Friends of Desert Park update.
f Desert Park (FODP) held a meeting last Tuesday night to elect an executive and update members on what the group has been working on behind the scenes.
The group has formed as a society, and together with founding member Allan Carswell (who is also running for a seat on Osoyoos Town Council), is at work on a business plan in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) to take over operations of the park.
The RFP was issued by the Town of Osoyoos September 4 and the closing date is November 1.
Richard Tessier, who previously agreed to work on event promotion at Desert Park, is now officially the society's President.
Gordon Wilson has agreed to stand as Vice President, and Gerry McKay has come forward as Secretary/Treasurer. Three Directors – Nina Heidtke, Joanne Tessier and Les Bodnard – were also nominated.
The society's mandate is to continue providing the variety of activities that have occurred at Desert Park Equestrian Centre, to develop new activities compatible with the park's history and to preserve and maintain the heritage of the Desert Park environment, Tessier explained.
As a society, we would enter into agreements and contracts with public and private entities that are fiscally sound. We're not going to be managing the park. We're going to be a society to protect the interests of the people, save the park in its present condition and improve upon the facilities, he added.
After the election of the board, Carswell outlined what he and Tessier had been working on over the past few months.
Carswell made a presentation to the RDOS during its on the road meeting in August, after which he noted FODP received a letter of support from the Board of Directors.
Since the RFP was issued, we've had three or four phone meetings with Town of Osoyoos CAO Elsie Lemke. Richard and I also attended a meeting at town hall with Elsie and Finance Director Jim Zakall, and asked a number of questions about the proposal. We also questioned the lack of detail in the original document, Carswell said.
The town has since provided more information, including specific numbers and the types of leases currently on the facility, but Carswell said he was disappointed by a couple of the RFP's conditions.
The first major problem in terms of putting a proposal forward is the fact that the Desert Park facility is actually on two separate leases of land.
The main lease is for 47 acres, encompassing the infield, the track, the antelope brush area and most of the recreation building, Carswell explained.
However, there's a second lease (approximately four acres) that nobody seems to know about, which forms a triangle at the northwest end of the park.
The town has said that this area is not up for lease, although Elsie said she would check into it further and get back to us. We still don't know the status of that piece of land.rnThe second problem Carswell sees in making a proposal is the stipulation that the proponent must have an established company.
If we do it by ourselves, without a partner, we would basically have to have all the money sitting in a company bank account. Under this condition, we would have to form a company, put all the money in a bank account, bid on a proposal, and then if we lose the bid, we'd have to dissolve the company and take all the money back out.
We asked Elsie whether we could create the structure without the finances in place, on the condition that if the proposal is accepted then the money would be available, thereby skipping the whole step of creating an entity, funding it and then having it all fall through. Doing it that way also makes it a lot easier to work with the RDOS, Carswell said.
Carswell hinted several people have said that under the right terms, they would invest in the plan put forth by FODP.
But until the time that we can show investors a lease agreement, we have no firm asset to show people. We've asked Elsie to go back to the town lawyers to look at a different business model. Funding commitments are in place, however, there is still more information needed in order to complete the proposal.rnArea A Director Eike Scheffler said the Regional District is also going to make a public/private proposal, including the areas of Osoyoos, Oliver, OK Falls, Cawston and Keremeos, to keep Desert Park as a facility for rural and town equestrian recreation.
What Friends of Desert Park is saying to the town is, we're willing to work with you, here's the concept of what we're trying to do, here's what the RDOS is willing to do, and this is how it'll work, Carswell said.
