Claremont
While some councilors said the study could provide ideas on how to improve use of the center’s assets and make it more efficient, others questioned the need and worried that the council might not follow through with the report’s recommendations.
Councilor Bruce Temple said the council has had other surveys and studies done in the past, but has balked when it comes to spending money. Temple said he was not interested in a study if the council was not going to act on it.
Currently, the council has not been able to agree on how much to increase water rates to pay for capital improvements and cover annual operating shortfalls.
“If the recommendations are for spending more money, are we going to have the spine to do what the report tells us?” Temple asked. “When it comes to laying the money on the taxpayer, it is going to be difficult to do.”
Councilor John Simonds, the most vocal opponent of the study, said he would not vote to accept the bid from Highlands Ranch, Colo.-based Ballard King and Associates, the same company that was hired to recommend a rate structure before the community center opened in March 2013.
Simonds called the move a “slap in the face” to Parks and Recreation Director Mark Brislin, and said it was an obvious suggestion that Brislin is not properly doing his job.
“That is a tremendous amount of money to study a department (being run by a professional),” Simonds said. “He has a team. He is educated in parks and recreation.”
Others took a different view, saying they saw the expenditure as a worthwhile investment.
Mayor Charlene Lovett said she saw it as an opportunity to have another set of eyes look at the resources available to do the best possible job.
“I just don’t think that looking at getting a study is a slap in the face,” Lovett said. “It is an opportunity to bring in someone used to looking at things like community centers.”
The idea to seek bids for outside consultants to review the center’s operation came out of a request during the spring budget review for a full-time maintenance person at a cost of $60,000, which was denied by the council. Before spending more money, the council agreed it wanted to review the center to ensure it was running as efficiently as possible.
Request for proposals yielded three bids. In addition to Ballard and King, Matrix Consulting Group, of Mountain View, Calif., submitted a bid for $39,000; and Louisville, Colo.-based GreenPlay LLC submitted the highest bid, at $45,000. City Manager Guy Santagate said the city is required to take the lowest bid.
Councilors Scott Pope and Allen Damren appeared to favor the study.
Damren said a good operations audit will examine the center’s assets and how people are used and perhaps “come out with a better product,” but said the price tag bothered him.
“I’m a little stunned at the overall cost. That is really where I am stuck,” Damren said.
Councilor Nick Koloski agreed with Temple’s assessment reports ending up on a shelf and also noted that the opening of Real Steel Fitness, a new fitness center on Pleasant Street, could change the discussion, as it is expected to impact the community center’s membership.
“We may want to wait a little,” Koloski said.
As a first step, the council agreed with a recommendation from Councilor Carolyn Towle to have the Parks and Recreation Commission, of which she is a member, look at the proposal Ballard and King submitted prior to the center’s opening.
The company recommended an annual membership fee of $500 for a family, but the fee instead was set at $300 (it has since increased to $350). Current individual rates for adults, youth and seniors are close to what Ballard and King recommended before the center opened.
There is expected to be a resolution to spend the money to conduct the study during the council’s Oct. 12 meeting.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
