Okay, I’m going to speak slowly here so that I am not misunderstood: The parking lot is a city-owned parking lot. The church is building their own parking lot as per the building requirements specified by the City Planning Department. There are two different parking lots. The church builds theirs, and the City does likewise. Now, if the church needs overflow parking on Sunday mornings, they have an agreement with the city to use the city-owned parking lot. Why ten bucks a year? Because in order for there to be a contract, there has to be “consideration”, or the exchange of something real and valuable. That’s why you see things like a nominal fee contract or a one-dollar buyout at the end of a lease. The monetary consideration makes the exchange legal and binding. I wanted to make sure I had this right. I do. This has been verified by the Communicator, the Monitor, and the Tribune editors yesterday afternoon. I also called Marty MacDonald about a quarter to six last evening. I asked him to expand upon the parking lot agreement and any scheduled programs on Sunday mornings during the “priority hours”. He stated that they do not run youth programs on Sunday mornings and, aside from four softball tournaments a year, they refrain from scheduling activities on Sunday mornings altogether. He did state they will program adult softball leagues on Sunday afternoons. He further stated that if the city were to have a two-day art festival, they maintain control of the parking lot. There are provisions in the license agreement that give city final control over the parking lot and damages, general maintenance costs that occur in church overflow situations are the burden of the church. Marty also pointed out that directly across from where the church will be building is a brand new elementary school with a wide open parking lot that can be used by anyone on the weekends. I asked him about the lot split and costs associated with that because a lot has been made of the $27,000 difference between what the church paid and what the city paid for the property. He told me wished he talked about that during the meeting but the public distraction that Robbie Olson created by verbally attacking Councilman Dunn threw things out the window The costs associated with the land surveys, lot splits, due diligence reports, appraisal, etc. were taken on by the church. So, there were no other taxpayer expenses other than land costs and typical closing fees. I don’t know what the personal vendetta is between Robbie Olson and the COH, Will Dunn, and others, but it seems to have escalated to the point of obsession. I was told that he actually waited for Will to leave the meeting. Waited. That’s scary. I hope that one of the media outlets who was there picked up on this and will report on it. People who know me know that I have no problem pointing out when I think the City is wrong. If you go back and look at my posts on the Peed property deal, you will find that I started the thread and kept the pressure on until the Council finally backed out of the deal. I also criticized the way they threw good money after bad by keeping their options open and then paying penalties to the seller. I have spoken out against prayer at council meetings and having council meetings in a church. To the dismay of some, I believe that government should be inclusive of everyone and that a particular religion or belief, or lack thereof, shouldn’t influence the process of governing. I do not attend church and have no affiliation with Community of Hope. Rusty Akers wouldn’t know who I was if he found me sitting in his lap with a lollipop. Nevertheless, I have absolutely no doubt that he is doing the best thing for his congregation and the best thing for the community. You can bash the city, Marty, COH, etc. but they all did a darn good job on this deal. They should be recognized for doing a deal for the purpose of benefit to the community rather than the personal interest of individuals. |