“We are very excited to begin our relationship with the City of  Tonasket.” Jordan Weddle, Chairman Tonasket Parks & Recreation Board

TONASKET – Tonasket Parks and Recreation District Board Chair Jordan Weddle presented a first draft of an Interlocal Agreement between the City of Tonasket and the Tonasket Parks and Recreation District at the Tonasket City Council meeting March 22, 2016.

Recreation District Vice Chair Billie Attwood, Financial Officer David Stangland and Public Records Officer Kathleen Thompson were also present; along with Tonasket Pool Committee members Norm Weddle, Bill McDaniel and Monte Smith. Attwood and Thompson are on both the Tonasket Parks and Recreation Board and the Tonasket Pool Committee.

Pursuant to RCW 39.34, the City and District are authorized to execute interlocal agreements for the purpose of providing services and facilities.

“We are very excited to begin our relationship with the city of Tonasket,” said Jordan Weddle, adding the document was a draft to begin conversations with the City and/or Council’s representatives on how the city and Rec District would work together; with the document outlining the roles and responsibilities of both parties. Council members on the Parks and Recreation District committee are Claire Jeffko and Jensen Sackman, whose role will be to attend any official meetings of the Rec District as official council representatives.

Weddle said the draft document was written “based on our understanding of the resolutions that have been passed by the City and County, and on what we believe the voters intended when they elected to create a new Parks and Recreation District in the Tonasket Area.”

According to the draft, responsibilities of the Rec District include generating revenue to fund the amounts set forth in each annual budget; funding the staffing and maintenance of the Tonasket pool as agreed to in each annual budget, as well as providingww additional financial resources to be used in support of other recreation facilities as described in the annual budget; participating in the development of the annual budget; and seeking to acquire additional funding to be used in city projects or in ways that impact city property, provided the city grants approval of the use of such funding.

Responsibilities of the city outlined in the draft include ownership of the pool premises; operating and managing pool and park facilities; hiring, training, managing and compensating employees to staff and manage pool and park facilities; holding an insurance policy; putting any revenue generated by the operation of the pool directly to funding pool staff, facilities and maintenance of the pool; selling concessions at the pool premises with all profits going to funding pool staff, facilities and maintenance; providing the District access to all documents and records related to the pool or any other parks and recreation project the parties undertake cooperatively; participating in the development of the annual budget; providing an annual report detailing how District funds were spent; and allocating District funds so they are not used to supplant city funds or replace current or future regular city maintenance or services for which they were not intended.

“This draft document is excellent to kick us off to see where we are at,” said Mayor Patrick Plumb, adding the city would need to work with City Planner Kurt Danison and Building Official/Permit Administrator Christian Johnson on the document.

“I’m not sure the city can maintain ownership during deconstruction and reconstruction,” said Plumb. “You may need to not have any government ownership until the final building of the pool is complete.”

City Clerk and Treasurer Alice Attwood said she had submitted the draft to city attorney Mick Howe as well as Danison and Johnson.

“We will all need to review it and then have a meeting with the Park and Recreation District to get the final details worked out,” said Attwood.

Norm Weddle asked when they would be able to have access to the pool property, and Plumb said liability issues would need to be addressed first.

City Superintendent Hugh Jensen said the city also needed time to take down the fence and remove some irrigation pipe along with items the city was going to surplus including tin from the roof.

The Tonasket Parks and Recreation District meets at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month in the Tonasket Visitor and Business Resource Center at 215 S. Whitcomb Ave.