Sessions present info on civic center

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 27, 1996

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

The Headwaters Regional Development Commission held two informational and community input sessions Wednesday concerning the feasibility of a Bemidji civic or community center. About 10 people showed up to both the 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. meetings to ask questions and hear updates from HRDC representatives.

HRDC Physical Planning Director Cliff Tweedale and Economic Development Director Dave Hengle mediated the first of the two meetings, and Hengle mediated the second.

Tweedale gave the crowd an update as to where the Bemidji Civic/Community Center Committee was standing and an update as to the information that has been gathered by HRDC on behalf of the committee. The committee hired HRDC to sponsor the community input sessions and to discuss with local organizations if there is a need for a civic or community facility.

He said HRDC has talked with about 20 to 25 community organizations already and will talk to another 20 to 25 in the next three weeks. "We probably will hold 50 different meetings dealing with every possible organizations in town," he said.

He told the participants the meetings were to "provide a complete framework" on which the Civic/Community Center Committee, and later the City Council, can base their decisions.

George Theroux, a community member, asked who initially proposed the need for the facility.

City Councilor Rosemary Given Amble, who is also on the Civic/Community Center Committee, said the city council was approached by two organizations at one meeting that voiced concerns for some type of facility. One was the Youth Hockey Association and the other group of area arts organizations.

"We have some things that actually triggered it," she said.

Theroux said it seemed to him that the idea came from nowhere.

Tweedale said one thing he has learned from the information HRDC has gathered is that needs are a subjective concept. Each group such as youth hockey, the arts and others will have different ideas as to what is needed.

Another community member, Margaret Bressler, asked how much of the information gathered concerns needs and how much of it concerns wants. "Let's not clothe all of this in needs," she said.

Another concern voiced by John Bressler, Margaret's husband, was about the operational costs of the facility. "I've heard an awful lot about the cost," he said, "but nothing about operational costs."

Tweedale said there are no definite ideas as to how the facility could be operated financially, but he said the civic center built in Willmar needed $110,000 of city finances to operate last year. He said it was not self-sufficient. "We need to pay attention to that (operational costs)," he said.

Margaret Bressler also asked that Tweedale and Hengle, when looking at similar facilities built in comparable towns, also look to compare the average incomes of those communities and Bemidji's.

Tweedale said the committee has been keeping in mind the median income of the "comparable market areas," the members are studying.

"It's hard to get past the issue of assessing cost because it (Bemidji) is not a wealthy community," Northern Township resident Kent Nerburn said. "But how do you stat to factor in the intangible about how it (the facility) would shape the community?"

Tweedale added, "You can, in part, control the future but not predict it."

The first session lasted an hour and 15 minutes and a number of issues were discussed. Tweedale said it was a good session, and even some new issues were brought to light.