Commission considering sale of Ronan Community Center

POLSON — A public meeting discussing whether to sell the Ronan Community Center at the Lake County Courthouse last Tuesday drew almost 50 attendees hoping to voice their opinions on the matter. Citizens from throughout the valley, ranging from Ronan City Council members and members of the school board of trustees, crammed into the County Commissioners office to discuss the fate of the county-owned building on 3rd Ave. NW in Ronan.

The building sits on a 5-acre site that is owned by the county and leased to the city. The Montana State University extension shares offices there, and the county fair takes place each year at the site, as does Ronan Pioneer Days. The building has been appraised with a value of $315,000. The need for the building will be obsolete for the fair as a new facility is planned for Mink Lane in Ronan, where the Mission Range Event Complex will be built to host the fair and act as a new community-center like facility.

The new facility will sit on 31 acres of land, in addition to a connected 31 acre piece owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The meeting was organized to address the issue of whether it is appropriate to sell a public-use building before a replacement facility is built and completed. That issue has solicited a variety of responses and thoughts, many of which were written in as public comment or voiced at the public hearing.

County Commissioners Chuck Whitson, Paddy Trusler and Bill Barron mediated the meeting, which had comments in favor of selling the building and others opposed to the sale. A major presence at the meeting was the board, president and executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation. The organization is very much in favor of the sale, with the hopes that the building would replace its current facility, which will be razed in the coming years to make way for the expansion of U.S. Highway 93 through Ronan. The club representatives felt this site may be their last hope before the coming construction.

“For one reason or another, we’ve gotten close to a couple of these [potential sites] but it hasn’t happened,” club board member Linda Green said. “We need a site, and the community center, we feel, is that site, and we are willing to partner up and do whatever we can to make this work and to create a stronger relationship and partnership in the community for our children.”

The meeting began with each member of the Boys and Girls Club board speaking about their hopes for the public to support the sale of the building.

“Our goal is to do two things,” club board president Gehrand Bechard said. “Keep the building available to you in your public domain for awhile, and also to help us get more room for the Boys and Girls Club.”

Commission Chairman Trusler was quick to jump in and note that the purpose of the meeting wasn’t to decide whether the building would be sold to the Boys and Girls Club, but rather whether the building would be available for sale at all. He added that even if the commission decides to put the building up for public bid, there is a possibility that the Boys and Girls Club would not be the eventual winner, and would still be without a facility.

In all, more than 20 different members of the community stood up to speak. Many different entities that will be affected by a potential sale had representatives on hand to discuss their positions.

The community center is used for four weeks in the summer by the Lake County Fair, during Pioneer Days and by Boy Scout Troop 1940, the organization that uses the building the most each year. Each of these organizations had members on hand to discuss their respective stances, as well as members of the MREC board.

MREC’s planned facility may have a price tag of upwards of $1 million, and is in need of additional funding. Tom McDonald, a member of the MREC group, spoke in favor of selling the building, stating that he believes the sale could be “a good catalyst to get MREC going.” MREC is in favor of the sale as a group, but hopes the sale would have many contingencies and restrictions for the eventual bid winner to follow.

Some citizens expressed concern that the process was moving too quickly, and that the commission should take more time to consider the sale. Dave Bick worried that if the building were sold to a financially unstable company or corporation, the other organizations that use the building would be out of luck if the new owners could not pay their bills to keep up with maintenance and other costs. He said that this scenario would leave every one out of luck and that it is a “complicated issue to try and suit everyone’s needs.”

Brenda Dennis, a Boys and Girls Club board member, responded to Bick by noting that the club has a time-limited grant to purchase a facility that will expire after 2010, thus creating an immediate need for the club to get this process underway. Board member Cynthia Forsch gave the situation a sense of urgency as well.

“This is our last chance to get a building in Ronan for the Boys and Girls Club,” she said.

Ronan Mayor Kim Aipperspach was in favor of holding a second meeting in Ronan, as was Judy Preston, speaking on behalf of her brother, Jay. They felt that because the sale was relevant to the town itself, it would make more sense to hold a meeting in Ronan at a time and place when more citizens of the town could attend and participate.

The commissioners had to wrap up the meeting, but said they will take all recommendations and comments under advisement. They did not give a specific time frame on making a decision, but they agreed the meeting had given them a better idea of what to do. No date was set for a meeting in Ronan, and may not happen at all.