PLYMOUTH — Former Plymouth City attorney, Sean Surrisi came before the Plymouth Common Council on Monday night with a request and information regarding the Bardwell Aquatic Center.
Surrisi asked the Council to advance their lease payment of $72,000 scheduled for June in order to cover current operating expenses and salaries to keep the facility open. Later in the meeting, Surrisi said the group was also planning to ask the Plymouth Community Schools to do the same with a similar lease payment in June.
Surrisi began a history of the complicated financing history of the facility and its construction that involves multiple entities and individuals, as well as methods and sources of funding.
Surrisi told the Council that the initial difficulties began soon after the New Market Tax Credit financing agreement closed in 2018.
It started with the original leases that were to be with Ancilla College, the city of Plymouth, and Plymouth High School for the use of the facility. Surrisi said that Ancilla, now Marian University’s Ancilla College, had agreed to a $60,000 per year, 25-year lease to start a swim program at the school. Then President of the school, Dr. Ken Zirkle, had signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect but, according to Surrisi, never shared that with his board of directors, who did not want the school to be part of the contract but honored the commitment with the understanding that when the financing arrangement was able to be “unraveled” in seven years, they would be released from the commitment.
In the fall of 2019 before the facility was to open, a company formed by Rick Miller that was to take over the operation of the facility, according to Surrisi, “…advised they were going to be breaching their contract and would not be operating the facility.”
At that time a limited liability company was formed by then CEO of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation Jerry Chavez, to operate the facility for six months.
According to Surrisi, after that time the MCEDC Board of Directors stated that doing such was outside of their core mission, that they had helped out but backed away from further involvement.
Current MCEDC CEO Greg Hildebrand came forward early in the discussion with the Council to make clear that MCEDC did not contribute any funds to the project.
“I do not want our investors and the county and the communities to think any of their money went towards the aquatic center,” he said.
Hildebrand stated that the MCEDC subsidiary was used as a “pass-through” organization for the lease agreements.
Surrisi told the Council that the New Market Tax Credit financing “unwinds” in July and the possible restructuring of the financing could make the lease payment in June “the last payment, at least in the shape it is now, that the city or school would have to make.” Surrisi pointed out the money was already budgeted and that advancing it to keep the facility open, even if just temporarily, would not involve additional expenditure.
Confusion on the part of the Council revolved around the possibility this would be the last lease payment, with Mayor Robert Listenberger saying his understanding was that the city had a long-term lease agreement that they would be responsible for regardless of the facility being open or closed. The members of the Council also asked for clarification of the city’s actual responsibility.
Surrisi told the Council that his long-term hope was that the city would advance the lease payments for this year and somehow sit all parties down, including the Plymouth School Corporation, to work out a solution for day to day operation of the facility. If they took a “dim view” of that, Surrisi asked them to make the first lease payment early to pay all the current bills and give time to set a date for closure.
The Council decided to advance the $72,000 payment for June with the understanding that more answers about the responsibilities and possibilities for the entities involved would be presented at their next meeting on April 14.
