Trustees want to run Burlington Commons

 

BURLINGTON — A park that has served a community for three decades is now at the center of a debate on who should have the authority to run it.

Since 1981 when the Concerned Citizens of Burlington was founded, that grassroots organization has taken care of the Burlington Commons, a public park overlooking the Ohio River owned by the county.

However in 2008, the commissioners entered into a maintenance agreement with the Fayette Township Trustees.

Now those trustees want the commission to approve a management agreement to allow them to run the park. Otherwise they want their maintenance agreement voided.

“We are paying the bills,” Trustee Perry Brock said. “If we are paying the bills, we should have the say on what goes on there.”

But the Concerned Citizens’ position is, according to its president Ed Moellendick, “if it’s not broke, why fix it?”

“Honestly, we are in the dark on what this management agreement would consist of,” he said. “Until we are aware of, we are opposing any change in the status quo. We started taking care of the commons right from the start. We have always had a great working relationship with the commission and the trustees. All of a sudden, out of the blue, they want to do this management agreement.”

The proposed agreement, drawn up by the prosecuting attorney’s office, states the trustees “will have the exclusive right to determine the use of said park, including the right to rent buildings and/or areas of the park setting the price for the rent and receiving the rental payments.”

The agreement would also allow the trustees to use that rent money for park maintenance and upgrades and apply for and receive grants.

Right now the Concerned Citizens charge $50 a day for use of the park, which includes the shelter and the restrooms.

“We are the ones who make the shelter clean and presentable and the restrooms,” Moellendick said. “We take care of the trash before and after and any funds we collect goes toward our maintenance. We don’t have a great number of people reserving it.”

However, according to Brock, the Concerned Citizens are overstepping their authority when they rent out the park.

“Apparently it is not legal for them to rent the facility out,” Brock said. “That is some of the issues with that management agreement.”

The agreement was on the Jan. 15 agenda of the county commissioners, who must approve or reject it. At that time the commissioners said they wanted to study the agreement before bringing it for a vote.

On Feb. 5, Brock came to the commissioners’ regular Thursday meeting to learn the status of the agreement. Commission president Les Boggs wanted to set up a meeting with the commissioners, the trustees and the Concerned Citizens and suggested the work session that next week. Brock said he was unable to attend on that date.

This week the Fayette trustees met and voted that they ask the commissioners to end the maintenance agreement because the commissioners have not acted on the management agreement.

“It is in the commissioners’ ballpark,” Brock said. “Either dissolved our maintenance agreement or give us a management agreement.”