Woodward, Okla. — Although they denied a user agreement proposed by the Kid's Inc. board for use of the ball fields at Crystal Beach Park, Woodward City Commissioners said they still want to work with the youth sports organization.

In fact, in a show of support for the organization, Commissioner Steve Bogdahn said he would favor eliminating a $10,000 annual fee that Kid's Inc. had been paying to help offset utility costs at the facilities it used.

Under the user agreement proposed by Kid's Inc. this $10,000 fee would have become the annual rent paid for the use of the facilities.

However, city commissioners made it clear that they don't believe in "pay for play" and never intended to do anything to make Kid's Inc. think the city wanted them to start charging children to participate in its sports programs.

That's why the city has only ever charged Kid's Inc. a lease rate of $1 per year to utilize the ball fields at Crystal Beach Park, Commissioner Gary Goetzinger said.  That is the same minimal rate charged for any non-profit wanting to utilize city venues.

"The city of Woodward is never going to charge Kid's Inc. to rent the fields or pay for play or any of that stuff," Goetzinger said.

As for the $10,000 utility payment, City Manager Alan Riffel said that was something Kid's Inc. had volunteered to pay years ago when the city was going through difficult financial times.

However, now that the city is in better financial shape, Riffel said those utility payments are "no longer necessary."

"If there is a bone of contention over any part of this $10,000 at all, I think it would behoove the city to forgive that in the future," Riffel said.

Bogdahn said he agreed, noting "I'd like to see that thrown out" because he felt the money could be better used to purchase equipment and supplies to support Kid's Inc. programs.



EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT PERIOD

His fellow commissioners also seemed in favor of doing what they could to continue to support Kid's Inc., but while still allowing facilities to remain available for other organizations to use.

"Our goal is to fill that sucker (Crystal Beach Park) up with kids, and to reach all kids.  We're not trying to take anything away from Kid's Inc. in doing that," Commissioner Michelle Williamson said.  

Rather she spoke with Tom Eike, who was on hand to represent the Kid's Inc. board, about a previous meeting she had with him in which they discussed making an exception to extend the Kid's Inc. agreement from 200 days to 365 days.

"I felt like once we met and talked about the 365 days, that's absolutely no problem, I think the city expressed to you the desire for Kid's Inc. to continue their operations and we don't want to impede that in any way," Williamson said.

Riffel told The News that with most user agreements, the city is limited to offering a maximum of 200 days at a time as part of requirements to maintain the tax exempt status of the $25 million park project.  Essentially since the improvements are paid for by public funds, the facilities must be open to the public and no one user can have exclusive rights.

However, due to concerns from Kid's Inc. that it could lose certain revenue for its programs if it wasn't a year-round program, Eike said the organization approached the city about switching to a 365-day agreement.

In meeting with tax counsel and tax consultants through The Public Finance Law Group, Riffel said it was determined that "because it is a city entity, the exception could be made for Kid's Inc. alone to exceed the 200-days, for a maximum of 365-days, which seemed to satisfy both groups," meaning the city and Kid's Inc.



UNACCEPTABLE AGREEMENT

Williamson noted that the change in the length of Kid's Inc.'s user agreement to 365-days was the only change she expected to see following her previous meeting with Eike.  That was why she clearly expressed her surprise that Kid's Inc. submitted a different agreement which included a number of "unacceptable" changes for the commission to consider Monday.

The changes included allowing representatives from the Kid's Inc. board to be included in the employee evaluation process for the 2 employees that serve Kid's Inc., but are paid by the city.

Goetzinger explained that this was unacceptable because it is "illegal for anyone other than the employer and the employee to be involved in that evaluation process."

Bogdahn added that all city departments that have separate boards like Kid's Inc. does, have their directors evaluated by the city rather than the entity's own board, because it is the city that signs their paychecks.  He said it's true for the museum, senior center, library, and CVB.

The proposed agreement from Kid's Inc. also sought to allow Kid's Inc. to control scheduling of activities for the football field, 2 soccer fields, 2 softball fields, and 8 baseball fields around the Kid's Inc. building as well as the basketball courts inside of the building.

"I'm just asking that we continue to operate and serve the community as we have for 64 years," Eike said.

He stated that before the Crystal Beach Master Plan went into effect in 2007, Kid's Inc. had been in charge of scheduling the events at the park.

However, Williamson clarified that Kid's Inc. was in charge of its own programming and not the facilities themselves, because despite the sign out front, the facilities are all owned by the city and not Kid's Inc.

Eike said he also didn't understand why if the Convention and Visitors Bureau, as an arm of the city, is allowed to handle scheduling of events at the various city venues, why Kid's Inc. as another arm of the city couldn't be allowed to schedule events as well.

The commissioners pointed out that it is important for one entity to be in charge of scheduling for all to help avoid conflicts.

Eike said Kid's Inc. "would not have that conflict."

However, Williamson pointed out that scheduling conflicts are going to arise no matter who does the scheduling.

"You, as well as I, know that there's as many issues with Kid's Inc. trying to do the schedule as there were with city employees trying to do the scheduling," she said.  "All we're asking is that we do it together, make it fair for everybody, giving Kid's Inc. the priority."

Bogdahn agreed, noting that he would even be willing to serve on a committee to help resolve any scheduling conflicts that may arise.

The commissioner said he understood scheduling issues may be "a burr in your side" for Kid's Inc. because Kid's Inc. has traditionally only held games on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  But this past summer, another baseball organization also wanted to hold games on some of those nights, which led to some scheduling problems.

However, Bogdahn, like Williamson, said the city was willing to agree to give Kid's Inc. priority on those evenings in the future, understanding that as a family-oriented program Kid's Inc. won't hold games on Wednesday evenings because of church or on weekends because that's time for families to spend together.

But Bogdahn said that Kid's Inc. will have to learn to share.

"All that this body wants to do is if we have people besides Kid's Inc. as well as OK Kids that want to use that facility, and you guys aren't using it, I think everybody should have the right to do so," he said.



LET'S WORK IT OUT

"Hopefully your board and you can understand that we're not trying to take anything away from you and we appreciate what Kid's Inc. does.  It's just that, you know things are not exactly the same year after year after year.  And things evolve and change," Bogdahn said.  "Unfortunately when we improved the facilities out there, there were some changes that had to occur.  We didn't mean to step on any toes and we won't.  Let's just get this worked out."

Riffel said the city plans on presenting the Kid's Inc. board with a modified version of the city's regular user agreement to reflect the time extension to 365 days as well as the elimination of the $10,000 utility contribution.

Eike said he can only present the agreement to his board and see whether or not they will approve it, noting their board won't meet again until Sept. 11 as they only meet once a month, on the second Tuesday of the month.

Since the city commission can't consider the agreement until it has been approved by the Kid's Inc. board first, Riffel said it may be Sept. 17 at the earliest when an agreement can be reached between the city and Kid's Inc.

This will be after Kid's Inc.'s current agreement expires on Aug. 24.  But Riffel assured The News that the city "will not interrupt their programs in the meantime."

Goetzinger made his own assurances to Eike and the community as a whole.

"Kid's Inc. is always going to have a place in the city of Woodward," he said.