MAD reports on re-opening activities during council meeting

The El Dorado City Council has finalized a vote it took late last year by signing off on documents pertaining to city-owned properties, including a new purchase, that are leased, operated and managed by the Murphy Arts District.

During a regular meeting April 8, council members approved a contract for services for the MAD playscape and an agreement of sale, warranty deed, lease agreement and memorandum of lease for Oil Derrick Park.

Oil Derrick Park is adjacent to The Griffin Restaurant and First Financial Music Hall and features a large, lighted oil derrick.

Last December, the city council and El Dorado Works Board approved a funding request for the city to purchase Oil Derrick Park for $890,000 and to enter into a contract for MAD to manage, operate and maintain the MAD Playscape, which is owned by the city and leased by MAD.

The El Dorado Works Board oversees the El Dorado Works tax, a one-cent sales tax that is dedicated to economic development, municipal infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.

Twelve percent of revenue from the 10-year tax, which was approved by voters in 2015, is earmarked for Festival City/MAD development.

The purchase of Oil Derrick Park was part of a package of funding requests that MAD initially submitted to the EWB in October of 2020.

For the $890,000 sale, MAD asked for the remaining balance of the 12% allotment from the El Dorado

Works tax.

The other components of the funding request were the contract for services/O&M agreement for the playscape and a reimbursement of monopoly infrastructure expenses of $422,341 that MAD spent on upgrading city-owned infrastructure in and around the MAD entertainment complex.

The initial funding request came to $2.5 million.

MAD originally asked for a three-year commitment totaling $1.2 million, $400,000 per year, for the contract for services for the playscape.

However, the city council opted to pay out the contract annually at $400,000 per year in arrears.

The request also came with a pledge from Murphy USA to match funds that were approved by the city.

The council’s approval on April 8 is the latest financial contribution the city has directed toward MAD development over the past eight years.

In 2013, the city committed $9.02 million from the former El Dorado Forward tax — which expired in 2015 after eight years — to help purchase and improve properties — Oil Heritage Park and the MAD Amphitheater and Playscape — which were deeded back to the city and are being leased to MAD for a nominal fee.

Other properties, including the Rialto Theater and the McWilliams building at South Washington and Locust, are set to be renovated in Phase 2 of the MAD development plan.

An additional $3.2 million was approved from the El Dorado Works tax in 2016 and $2.2 million was approved in 2019 to cover a cost overrun for construction of the MAD playscape and amphitheater.

The city has also spent tens of thousands of dollars in infrastructure improvements — including streets, sidewalks and water and wastewater — to help make way for MAD.

Also, the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission has set aside a line item in its annual budget for the past several years to help promote the city’s Festival City brand and events that are hosted by MAD.

On April 8, Pam Griffin, MAD president and chief executive officer, summarized the paperwork that was presented to the city council, saying that the legal documents would finalize the agreement upon which the council voted in December of 2020 for the sale of Oil Derrick Park and O&M of the playscape.

Four of the documents pertained to Oil Derrick Park.

“One is the agreement for sale and the warranty deed that goes with it and then also the lease-back agreement and the memorandum of lease so that all that gets properly recorded with (Union County), as well as with the title company with the agreement of sale to actually transfer the deed on that property to the city,” Griffin explained.

The council unanimously approved the documents with one motion.

The Griffin

Council Member Willie McGhee asked when MAD plans to reopen the Griffin Restaurant, which, like several other MAD facilities, was shut down last year because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Or did I miss that somewhere?” McGhee asked, referring to an anticipated date for reopening.

“You have not missed that. We’re still working on that and we have made significant progress on that,” Griffin said, adding MAD is finalizing an “arrangement” to reopen the restaurant and entertainment venue.

“Is it sooner or later?” McGhee pressed.

“It’s sooner. It’s sooner rather than later. As soon as we can talk about it, I will.” Griffin replied.

McGhee said he has received several inquiries about the reopening of the restaurant and Griffin said now that the MAD Playscape has reopened under a revised schedule, she too is often asked about the Griffin.

She told council members that the playscape was open the full week of spring break for local schools, March 22 26, and has since been open from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. three days each week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

The facility closed this weekend, however, as crews continue to work on landscaping and a project to remove wood mulch on the playground to replace it with rubber mulch, which has begun arriving by the truckload, Griffin told council members.

“It’s looking a lot better. It no longer looks like a jungle anymore, which is nice,” she said, noting that the rubber mulch will last longer than the wood variety.

“And then we’re still assessing the state of the splash pad and what it’s going to take to get it back up and running with a goal of the second half of May,” Griffin continued. “Somewhere in that time-frame we’ll have the splash pad open.”

Council Member Andre Rucks asked about participation at the playscape and Griffin said attendance has been “really good.”

She said a count is not kept for the playground area but attendees are recorded for the splash pad because of capacity limits.

Griffin said the playground has drawn hundreds of children since the facility reopened this year.

McGhee asked how many active employees are on MAD’s personnel roster right now and Griffin said 11 full-time employees work five days a week.

There are also a few employees who work part-time on an hourly basis to assist with the playscape, shows and other events, she said.

“It looks like you’re making some inroads for some entertainment,” Council Member Paul Choate said.

Replied Griffin, “We are. We are. The activity for shows and artists wanting to come and play, that has really ramped up in the last few weeks.”

She said MAD is busy booking shows and announcements are forthcoming within the next few weeks.

“And we have another long list of artists that we’re working on getting dates scheduled for that will be announced. It’s rolling,” said Griffin.