County officials approve amended MOU for community ice rink

The Ravalli County Commissioners approved an amended Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Hamilton Downtown Foundation (HDF) to place an ice rink at Big Corral Park during a meeting Tuesday, March 24 and approved the execution of three support letters to help the HDF gain funding for the Hamilton rink.

The approval of the MOU and letters of support means HDF can move forward with their grant requests and secure funding sponsors, some of whom are willing to continue sponsoring for up to five years, according to the organization. It also means they will be able to start writing up a formal three-year lease agreement.

HDF Director Matthew Zwicker and members of the Ravalli County Park Board Kyle Barber, Gary Leese and Bob Cron presented the MOU proposal with some changes from the original conditional approval, including a longer lease — three years instead of one. The proposed lease term will run from Oct. 1, 2026 to Nov. 30, 2029.

Burrows also said he would like the HDF to come back with a three-year operational budget showing an itemized breakdown of what is needed annually since the one presented was for one year with the capital costs included. Commissioners questioned if the HDF would come to the commissioners or park board to request funding if they ran into a shortfall. Zwicker said the HDF has never considered asking either entity for financial support and they are prepared to fund the ice rink.

The ice rink will be a 44’ by 80’ refrigerated unit with protective netting surrounding it, lighting and temporary signage along with a rubber walkway during operational season.

The HDF will lease three of the outbuildings in Big Corral Park including the gas shed which is currently used as storage for 4-H, the high bay storage area used by the Ravalli County Fairgrounds for storage, and the northeast corner of a workshop on the property.

Commissioners felt the HDF and Park Board needed to have discussions with both 4-H and the fairgrounds to discuss what will happen with current items being stored in the outbuildings.

Commissioner Greg Chilcott said he understands why they want use of the high bay area but doesn’t feel comfortable making the other groups move out of the space without some sort of agreement and discussion with them.

“I understand it would be really convenient but it’s not really convenient to those who would be being displaced to accommodate that convenience so I just want to have that ironed out,” Chilcott said.

Ravalli County Park Board member Gary Leese said he would try to arrange having both the fairgrounds and 4-H at the next park board meeting in April so they could sit and discuss the storage situation and come to an agreement.

The commissioners approved the MOU with the amendments addressing insurance and liability, formal agreements made with 4-H and fairgrounds regarding storage and adding wording nothing in the MOU is legally binding until a formal lease agreement is signed.

Commissioner Greg Chilcott says he sees a lot of positive intentions in the MOU for the community having an ice rink but doesn’t feel comfortable signing a lease agreement until the gaps are filled in. All the commissioners agreed they have no problem with the location of the ice rink itself and fully approve and support where it will be in Big Corral Park.