WECRD opponent says she is truthful about her concerns

Dear editor:

My friend attended the WECRD meeting, Thursday evening, Feb. 25. I was unable to attend. My friend called me when the WECRD board adjourned the public portion of the meeting to meet in closed session, to let me know that Carol Curtis, who had also attended the meeting, was telling everyone in attendance that I was lying to people to get them to sign the "Petition For Dissolution of the (Western) Elmore County Recreation District" (WECRD).

I have not lied to anyone and I have not coerced people into signing the petition. I answered questions put to me as best I could and if they did not want to sign the petition, I thanked them for their time. If they wanted to check into the WECRD issue further, before deciding if they wanted to sign, I would give them my name and phone number, telling them I would be more than happy to come back later if they wished to sign.

And I do not appreciate someone like Carole Curtis standing up before the people who attended the meeting and accusing me of lying and forcing people to sign the petition.

Please don't get me wrong. I would really like to see a recreation district here in Mountain Home, just as much as many of you would. I have attended meetings of the WECRD and gotten copies of their budgets as well as the building and maintenance costs of the proposed project. I honestly believe that there is no way possible that they can build and maintain this project, as things now stand.

With the current funds, and the amount of money it will cost to complete the building, construct the parking lot, landscape the 20 acres (which they paid $25,000 an acre for and just recently found out it was in a flood plain), connect to the power, waste and water, pay for employees, electricity, chemicals, supplies and still be able to operate the facility is unrealistic.

The WECRD assures us they can successfully do that and still manage to construct this 29,000 to 30,000 square foot building for a mere $75 a square foot (which depends on which meeting you happened to attend). I have very little confidence that to get this project completed and to keep it up and running successfully will not have a ghost of a chance of succeeding under the current plans and administrators.

In November of 2002, the WECRD paid an Oregon firm $21,000 to conduct a feasibility study. The report is approximately 60 pages long and stated that under the "current " conditions the plan would be a very hard sell to the public. And this was from a time when our economy was much better then it is now. There were many people interviewed at this time and the comments included: "too grandiose; too big for our community; I fear the expense of the design might be prohibitive; it is all beneficial but too much to pay for; a little out of the scope for Mountain Home; great idea but hard to pull off from a financing standpoint."

There were some positive comments in the report, but most were negative.

This report was based on building a $10 million facility, because that was what they had planned in the beginning, however because of the our economy being the way it is, people being laid off and the future not looking like it will be changing much to the better, any time soon. I think what the WECRD is proposing is just not feasible.

I honestly believe that the community cannot support the center as things are now and if the WECRD goes forward with their ever-changing plans, that sooner, rather than later, we will be left holding the bag to either a half-finished facility or a completed facility that will be left standing abandoned.

I sincerely admire the people who have worked so hard on this project. I know it took a lot of their time and energy to get things this far. We need to pass it along to people with the experience and know how to take the project from this point to fruition.

I have lived here in Mountain Home for almost ten years. I try my hardest to be honest and I am very concerned and involved with what happens in our community.

Catherine Brown