Jeffersonville council approves stashing $3 million for facility, parks

Establishing a nonreverting fund for future potential expansion at Woehrle Athletic Complex was approved by a unanimous council vote, with Councilman Mike Smith absent. The council’s vote added the words “and other future parks projects” to the ordinance to allow for more flexibility for use of the fund’s $3 million.

The council — also the same nine members of the Jeffersonville Parks Authority — has made no decisions regarding how or if that money will be spent, but possible options include an additional parking lot and a new indoor sports facility.

Some residents have questioned the transfer of money and potential expansion of the sports complex through public comments and on local forums and blogs.

Jeffersonville resident Alice Butler in public comment told the council she believes “firmly in fiscal responsibility and transparency, especially when it comes to someone else’s money.”

“Why do we need to put $3 million in a nonreverting fund just for a ‘what if’ or a ‘maybe?’” Butler said. “Is this really the best use of taxpayer dollars? Why not let a developer build this instead of the city?”

Another Jeffersonville resident, Ron Smith, said he thinks parks are a valuable asset to the city, but wants to see any project done right.

“I don’t care how much lipstick you all put on that pig down at Woehrle field, it is not going to be a beautiful pig,” Smith said. “To have spent the money that you’ve already spent is out of sight, it’s unreasonable.”

Councilman Ed Zastawny, also president of the parks authority, said at the meeting that the indoor facility has been in the plans all along. The parks authority decided to break the project up in phases when costs were higher than anticipated, and the indoor facility was bumped to phase II.

“Then, the soccer and football complex becomes a big success,” Zastawny said. “They have so many kids out there, so many parents and grandparents out there, parking becomes an issue.”

He said that parks authority realized it may have to change its original plans to build the indoor facility on the same site as the fields because parking would become an even larger problem.

Thus, a new site could be purchased that may hold a new parking lot and the field. Zastawny said there are no contracts signed but the parks authority and department are looking at options.

“So yes, we’re still trying to look to build a building and looking to solve parking problems, but we’re looking to expand parks,” he said.

Butler then asked the council why they would “put the cart before the horse.”

“Wait until you get your plan and then move the money out of the general fund because moving it out first means that you cannot put those dollars back into the general fund, and that is a misuse of taxpayer dollars,” she said.

However, City Controller Amy Deering said that the council can vote to abolish the ordinance that established the nonreverting fund, sending the money back into the general fund.

City Council President Lisa Gill said that creating a nonreverting fund for parks projects is standard procedure.

“I will assure you, as council president ... we take fiscal responsibility very seriously,” Gill said. “We’re open and we are transparent.”

POINTS OF CLARIFICATION

Zastawny said in an interview Tuesday that the Woehrle Athletic Complex — in all its phases — has been discussed in public meeting for five years, yet this is the first he’s heard any public opposition to it.

“At this point, I think people are just making stuff up for political purposes because it’s an election year,” he said.

He said otherwise, he’s heard nothing but positive feedback on the sports complex.

“It just seems like there’s a couple people making it an issue, and I think it’s because it’s a large dollar item, and I think because people are confused about how the government process works,” Zastawny said.

He said setting aside the money in a nonreverting fund is simply a matter of due diligence.

“I don’t want to talk to somebody and say, ‘Yeah, we’re interested in buying your land,’ and then I’m going to come back to the council and say, ‘We need to create a fund and we need to try to buy this land,’ and people say, ‘No, no, we’re not interested,’” he said. “Well, then why did we waste all that time talking to a land owner if it was never going to happen?”

The first phase of Woehrle Athletic Complex cost about $4.5 million, Zastawny said, and almost $1 million of that total was for road improvements. The land was given to the city by the Clark County Soccer Association.

“That’s why it was such a good deal,” he said.

The complex is home to five grass soccer/football fields and one premier turf field. It hosts the Net-Surfers select soccer team, Clark County Soccer Association recreational soccer, the Jeff Parks Youth Football League and Southern Indiana United (SIU) select soccer.

The only indoor sports facility that the parks department owns is the Charles Nachand Fieldhouse that has a basketball and volleyball court. Zastawny said it’s old and expensive to maintain, adding that the city has probably spent $1 million in various repairs.

The addition of a private sports complex in Clarksville will be taken into any decisions made. The department may decide to build a smaller facility that would reduce the cost of maintenance compared to Nachand.

“It may be a very small complex to service basic park needs like volleyball leagues and basketball leagues,” Zastawny said. “To me, that seems like a great parks function. To me, that doesn’t seem like anything outrageous.

“If it ends up being something bigger, I think it’s because we think that there’s a need and economic opportunity to bring people here with it as a sports destination [to host tournaments], which would help restaurants and hotels and try to get people downtown to spend money at RiverStage and Spring Street.”