The Fort Dodge City Council will consider a couple of memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreements at its next meeting pertaining to the sports pavilion located in Corridor Plaza. These agreements foreshadow changes forthcoming at the Pavilion located at Corridor Plaza.
According to David Fierke, Fort Dodge’s City Manager, these agreements are the beginning stages of a transition period for the Pavilion. He reiterated this process ‘is not a sprint.’
According to the correspondence shared by Fierke, the Pavilion will continue to be owned by the City, and partnerships will be forged between The City of Fort Dodge, Fort Dodge Community Recreation Center (REC), and Siouxland Sports Academy. Each outside entity will have its own objective.
The REC would be tasked with day to day fitness and operations. This would include a phased in consolidation of their staff and services to the Pavilion. The REC satellite location on the Iowa Central campus would remain.
Siouxland Sports Academy would focus on sports programming and tournaments. This would include leagues, camps, training programs, and other youth and amateur sports activities.
The forward motion and agreements will be welcoming news to businesses that have set up shop in and around Corridor Plaza. The vision behind the Pavilion since day one has been to serve as a tool to drive visitors and their economic impact to Fort Dodge.
The first document is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the City and REC. According to the memo from Chad Scaeffer, the Chief Development Officer, “the purpose and scope of this MOU is to establish a long-term partnership enabling the REC to utilize the Pavilion property for recreation and fitness programs with the goal of helping our community live a happy and healthy life while maximizing public infrastructure.”
The MOU with Fort Dodge Community Rec Center preserves the City’s vision of continued utilization of the facility as a sports tourism or sports destination. One facet of the agreement maintains the REC will partner with the City in the scheduling of tournaments, events, arts and crafts festivals, etc. including any additional 3rd party users of the facility.
The second MOU on the Council’s plate is an agreement with Siouxland Sports Academy.
According to the second MOU, Siouxland Sports Academy would work to maximize facility utilization such as attracting regional tournaments and events. Siouxland Sports would then provide event staffing, operate tournaments and leagues, as well as manage event logistics.
The information provided by Fierke acknowledged detailed operating, financial, and legal agreement would come In the future. It also identified that the REC’s downtown property and REC coliseum would be subject to future redevelopment.
