City Council Approves Then Rescinds Motion To Approve FMDH Purchasing Portion Of Hoyt Park

During the May 20 regular Glasgow City Council meeting, normal business was conducted including approving consent agenda items such as payment of claims and meeting minutes from the May 6 regular council meeting as well as reviewing ordinances and resolutions. The biggest topic of the meeting once again however was the sale of a portion of Hoyt Park to Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital (FMDH).

This topic has been brought up in Council meetings over the course of a few months with the Council voting to accept the recommendation to move forward with the purchase, contingent on what the public had to say, during the Council meeting on March 18. The public was then able to provide their opinion at the April 15 meeting and at the May 6 meeting the Council approved the motion for FMDH to purchase a portion of Hoyt Park, for $550,000 for the facility’s parking expansion purposes.

After the council approved to move forward with the purchase on May 6, the City Council voted to rescind the passed motion at the May 20 meeting due to conflicts associated with the grant received before COVID to build the new swimming pool. The question that came up after the May 6 meeting was whether or not the sale of the land would affect the grant. Mayor Rod Karst started researching and after talking to Fish Wildlife and Parks, was notified if the land was altered and restricted recreational activities would be placed on the land, then the grant would not be usable and the funds would have to be paid back.

“I was informed that if we were to create a new park to take the place of the land sold, then we could stay in compliance. The new park would need to be approved by FWP and be the same size or larger. This process can take up to 18 months,” explained Mayor Karst at the City Council meeting on May 20. “We could default on the grant by continuing with the sale of the property, but that then we would have to repay the roughly $150,000 already spent on the pool project; and also get a black mark on our record that could/would affect our ability to get some state and federal grants in the future.”

Mayor Karst continued to state that if the Council chooses to keep using the grant, the city would need to raise an additional $500,000 to $600,000 in order to complete the bathhouse. “We need to make a decision so that we can try to stay on the time schedule for the construction of the pool. We don’t want a new pool without a bathhouse,” stated Karst. “Financially in the works, Ashleigh Byers (city grant writer) has grants that she has in the works. The Pool Committee has a short list of potential donors that they need to revisit with about a donation. There are some options for the committee to work with to try to get the needed funding in place so that the city can go to bid on the bathhouse.”

After discussion among the City Council members on how they should move forward, Councilman Brian Austin rescinded the motion that was made to approve the purchase while Councilman Butch Heitman seconded. With councilman Stan Ozark abstaining, due to him serving on the FMDH Board of Directors, the motion passed to rescind the motion. The Valley County Community Pool Campaign then convened on May 21 to determine alternative funding options.

After the regular council meeting, a work session was held on the proposed skate park for Glasgow. As a result of the rescinded motion to sell a portion of Hoyt Park to FMDH, the proposed location of Hoyt Park for this new skatepark is back into discussions. The council once again reached a consensus to build the skate park at Hoyt Park, this time in the southwest corner of the park. An official vote of this location and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and the skate park committee will take place at the next council meeting on Monday, June 3. The meeting will begin at 5 p.m., and will be held in the Council Chambers, located inside of the Glasgow Civic Center.