Council to vote on multiple ice arena agreements during next meeting

The Worthington City Council will consider Monday a finance and construction agreement for the building of the new single-sheet ice arena proposed to be constructed at the school district’s Crailsheim Road campus. The District 518 Board of Education previously approved the agreement during its meeting this past Tuesday, and the Worthington Hockey Association has also approved it.

The total project budget is $16 million. The agreement states that the City of Worthington will provide $10 million, or 62.5 percent, of the funding. District 518 is giving $5 million, or 31.25 percent, and the hockey association $1 million, or 6.25 percent.

District 518 shall serve as the owner, project manager and fiscal agent for the project. Prorated payment requests will be issued to the city monthly for costs incurred by the design and construction consultant throughout the project.

An ice arena lease and operations agreement between the city and school district is also on the agenda. This denotes the city’s (tenant) and school district’s (landlord) responsibilities. The term of the agreement is 25 years with an effective date upon substantial completion of the new ice arena. The city’s annual rent shall be $1.

Additionally, council members are slated to vote on an ice arena use agreement between the city, school district and hockey association. This denotes the scheduling priorities, the formula to calculate the ice rental rates and usage of the premises.

As the facility operator, the city is responsible for all scheduling and programming of usage for community benefit, as well as school district and hockey association programming.

Finally, the council will consider the sources of funds for its $10 million ice arena allotment. Staff has proposed these to be: $2 million from hospital impact funds; $3 million from Fund 101 Unreserved/Undesignated; $2 million from undesignated future sales tax revenue; and $3 million from Worthington Public Utilities.