Brainerd’s skateboard park equipment will have a new snowy home as it leaves the city.
Tony Sailer, Brainerd Parks and Recreation director, reported the park board accepted a $1 bid from Mount Ski Gull for the city’s skateboard park equipment. Sailer’s written report was before the Brainerd City Council Monday night.
Mount Ski Gull will be responsible to move the equipment for use in its snowboard park. The city originally purchased the equipment with a donated $100,000 grant from KABOOM!
In December, Sailer said the League of Minnesota Cities said Brainerd needed to close the skateboard park because it was a liability issue with a cracked and uneven concrete pad. The estimated cost to replace the concrete was $20,000.
The skateboard park was built in Jaycees Park in southeast Brainerd in 2004. The city reported the park was vandalized on a regular basis, including substantial damage a year ago this month. The city closed the park last March. Kindboards Shop in downtown Brainerd organized a social media campaign to get volunteers to cleanup the park in an effort to find another option than closing it.
Nila Patrick, downtown Brainerd business owner, met with the park board on Jan. 28 and said her group was no longer interested in the skateboard park equipment. Sailer reported the group was still looking for a skateboard park site and fundraising.
In other business, the council:
Received a committee recommendation for James Norwood on the planning commission with a term to expire Dec. 31, 2015.
Learned the Brainerd Fire Department responded to 141 emergency calls in January for a dollar loss of about $125,000.
Heard the outdoor ice skating rinks have been busy this winter. Through Jan. 26, the parks department reported there were 1,496 skaters at Gregory Park, 1,489 at Bane Park and 3,436 at Mill Avenue Park.
Learned a second selective tree-cutting phase was approved by the park board for Trailside Park off Beaver Dam Road, which is expected to take place next winter.
Adjourned to a closed session to discuss union negotiations and plans to meet Feb. 11 at the Brainerd Police Department for a strategic planning session.
RENEE RICHARDSON, senior reporter, may be reached at 855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Dispatchbizbuzz.
Comments (17)
Add commentA dollar ?
Really ? a dollar ? stupid is as stupid does, willing to bet they didn't spend the whole grant on it, but i also bet it was worth more than a dollar. something stinks here..
The city (TAXPAYERS) owned
The city (TAXPAYERS) owned the $100,ooo worth of equipment, it sells for $1, does this mean that when the city council closed the bidding process, opened up the sealed bids, and the other bids were less then $1. Or does this mean there was someone within local government looking out for one of their buds at Ski Gull. Does the city have a pickup truck I can bid on, I have a dollar.
$1.00?
I wonder how much they could have got for it at Crow Wing Recycling? I bet waaaaaaaaay more than a dollar. What is it with Brainerd? Those in charge go out of their way to look foolish.
This is embarrassing
Recycle it, sell it piece by piece... do something other than give it away.
That is so embarrassing.
You gotta give credit to Ski Gull though, they apparently know how to do good business.
Think
The purpose of selling it to Ski Gull for $1 was to keep it in the community as much as possible.
Disposal of surplus city property
I didn't see those items at the auction website that the city currently uses to sell surplus equipment. Isn't there a policy in place to prevent giving away city property?
http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=846193
More of the same
I hope there is more to this as it looks like we could have sold it for more money. Like the auction as mentioned, other cities who would use it. Can't blame Ski Gull for this but,
we (taxpayers) lost money which is an unintended consequence of such endeavors.
Grant?
So how much did we pay for that $100,000 grant from Kaboom?
Better yet, how much of it
Better yet, how much of it was spent on the equipment out of that grant ? What happened to the balance ?
Better yet, how much of it
Better yet, how much of it was spent on the equipment out of that grant ? What happened to the balance ?
Ski Gull does great things
Ski Gull does great things for kids. If the alternative was to send it for scrap, I'm glad they got it. They are an asset to this community with the Crow Wing Power Ski for Free days, the 7th grade program, and the 6th grade free skiing field trips they really try to get everyone out to enjoy a winter sport that is better than sitting on the couch playing video games.
It will be interesting to see how they use the equipment on the hill.
My first downhill ski run
My first trip on downhill skis was in 1978 at ski gull. Got fond memories. Haven't been back since but would like to see what it looks like now. I think they had 1 tow rope then.
Just think if it were put out
Just think if it were put out on sealed bids, maybe the Brainerd Park Board could have received 5 to 20 percent of the $100,000 original value, this 5-20 grand could have been used to build Dog Crap Park, thus letting the taxpayer off hook a little on the cost. Ski Gull is a great asset to the community, they could bid on it just like any other great organization trying to improve their community for the younger people.
Ski Gull is NOT "in the community"
It's WAY out of town. I hate the constant bashing of Brainerd City functions but this is one where they deserve it. Poor planning, design that didn't take experts knowledge into account, lack of commitment to enforcement and maintenance, then they blame others when the site falls into disrepair, isn't used, and they have problems.
This was originally a plan to provide kids with something to do to keep them active and out of trouble. Gull is not accessible to the vast majority of kids in the community given it's location many miles out of town.
The city would save more face by being honest about this. Just admit the city screwed up, and they want to put a bad experience behind them, no matter the cost.
Rino
In my opinion, you nailed it.
There is a difference between being able to bike, skate, or walk to the skating venue and having it miles out of town where you must be old enough to drive and own a car or find someone to give you a ride. Not to mention it seems like it will be used for winter fun, not summer fun when kids are out on the streets looking for something to do.
The whole situation should be very embarrassing for the city.
(I edited this post to correct a sentence that didn't make sense.)
So they sell this equipment for a $1, but want to spend
almost $500,000 on a sidewalk? Does anyone in our local government have at least one active brain cell?