With thousands of dollars in maintenance costs a reality, city looks to potentially deed property over to soccer club
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
Following discussion on needed repair work at Elkhorn’s Rotary Soccer Complex, the City of Elkhorn Municipal Services and Utilities Committee determined it might be in the city’s best interest to pass the land along to a local soccer club.
According to a memorandum from City of Elkhorn Public Works Manager Martin Nuss, in summary, two out of the three fields at the complex need repairs to not only make them playable, but safe for area soccer players.
Nuss said with his understanding, currently no city programs use the fields and the city has just started to receive fees from the teams playing out there this year. In addition, he said the third field was built last year, but has never been used, as it is unplayable because it was built so poorly that the city can’t fix it, “can’t patch it.”
“One of the proposals you have in front of you is to tear it up and start over,” he said during Monday’s meeting. “You’ll have a field that’s playable once it’s done.”
The middle field, he said, also needs a decent amount of refurbishment to make it safe and playable for the long term.
However, Nuss proposed that the bigger question is whether or not the city spends the money, approximately $25,000, to fix the fields or not.
City Administrator Sam Tapson explained the third field was originally donated and done by the soccer club. In addition, Tapson clarified that the city owns the land the complex is on.
Parks and Recreation Director Wendy Ard said with the soccer club being popular in the area, she thinks it would be hard to compete with something very established.
“I have not used that field once in a year and a half, or that complex or that pavilion,” she said. “But I do take calls, send guys out, we do a lot of work out there.”
Currently, the soccer club is the only organization using the complex, according to Ard.
Mayor Brian Olson said his problem with the parcel of land is that the city has already done “quite a bit” maintenance wise.
“I think you want to take a look at what we put in, where are new maintenance schedule is going to be and if we are going to commit to this project, do it right,” he said.
Newcomer to the committee, Gregory Huss, said while growing up in Waukesha, all of the soccer clubs were private and the clubs were responsible for maintenance of the fields. Ard said she collected $385 for the season.
“The maintenance out there is $15,000 to $20,000 a year,” Nuss said.
Tapson said aside from the cost factor, the complex is poorly located, as children can’t easily get to it, and really doesn’t fit a public use.
“There’s no way to get there without having to deal with Highway 67 and crossing the freeway,” he said.
Ard noted as the city is charging use of baseball fields at the club levels, it doesn’t seem fair supplying the soccer club $15,000 so they can pay, and pay a fraction of the cost while other clubs aren’t getting “$20,000 towards a field somewhere, or a wrestling club, paying for their mats.”
“From a budgetary standpoint, I don’t understand why we would spend this money for a private club,” she said.
According to Ard, the last time she met with the president of the soccer club, he had asked if the city could just deed them the land.
“I’d do that in a New York minute,” Tapson said. “I’d even consider staking in a little improvement to get it off, you know, say here, spend $5,000.”
Huss, a former soccer player himself, said if it’s going to cost the city this much for something that’s used so minimally, then there’s no sense in keeping it.
Ard said the field is actually used a lot by the club, however, Huss noted that they pay minimum and the upkeep doesn’t justify it.
Providing the soccer club was interested in purchasing the property, Tapson suggested the city send the club a letter, asking if they’d be interested in taking over the property.
“Would you be interested in acquiring that for $1 and other valuable consideration, we’ll deed it over,” he said. “You take care of it.”
Rehberg originally made a motion to send the idea to the full council for consideration, however, rescinded it, and made a second motion to direct staff to write a letter to see if the soccer club would be interested in taking over the complex.
The motion carried unanimously.
