City approves 28E agreement with school district

A 28E agreement between the City of Newton and the Newton Community School District was approved at the city council meeting on Monday. The agreement gives maintenance guidelines for properties owned and used by both institutions.

In the past, the city and school district have shared the use and maintenance costs of several athletic facilities, often through verbal agreements, city administrator Bob Knabel said. It was decided it was beneficial for both the city and school district to have a written agreement when utilizing tax dollars on property owned by others.

“I think it is really valuable that we have a formal written agreement because I know there has been some hesitation on both ends in terms of changes. This looks like it will give ownership to the proper party,” council member Evelyn George said.

George did note the city has to approve many improvements and asked what a major improvement would be.

“The property the city owns, we need to have knowledge or say if there are improvements to that property such as putting up new buildings or major improvements so it is done with our master planning,” Public Works Director Keith Laube said. “The same with the school property, for example the hike and bike trail, we’re not going to do any extensions in the Children’s Forest, we’d have the school’s permission before we would do that.”

At Eversman Field in Woodland Park, the school district will maintain the fence (including the top cover), the area inside the fence, the dugouts, batting cages, scoreboard, lights, electricity for the lights, concession stand and the storage building located south of the park maintenance/restroom building. The city will maintain the parking area and access to the bleachers, including installing a concrete pad beneath the bleachers.

The school district will continue to schedule and collect rent from any third party users with the rates set by the city. The money collected will be used by the school for maintenance costs.

As previously agreed, at the tennis courts in Aurora Park, each party was pay for 50 percent of the cost of pavement overlays, applications of colored surface and the fences surrounding the court. The city is responsible for the lights, bleachers and ground maintenance.

The city will also give priority scheduling for the use of the tennis courts at Maytag Park for team practices and tournaments.

The city will continue to maintain the section of the hike and bike trail known as the Children’s Forest that is located on school property south and west of the high school.

Newton school district golf teams may use the Westwood Golf Course during the golf season at a cost of $1 per round. The school and the golf professional will work together to accommodate tee times for both the golf team and public golf patrons.

The school may also use the golf course for one scheduled cross country meet per year at no charge.

Maytag Pool is allowed for the use of the school’s athletic teams when the pool is not open. It can be used at no charge as long as they provide a lifeguard that has been trained at the pool.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com