Still on ice

Mary Koep went to Brainerd City Hall on Monday night with every intention of having the Brainerd City Council vote on a contract with the Brainerd Amateur Hockey Association for management of the Brainerd Area Civic Center and its two ice arenas.

Koep, as council member and Personnel and Finance Committee chairwoman, set aside a half-hour of the committee's meeting prior to the regular council meeting to work on the draft contract.

But that wasn't enough time, with the committee only getting through about a third of the draft contract. Instead, the committee brought no recommendation to the city council on Monday and set a special committee meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 26 to continue work on the draft contract.

The hope, Koep said, would be for the council to consider the contract during a special council meeting in early September.

The draft, put together by City Administrator Dan Vogt based on similar contracts from across the state, with input from City Attorney Tom Fitzpatrick, included a five-year contract that gave BAHA control over staffing, scheduling and revenue of the arenas.

Also included in the draft, but not discussed Monday, was that BAHA would retain naming rights, so long as the word "Brainerd" be included in the name. Council member Bob Olson sent a memo to the council opposing giving BAHA naming rights out of respect to former large contributors to the arena. He also said he would send the committee a number of questions and suggestions for its Aug. 26 meeting.

The last issue discussed by the committee Monday also proved to be the most contentious. As requested by BAHA, the draft contract included BAHA being entitled to revenues generated from arena operations, with profits to be used for maintenance, repairs and capital improvements. Repairs or maintenance over $10,000 would be paid for entirely by the city, unless the damage is caused by BAHA, its employees or users.

Committee and council member Kelly Bevans wondered if the contract should state that BAHA would pay up to $10,000 for any and each improvement, with the city picking up the remainder of the cost over $10,000.

Committee and council member Anne Nelson Fisher said the committee should look at scrapping the $10,000 item in the contract and instead insert a stipulation that the city would pay for unforeseen repairs above the total budgeted for the year.

Koep wanted to leave the section as presented in the draft, but said she could live with Bevans' idea.

"That is one I think we may go back and forth with (BAHA)," Koep said.

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.