Community leaders are moving forward with plans for a tennis complex near Lincoln University and the Jefferson Parks and Recreation Commission likely will approve a memorandum of understanding on the project by the end of the month.
At the commission meeting Tuesday, Todd Spalding, director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, presented a draft memorandum of understanding, or MOU, between the commission and Lincoln for construction and maintenance of a new tennis court complex near the campus.
The project has been discussed since last summer, when university officials approached the Parks and Recreation Commission to see if the commission would be interested in partnering to build an eight-court, outdoor tennis complex at Dunklin and Lafayette streets. Commissioners then unanimously approved a motion to have staff explore the tennis project and a potential partnership, along with allocating between $200,000 and $300,000 contingent upon finding other community partners.
The university had received a $75,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, with $125,000 in university matching funds, to help build three new tennis courts on the site of the existing three courts. However, to build something that would attract outside tournaments, the area likely would need closer to eight courts, which at that time was said likely would cost approximately $1.2 million with amenities.
The draft MOU presented Tuesday includes a $300,000 allocation from parks, which Spalding noted is budgeted, the $200,000 from Lincoln University and $62,500 from the Jefferson City Public Schools, though that amount has not been approved by the Jefferson City Board of Education.
Spalding said the university is looking at grant funds to help complete the project, as the $562,500 identified budget would not cover the cost of building six to eight courts.
Also, though Lincoln University recently announced it would discontinue its only tennis team after July 1, Spalding said university president Kevin Rome still thinks the tennis complex would be important for both students and the overall community.
The draft MOU outlines responsibilities for ongoing maintenance of the courts, stipulating the university would be responsible for all maintenance and upkeep costs up to $4,999.99, with the commission and the university evenly splitting all costs after that.
However, the draft MOU has very little information on use of the proposed complex and Michael Couty, who attended his final commission meeting as a commissioner Tuesday and serves on the Jefferson City Board of Education, noting the board has not discussed anything about use of the complex.
Because commission members would like more information specified in the MOU, specifically what each entity, including the school district, would provide in terms of ongoing maintenance and would expect in terms of use of the complex, the commission opted to hold off on voting for now. Instead, the commission likely will schedule a special meeting before the end of May to approve the MOU, as the project needs to be moving forward quickly.
Spalding said the draft timeline would have design work happening through the end of June, survey work after that and bids being received by the end of September. Construction would begin Nov. 1.
Couty also recommended the commission and the university approach the school board about being a party to the MOU itself, as it currently is drafted as being between Lincoln University and the commission with a financial contribution from the school district.