MOU change proposed for gym

Randy Gill addressed the Moorcroft council Monday evening regarding the Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) between the town and Moorcroft High School (MHS) for the school's use of the Moorcroft Town Center (MTC) gymnasium.

The original agreement has expired and, before approving another, the governing body called for this discussion to update requirements and responsibilities of each agency. Gill concurred, "We need to have something in place for sure before the start of the new school year. He asked for a decision before July 1."

To assist the timely realization of this endeavor, Gill and Moorcroft Public Works Director Cory Allison had met over the last couple of weeks to draft two equitable proposals to present to the council for consideration. According to Allison, "We thought about what would be fair to both sides [and] this is what we came up with."

Councilman Paul Smoot commended their efforts, saying, "This is moving in the right direction because it actually gets us more tied in on both ends. We have skin in the game and you have skin in the game."

Allison later said the only difference between the two options is the question of who maintains the finish of the floor. This hard cover reapplication costs approximately $5000. The school currently resurfaces the floor every other year with their own staff and the town pays $1500 toward materials.

Proposal #1 keeps the floor within the purview of MHS and the town pays nothing for the work.

Proposal #2 makes the resurfacing of the gymnasium floor the sole responsibility of the town and the school will pay $5000 for the work and $500 monthly rent.

Though Gill candidly voiced the school's preference for proposal #2, the council chose the first option.

Smoot said, "You have people who know what they're doing and you already have them on staff. That way, in my opinion, you are probably the main user as far as professional use of the floor...there are different types of coating with different textures...you would know the correct ones to use for your use that I think would be the best use."

Councilman Dale Petersen agreed.

Mayor Ben Glenn advised Gill, "It sounds like we're all in agreement on #1 so you can put that in your MOU and send that back to us to approve."

After some question of which agency was responsible for drafting the new MOU, the mayor reminded Gill that the school's attorney wrote the original document with input from then town attorney Jim Peck and they preferred to handle this outline in the same manner.