The Cherokee Village City Council held a special meeting May 5 to discuss a proposal regarding some of the fire stations and whether or not the City could take ownership from the Suburban Improvement District.
Mayor Steven Rose opened the meeting, recognizing representatives from the SID who were present for the meeting.
In attendance for the city council were Kelly Harrison, Rachel Tatum, Jeff Tatum, Steve Thompson, Pamela Rowland, Eddie Ishmael and Peter Martin.
In attendance for the SID were Manager Betsy Waugh and Commissioners Susan Jett, Ron Page, David Nebel and Tony Stallsmith.
After the agenda was approved by council and the proposal, drafted by City Attorney Jody Shackelford was read.
The proposal requested the three fire stations utilized by the city, Baseheart, Wakita and Onaga, but owned by the SID be sold to the city for $1 each and cited the lawsuit against the SID which was settled in 2021 as a partial reason for the suggested exchange.
It was noted by “conveying title instead of executing a lease, we achieve the same economic result for SID while permanently clarifying ownership, eliminating future liability for SID taxpayers, and unlocking federal and state grant opportunities that require deeded ownership…” and that “Fire protection is not within the SID’s statutory mission of maintaining streets, lakes, parks, and common amenities. For decades, the City has borne one hundred percent of personnel, operational, and capital costs for its fire department. Thus, the three stations plainly qualify as surplus property.”
After the proposal was read, the floor was opened for discussion.
Commissioner Stallsmith said he was speaking as a citizen, but as a commissioner was in favor of the transfer of the fire stations.
Commissioner Page said he believed if this were to move forward the city should bear all costs including closing and transfer rather than the fees be split between the two entities.
Thompson referred to the SID website and provided printed copies of information listed on the site.
“In the About US section of the website, on page two of the document, under the letter CVSID In the second paragraph it states ‘Upon substantial completion of Cherokee Village, Cooper Communities deeded all the amenities to the Suburban Improvement District. The amenities now include two golf courses, seven lakes, three recreation centers, fire protection services, and a number of parks and other facilities.’ so to Mr. Page’s point, cooper communities bore the cost of the deed preparation back in 1974. this is the precedent set by Cooper Communities when they deeded those immensities to SID. SID didn’t build the facilities…”
Thompson stated he believed the city attorney was following the format set when properties were deeded from Cooper Communities to the SID, and that recording fees would be less than $200.
Additional fees for preparation would likely be approximately $1,500.
Thompson also noted since the city incorporated in 1998 the city had bore the cost of repairs, heating and air systems, replacement of roof, grounds keeping and more.
Councilman Martin stated that if closing costs and title fees were all that stood between the SID deeding the property to the city or not, then he motioned to make a change to the proposal with the city covering the cost of the fees mentioned. Councilman Ishmael seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Nebel raised issue with the value of the property, “So I see this, you guys want to take possession of property worth $2.197 million.”
Councilman Martin rebutted that it was the citizens property, “No. No Sir, we want to take possession of the citizen’s property. The property that’s already been bought and paid for by the citizens of Cherokee Village. It’s not the City vs SID. This has already been bought and paid for by the citizens.”
Nebel said the buildings were carried on the SID’s assessments which has to do with money the SID collected on assessments.
“This is on our books, not the city’s. The SIDs . The last problem we had came from the lawsuit which stated we as SID have the right to maintain these buildings with the city on a lease agreement which I maintain we should completely stay with until the future of the SID is determine If the SID is going to exist or if it is not going to exist. It’s coming down the road a lot sooner than we think,” Nebel continued. “So, for now I’m opposed to this recommendation. I agree we should have a lease, that is fair and equitable to everyone but what I’m seeing in this proposal, you’re not trying to work with the SID at all.”
Mayor Rose asked what about the proposal was a show of bad faith in Nebel’s eyes, to which Nebel stated it was not fair and equitable.
Rose reiteratied the SID did not construct the facilities, they were gifted to them and paid for by the citizens of Cherokee Village since that time.
“… This is a ball that has been kicked down the court since 2004. This should have been decided in 2004 and we wouldn’t be here right now. When the city took over fire operations in 2004, there should have been something in there that after a certain amount of time, they automatically turned over to the city. Because by state law, the city has to be in the fire protection business,” Rose said. “.. All we’re trying to do is rectify problems that happened 20 years ago… This city has no plans and no funding to take care of the many amenities the SID has. But to go back to what Mr. Nebel said. Because of the questionable future of the SID we’re trying to nip this in the bud and save our fire stations and transfer them in to the city’s control so there is no question about the fire stations.”
General Manager Betsy Waugh said there was no one had shown any reason the fire stations were at risk.
“Ya’ll have lived in those fire stations rent free for all of these years. You’ve done all of those things that you said earlier and so this is not something that is on the burner fixing to happen, I think this is an opportunity for SID and City to work together and we were trying to do that with the lease moving forward and rectify some of those things that had happened in the past. This is really something that works for both parties and I think that instead of trying to push us and bully us into trying to make a decision. Its’ so odd we didn’t receive this resolution with our paperwork earlier today. We received a draft of the letter but no resolution that we could have forwarded to our attorneys to let them review before we came to the meeting.”
Mayor Rose said the paperwork had been sent earlier in the day, but that the resolution is for the city council and not the SID.
Several council meetings offered clarification with regards to the paperwork, the resolution, type of meeting being held and how the meetings operate.
Commissioner Susan Jett said she was speaking for herself, but the way the document was written was not acceptable to her as one of five commissioners.
Councilman Martin offered to motion to extend the deadline into June to give the SID commissioners more time to consider the proposal.
Waugh said it was unnecessary.
Mayor Rose said the meeting was for the council and to submit the information to the SID so the SID could then take it to their own meeting to discuss further.
After a brief seaway into the topic of ISO ratings for insurance, Councilman Thompson said it was a greater benefit to the citizenry if the buildings were owned by the city because it would allow for more grant opportunities and other sources of funding.
It was also discussed two of the three stations were listed in a flood plane.
The discussion of the end of the assessments was briefly held, but it was noted there are 11 years until that time.
After further discussion, no action was taken and the issue will be discussed further in the coming days.
To see a video of the meeting visit https://youtu.be/aJHcKG-e0c8?si=McQQd8tSACMRdyYO.
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
