With no representatives of the Skate Park Association in attendance, a request for the city to pay for supervision of the new skate park was defeated at Monday’s city council meeting.

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

With no representatives of the Skate Park Association in attendance, a request for the city to pay for supervision of the new skate park was defeated at Monday’s city council meeting. Only councilor George Marin voted in support of the request.

The skate park, located near the city beach, operated with adult volunteer supervisors last summer. The association plans on raising funds for additional equipment, and would like to alternate days for skaters and bikes. But in a written request from Paul Evenson of the association to the city’s Parks and Recreation office, the association said that volunteer labor would no longer be sufficient for the demand.

Obj-ections to the request centered on the deal that council members said had been made with the skate park association when the idea of building a skate park first came to the council.

&uot;When we originally decided to support the skate park, they told us absolutely that we wouldn’t need to pay for supervision,&uot; said councilor Mary Kron.

Council members David McPherson and Al Brooks also indicated that the deal with the skate park about supervision was leading them to deny the request.

According to Paul Sparks, city manager, money for the supervisors was not in the budget, but that Parks and Recreation funds could be shifted to free up money for the position. But he also said that with the state’s own budget problems and the potential of a $300,000 cut to the funds Albert Lea receives from the state, those funds might need to be shifted to keep their current programs running.

&uot;I’m not sure that money can be made available, depending on what happens at the state level,&uot; Sparks said.