The city of El Dorado will take over administrative duties for the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.
During a specially called meeting Jan. 16, the El Dorado City Council accepted a proposal from the Union County Quorum Court to dissolve a 2001 interlocal agreement between the city and county that called for the entities to share operating expenses pro rata, for the county handle administrative duties for the complex and to have equal representation on the complex board directors.
The facility is located on Champagnolle Road, just outside El Dorado city limits, and sits on city-owned property.
In November, quorum court member and former El Dorado Mayor Mike Dumas proposed turning administrative duties over to the city, with JP Greg Harrison, also chairman of the complex board, citing inefficiency, confusion in decision-making and safety concerns among the reasons the county should consider the measure.
A month later, the quorum court drafted a proposed ordinance that would hand administrative duties, including tracking the complex budget and overseeing personnel and operations, over to the city.
The ordinance would cap the county’s annual contribution to the complex at $100,000. Any budget overages would require a vote by the quorum court.
Those terms are similar to an agreement the county reached with the city following a series of meetings that were held in 2016 between city and county officials and the complex board.
The meetings served to address concerns and questions county officials had raised about complex operations.
At the time, Union County Judge Mike Loftin said that while the complex is not likely to become a money-maker and the complex board works each year to keep expenses under budget, he saw the potential to close the annual revenue-expenditure gap even more.
The quorum court subsequently voted to cork the county’s share of annual expenses, minus 50 percent of the revenue that comes into the facility.
JPs explained then that they were not curbing the county’s portion of the budget. Rather, they would not pay 50 percent of any future cost overruns that may occur at the complex.
Other changes emerged from those meetings, including hiring, via city contracts for service, the Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado to manage the complex and awarding the concessions contract to the club.
One of the club’s charges is to book more tournaments at the complex and to place back into the complex budget a percentage of income from concession stand sales.
The moves are part of an overall effort to boost income at the complex.
Over the past few years, the city has contributed money from its one-cent sales taxes — the former El Dorado Forward tax, which expired in June 2015 after eight years, and the El Dorado Works tax, which went into effect in October 2015 and will expire after 10 years — to cover improvements at the complex. Funding economic development projects is the function of both taxes. Municipal infrastructure and quality-of-life projects were added to the El Dorado Works tax.
The most recent pledge from the city is $2.6 million from the El Dorado Works tax to launch phase one of a master improvement and expansion plan for the complex.
The funding request was approved a year ago by the El Dorado Works Board, which facilitates the El Dorado Works tax, and the city council.
On Jan. 9, Greg Downum, chairman of the EWB, reported that work is nearly complete on three construction contracts covering the turf installation for fields 1 - 4, older fields on the north side of the facility; the installation of LED lighting for all fields; construction of fields 7 and 8, both of which are adjacent to fields 5 and 6 on the south end of the complex; and other upgrades for fields 1 - 4 — fencing, irrigation and electrical service.
Other projects planned for phase one are two new soccer fields and a new concessions plaza, both on the south end of the complex and a renovation of the existing concession stand on the north side of the complex.
Downum also told city officials that nearly 30 tournaments have been booked at the complex this year, compared to eight in 2019.
The information was based on a status report the EWB had received from the complex board and an engineer for the project.
The next step
On Jan. 16, it took the city council just minutes to authorize Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer to sign the proposal from the county.
The proposed ordinance, which has not yet been approved by the quorum court, would dissolve the complex board.
“I don’t want to dissolve the complex board but I think it should fall under the El Dorado Parks and Playgrounds Commission,” Smith-Creer said.
With the city taking on administrative duties for the facility, the complex would become a city park, she explained.
The quorum court has asked that Harrison be appointed to the EPPC, should the complex fall under the commission’s oversight.
Councilmembers Vance Williamson and Michael Rice, also a member of the complex board, favored keeping the complex board intact.
Both said the complex and the parks system within city limits are “two separate animals,” with Williamson noting that the EPPC also oversees operations at the Lions Club Municipal Golf Course.
“I think those are two large things to be arguing about,” Willimason said.
Rice agreed, saying that now that the complex is poised to generate more revenue, the complex account should be maintained separately from that of the city parks system.
“We still need a board because there are too many things moving,” Smith-Creer added.
City officials agreed to schedule a special meeting this week with the EPPC to hash out the matter, and others, including which complex board members represent the city and which represent the county; a months-old vote to appoint a city council member — Andre Rucks — to the EPPC; and to review verbiage in the city ordinance that regulates the EPPC.
Smith-Creer said she would like to convene for a special meeting prior to the EPPC’s next regularly scheduled monthly meeting Jan. 28.