News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Crossville City Council will consider a memorandum of understanding for a potential Recreation Center during its meeting next week.
City Attorney Randall York told the council during the Tuesday work session that the memorandum would outline the responsibilities of the city as well as the Putnam County YMCA, a possible partner for the prospective project. York said the document states that the YMCA will aim to raise $10 million for the center within five years, which will be split 80/20 with the city in Crossville’s favor.
“This has not been approved by YMCA,” York said. “They have seen, seen part of it, and as I understand it we’re probably in pretty much agreement on everything, but that their board has not approved that yet.”
York said the agreement also declares the YMCA responsible for staffing, employee management, and building upkeep at the center. He said a separate operating agreement would be written after the memorandum is approved that would detail the operations and management of the facility much more in-depth.
York said the city cannot move forward on getting bonds or taking other actions towards creating the rec center until all agreements are approved by the city, the YMCA, and the city’s sports authority.
“We just got to have complete agreement on the front end,” York said. “This is not something that we will agree to six months or a year from now. It’s something that will be happening soon.”
York said the sports authority’s involvement will ensure that property taxes cannot be used for this facility.
“Anybody that was concerned about their property taxes going up, that’s not contemplated, and, as a matter of fact, it would be prohibited as we’re moving forward,” York said. “This would be paid by – primarily by sales tax.”
City officials said the memorandum will be voted on by the city council next week, and if it passes there it would go to the YMCA’s board for further review.
The city also heard from Upland Design Group’s Kevin Chamberlin, who said the estimate for the building’s construction cost has gone down about $1 million, to $38.39 million.
Chamberlin said they would need approval from the city to move forward with getting construction documents, which are needed to get proper bid numbers from construction managers and general contractors. The city will also vote on that next Tuesday.
