County to finalize agreement with Fairmont
FAIRMONT– In a special meeting on Tuesday the Martin County Board of Commissioners discussed the city of Fairmont’s response to the lease agreement for a police department in the proposed Justice Center. The Fairmont City Council had tentatively approved the agreement with some amendments at its meeting on Monday.
Commissioner Kathy Smith said that she had attended the city council meeting along with Commissioner Jaime Bleess, County Coordinator Scott Higgins and County Attorney Taylor McGowan.
“After much discussion, they agreed on principle with our lease agreement, however there are things that need to be changed in the agreement,” Smith said.
McGowan provided some background to the board on what has recently transpired since it approved the agreement on Oct. 8.
“The city of Fairmont gave a copy of the lease agreement to their attorney and she wanted to add/flush out more standard lease agreement language, which I don’t think will be an issue. She recommended that the city council hold off approving the lease agreement and at the meeting last night we outlined the basic terms that we’d like to hammer out,” McGowan said.
He said that the city council had a few items for the county board to discuss, including the amount of the rent increase after 10 years and an out clause if the city’s police department is dissolved.
As it stands the lease agreement is for 30 years and the city will pay the county $15,000 per month for 10 years with the potential of an up to 5 percent increase annually after that. On Monday the city had asked that the potential increase be capped at 3 percent.
Smith asked Fairmont’s city attorney, Matt Skaret, what the next steps are. Skaret said that the city is waiting to see if the county is agreeable to the city’s request, particularly regarding the rent increase and out clause.
“I think council’s concern is, 30 years is a long time and we’ve seen what happened with Truman’s Police Department and even though Truman is much smaller, what would happen if the Fairmont Police Department is dissolved sometime in 30 years… I think they (council) would like a shorter, clearer out clause,” Skaret said.
Smith agreed that 30 years is a long time but said, “we have to have faith in our future leaders that they will be able to work that out.”
She asked Bleess what he took away from the city council meeting and Bleess said he felt like the ball was in the county’s court and that it needed to make the requested changes to the lease agreement.
“When we left that meeting it was my understanding that the motion this board should consider is to direct our county attorney to move forward with Flaherty and Hood (city’s attorney) and hammer out the details of the lease so that it makes the expectations of Fairmont’s legal representation and ours,” Bleess said.
He made a motion to have the county attorney work with the city’s attorney to work out the details of the agreement and Commissioner Elliot Belgard seconded it, though he said he did not think they were “all in yet.”
Bleess pointed out that the agreement passed by the city council 4 to 1 and that the group present at the meeting felt good with the decision.
Commissioner Richard Koons said that he was not surprised with how the Fairmont City Council responded.
“I did kind of expect it but the out clause surprised me a little bit,” Koons said.
Commissioner Steve Flohrs, however, said he did not have any issues with the clause and thought it seemed reasonable. He said he would like to start moving forward on finalizing the agreement as soon as possible.
Belgard said he would also like to see everything move forward but he pointed out that there is an election next week and that a lot can soon change.
“History has shown that funny things can happen in that room sometimes. I’m leary a little bit,” Belgard said.
McGowan said that he has communicated to Fairmont’s city attorney that time is of the essence and that this work needs to happen soon.
“The thing the county does not want to do is redesign again, and I hope the city knows that. Every time we have to do a redesign it costs us tens of thousands of dollars. After last night’s meeting, I feel that the city made a commitment to proceed with this project with the county,” Smith said. “That’s how we’re going to move forward.”
The board approved of the city of Fairmont’s response to the lease agreement.