by Tracy and Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — The development of the Heritage Park project suffered a snag Tuesday night when the Wellington City Council tabled a motion for the $40,000 purchase of an adjacent building that once housed Karl’s Boot and Shoe Repair at 119 N. Washington.

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Karl Younkman, the owner of the popular downtown business, recently died (see obituary here) leaving the building vacant. The Wellington Special Parks Committee under the umbrella of the Wellington Community Foundation is hoping the council will purchase the building for $40,000 and turn it into a public restroom facility and Welcome Center for the Heritage Plaza project.

This project, which has publicly been in the works for over 10 months, is being designed to make a two-park development connecting the current lot that is Heritage Park south of Memorial Auditorium and connecting it with the area that is known as Antler’s Hotel parking lot. The plans call for a diagonal walkway to connect the two parks. The eventual outcome is to build a park much like the Broadway Plaza in Concordia.

Councilman Joe Soria motioned to table a resolution for the building purchase until July 5. The vote ended in a 3-3 tie. Soria, Mike Westmoreland and Guy Leitch voted for the table. Kevin Dodds, Robert Hamilton and Rick Roitman voted against the table. The vote then went to Mayor Jim Valentine for the rare occasion of breaking a tie-breaker. He voted for the table.

Soria gave four reasons for tabling the motion:

1 – The taxpayers were wondering what is put in its place?

2 – When will the building be open?

3 – What are the hours?

4 – Where is the $40,000 coming from?

5 – Where will the money come from to make it ADD-compatible?

There was no discussion at the meeting. But plenty of it afterward. Hamilton took to social media with the following statement:

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On Wednesday, Soria said he was disappointed that Hamilton would air out his grievances on social media attacking fellow councilmen. He also said he was verbally attacked by a member of the Heritage Park group after the meeting.

“I’m not necessarily against the project,” Soria said. “I just think there needs to be transparency. The public has a right to know how their taxpayer money is being spent and I don’t think in this case this has been properly addressed publicly.”

There has been plenty of discussion from the city council concerning this project through executive sessions. Real estate purchases are usually done in executive sessions, said a former city employee, so that the city can get fair market value and not be manipulated by outside or competing interests.

The person said it is also not unusual for a municipality to purchase real estate.

Wellington City Manager Shane Shields said he was bound to not specifically address this particular purchase because it was discussed in an executive session.

According to minutes from a May 9, 2022, Park Board meeting that was approved by the council on Tuesday, board member Annarose White, who is also a member of the Wellington Special Parks Committee, first said the intention of the purchase was to build an adjacent restroom and a welcome center.

In a phone call today to White, she said the group is requesting funding through the America Recovery Plan Act and will be used for various project expenses, which technically could be used for Karl’s building purchase. However, she did say that the council has also been budgeting for the construction of a public restroom in downtown Wellington.

“What we liked about purchasing the building is all of the plumbing is intact in that building,” White said. “This would give us more space for other things instead of constructing a whole new bathroom facility and using up valuable space.”

Hamilton said on Facebook that the purchase would not come out of the city budget through the ARPA. Some on social media questioned that this was not an ethical use of funds that should be going toward Coronavirus recovery.

Hamilton responded that these are ARA funds available for the community and that the city of Wellington needs to use or lose them.

The Wellington Memorial Auditorium air conditioning unit was paid for through the ARA act.

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