By Dan Schroeder
If I'm not mistaken, the city council will be voting this Tuesday on whether to provide $200,000 in funding for the proposed ice tower. Since taxpayers are being asked to fork over a substantial amount of money for this project, and since I'm a taxpayer, I decided to try to learn more about it.
Now, I could have asked the city for information, but my past experience is that the city doesn't always cooperate with such requests. So I decided instead to go to the county, which has all the paperwork for the two ice tower RAMP applications. Guess what? I didn't even have to file a GRAMA request. The county gladly provided me with copies of all the documents, free of charge.
Most of what I obtained is linked here:
• First ice tower RAMP application, January 2007(To keep the file sizes under control, I've omitted the application cover sheets and many pages of relatively uninteresting attachments including illustrations, letters of support, documentation of the tax-exempt status of the nonprofit organization that would operate the facility, and a now-obsolete lease agreement for use of the Big D Sports Park.)
• Progress report, December 2007
• Letter from John Patterson, undated
• Second ice tower RAMP application, January 2008
As has already been reported in the press, each RAMP application was for $200,000. The 2007 application was approved, with the understanding that the tower would be located at the Big D Sports Park. The RAMP authorities later approved an extension on this grant into 2008, as well as a modification to reflect the change in location to downtown Ogden. The 2008 RAMP application was turned down, and that's apparently why the administration is now asking the council for $200,000.
These documents should be read in conjunction with the very informative fundraising brochure that was posted here last Friday. The additional information in the RAMP documents includes the following:
• To fund the remainder of the ice tower construction costs, the city is apparently counting on major grants from the G.S. and D.D. Eccles Foundation ($400,000), the Land and Water Conservation Fund ($200,000), and the Swanson Foundation ($100,000), as well as smaller contributions from a number of private companies including Petzl, Black Diamond, Pyramide, Lowe Alpine, Cassar Jewelers, and Bank of Utah. The likelihood of actually obtaining these grants and contributions is unclear.Through corresponding with the county regarding these documents, I also learned a bit more. RAMP can provide funding either to government entities or to nonprofit organizations. However, nonprofits cannot obtain RAMP funding for capital assets because there would be no way of stopping them from then selling those assets. That's why, in order to be eligible for RAMP funding, the city (rather than OHIT/OCP) must own the ice tower. Also, it is the county's understanding that the city (as owner of the facility) is making a commitment to maintain it "in perpetuity".
• The city has already spent over $30,000 for architecture, engineering, property appraisal, and advertising. Most of these expenses were initially charged against the 2007 RAMP grant, but the city was then informed that the RAMP grant could be used only for actual construction expenses, not development. Apparently this mistake has now been corrected, presumably by shifting money over from private contributions. But the details are murky.
• There's a bit more information about the nonprofit that would operate the ice tower. It is known to the IRS as Ogdens Hollographic Ice Tower Inc. (OHIT), but is now doing business as Ogden Climbing Parks. In January 2007 its board of directors had only three members: Jeff Lowe, Michal (or Michale) Glassman, and Chris Ford. (Interestingly, Glassman is listed as a WSU "professor" in the 2007 application but as a "developer" in the 2008 application. I can find no Glassman, with any first name, listed as an instructor in the WSU class schedules for 2006 or 2007. If anyone knows who this person is, please enlighten me!) By January 2008, four more board members had been added: Abraham Shreve (of Envision Ogden fame), Deanna Byck, Michael Beck, and Brad Roghaar.
• OHIT/OCP claims to have raised approximately $120,000 in "cash contributions and sponsorships" in the year prior to January 2008.
Unfortunately, there are still many questions that these documents do not answer:
• What evidence is there that the projected $300,000 in annual income, needed to cover operating costs, will materialize?As you can probably tell, I'm pretty skeptical about this project. While it seems from examples elsewhere that artificial ice climbing walls can be successful, it isn't clear that this particular project has the necessary ingredients for success. If it were 100% privately funded, of course, I'd have no objection whatsoever. Even some level of one-time public funding would be ok with me, if we could be sure that the facility would pay its own operating expenses over the long term. But I see no such assurance whatsoever. In fact, it seems likely that this $200,000 request will actually be made on an annual basis, indefinitely.
• What happens if there is a revenue shortfall?
• What are the provisions for renting equipment and providing instruction to users? (The four employees do not appear to include any climbing instructors, yet most users will undoubtedly need lessons.)
• How will the outreach activities, for at-risk youth and the disabled, actually work? Will these groups displace paying customers at certain times, and who will pay the staff needed to assist them and ensure that they can use the facility safely? What evidence is there that these groups are interested in using the facility? What level of physical ability is required to attempt ice climbing?
• Why is the tower to be located on 25th Street, surrounded by government and office buildings, rather than near the Salomon Center where there could be more synergistic activity? Where will users go for snacks? What will the rest of a family do while one member gets an ice climbing lesson?
