By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
5/27/10
With a state deadline looming, and several pieces of legislation pending, Selectmen are attempting to buy more time as they consider how best to move ahead with plans to take over operation of the Ulin Rink.
The board voted May 20 to ask the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to have the rink taken off a bid list and have DCR operate it for another year. Although a response was expected this week, none had been received by press time.
Town leaders have resolved to assume the reigns of the rink from DCR, which in an attempt to dump operating losses has put several state-run ice rinks including Ulin out to bid. However, they say they need more time to put together a plan.
“We made the commitment that we want to take over the rink. It’s now a question of how we get to that point,” Selectman John Shields said.
The DCR deadline for proposals from prospective rink managers, although originally in February, was extended to June 1 at the town’s urging. Although Selectmen have said the town cannot bear the costs of running the $5 million rink facility, a group of residents has come forward looking to form a nonprofit foundation that would maintain it.
There is a wrinkle in that plan. Selectmen learned last week that the current RFP disallows non-profits from taking operations over. According to the DCR, the town would have to allocate funds of its own operating budget to do so. In addition, any hope of raising capital for care of the rink through advertising or fee-based public skating programs – two examples of fund-raising campaigns offered up by the proposed non-profit group – would also be barred under the RFP.
According to Tim Kernan, an advocate for nonprofit takeover of Ulin Rink, “the foundation would not want to take over the rink” under such a scenario, which he said would likely mean having to bear a steady operating loss on the facility year-to-year.
One action by legislators could change all that, however. On May 19, the House passed a bill that offers the town exclusive rights to Ulin Rink through a 10-year lease with an option to extend an additional 10 years. Rep. Walter Timilty, the bill’s main advocate, said the change protects the ice time for current town users of the rink like Milton Youth Hockey, Milton High School and Curry College. According to Shields, it does one better, as a provision in the bill keeps the DCR on the hook for capital costs associated with upkeep.
Meanwhile, another bill already passed by the Senate, and crafted by Sen. Brian Joyce, includes Ulin Rink in a 25-year lease in which the town would pay just $1 per year. According to a statement Joyce’s office issued May 21, the bill, like Timilty’s, also gives Milton “absolute first right” to the rink.
Finally, Shields said, the governor’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget includes a 20-year lease scenario for the town to operate the rink.
“Everybody in the State House is onboard [with the town taking over Ulin],” according to Shields, who said lawmakers still would need to hash out terms and produce a single bill, which could take months. “All three legislative entities have said the town of Milton is desirable.”
The significance of the legislative support, officials say, is that any legislation passed regarding Ulin Rink would render the DCR proposal void. Shields said that’s important because the RFP is a permit while the legislative proposal would be a lease, and “we can negotiate the terms” under a lease. “With a permit, [DCR is] calling the shots,” he said.
Furthermore, town officials have expressed opposition to the five-year DCR proposal, which they say gives the town too small a window to establish a solid long-term capital fund.
Kernan said the town should not wait to act on any legislation that may pass. He said his group will continue to work to make improvements to a plan already presented to Selectmen regarding the nonprofit management model. |
