin said. "Right now we just want to move a baseball field, that’s all. The question of lighting will have to be left for the future. … Maybe fund raising will go very well and we’ll have lots to spend on the extras."

As proposed, the Todd Park baseball diamond would be owned by the city, with maintenance shared between city and school district employees, depending upon who was using the field next. The field also could be used during tournaments, for Little League and as a replacement field when Marcusen Park is flooded.

The second delegation didn’t get such a quick answer.

This group of gymnastics-minded citizens headed by Chris Astrup were after assistance with land or an existing building from the city in which to start a private gymnastics club.

"Consider it like a new business coming into town, a situation where you would sell a plot of land for a dollar," Astrup said. " … We’re looking for private funding, not public. Although we’d gladly take any financial help, what we’re really looking for is a piece of land where we can build."

What they were really looking for was part of Riverside Arena, an idea Maschka vetoed immediately. Maschka explained that the idea behind making the arena into a community center was to make it available for a number of different activities, and that the way an area has to be set up for gymnastics makes it too specific.

Jim Stiles has been looking into ideas for setting up a better feeder program for the high school gymnastics team for several years. Now is the time, Stiles said, because the group has an excellent coach, Kathy Nelson, who wants to start a club here. A number of area gymnasts commute to the club Nelson directs in Rochester for instruction.

"We could see a reverse commute if we can get Kathy set up here," Austin High School assistant gymnastics coach Mark Raymond said. "She’s that good and she does produce top-notch gymnasts."

In the end, the only action the finance committee took was to direct the delegation to work with City Administrator Pat McGarvey to come up with a more specific request or requests for space.

After the meeting, Astrup said he was a little disappointed.

"I had hoped for a little bit more," Astrup said. "But I guess I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d hoped there would be a building available."

Also at Monday’s finance meeting, the committee:

n Heard from Darwin Viker of LAWCO, who reported that the audit of the city for 1999 was clear of problems. Viker cautioned the city to take care to avoid any "erosion of interest income" from overspending.

n Voted to give the $11,431 from the sale of land at the intersection of First Drive and Fourth Avenue NW to the Park and Recreation Department. The money will go to the skate park (an additional $5,000) for further renovations and Wildwood Park for playground equipment.

n Denied a request from Harold Nelson, who contracts with the city to mow delinquent properties, to pay the sales tax Nelson hadn’t paid to the state since 1993, when governmental bodies became responsible for paying sales tax. Lang pointed out that it was Nelson’s responsibility and that it would be a bad precedent to set for the city. Nelson has been told to pay $514.20 to the state.