Complex situation

County disputes rec center claims, moves forward with administration change

Union County Quorum Court has moved forward with a months-long plan to end the county’s administration of the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex last month, but not before attempting to set the record straight after an El Dorado City Council member’s comment about the changeover.

In February, the News-Times reported on a specially called meeting for city officials where Ward 2 Council member Vance Williamson referred to the Quorum Court as a body as “childish” due to complaints from other city officials that they had not yet received a bill for 2019 Complex expenses while simultaneously being billed for current Complex operating expenses.

At the February meeting of the Quorum Court, District 1 Justice of the Peace Mike Dumas said Williamson’s comment was out of line.

“We didn’t dump anything on the City,” Dumas said. “For the purpose of the Complex, I think we all believe that turning it over to the City will make it run more efficiently … They can operate that Complex the same way they operate that golf course (the Lions Club Municipal Golf Course). There’s going to be periods when there’s no revenue; I can guarantee you there haven’t been many golfers out there these past couple weeks with all the rain. Revenues are down but they still have the same expenses.”

Dumas was the first to propose that the county turn over administration duties back in November, with District 3 JP Greg Harrison citing inefficiency, confusion in decision-making and safety concerns among the reasons the Quorum Court should consider Dumas’ proposal.

In December, in a 9-2 vote, the Quorum Court agreed to present a draft operating agreement to the El Dorado City Council, which the Council agreed to consider that same day.

The agreement said the City would assume “all rights and obligations attendant to the management, control and financing of the Recreation Complex subject only to the obligation of the County to provide funds to be applied to the operation of the facility as specifically set forth in this agreement.” It goes on to say that the county will cap its annual contribution to Complex expenses at $100,000, with any additional expenses requiring Quorum Court approval for funding.

In January, the City Council accepted the Quorum Court’s draft proposal; however, in February, complaints surfaced regarding the way the two bodies were handling business.

During the specially called meeting JPs took issue with, City Council members and other city officials discussed several issues they’d run into since agreeing to take on administrative duties. Pierce Moore, administrative assistant in the mayor’s office; Sharon Tucker, city accounts payable clerk; and Bonnie Wyles, city treasurer, said the county had already begun forwarding bills from the Complex without sending any operating funds.

Debbie Ray, Union County treasurer, clarified later that those bills shouldn’t have been a surprise. She said that in years past, when the county administrated the Complex, operating expenses were paid out of the county general fund, with the City of El Dorado reimbursing the county for half of the expenses at the end of the year.

City officials also complained that they hadn’t received an invoice for 2019 expenses from the county; however, Ray disputed that and provided the News-Times with a copy of the bill, which was dated Jan. 22.

“We offered to help them in any way we can,” Ray said, explaining that she and Jody Cunningham, executive assistant to County Judge Mike Loftin, had met with Moore and Tucker prior to the city meeting.

“We went over some things, like how we set it up in our budget. The general fund is going to have to cover it; they’re just going to have to go and make a line item and cover it for this year and then they’ll be doing the same thing we’ve been doing. They’ll be billing us after this year up to $100,000,” she said.

District 4 JP Dean Storey, who has consistently voted against turning over the county’s administration of the Complex, questioned whether the county would lose all say in how the Complex is run if they passed the new operating agreement.

“The thing I hate to see us do is end any contact with the Complex. The county’s got a lot invested in it,” he said. “Right now, we have a full capacity to say how things are handled.”

Loftin countered Storey’s concern, saying that because the county will still be paying for half of the Complex’s operating expenses up to $100,000, they will still have a degree of say in the matter.

The Quorum Court approved the new operating agreement in an 8-2 vote at their February meeting. Storey and District 8 JP William Crowder voted against the ordinance, and District 2 JP Justin Hendrix was absent.