Proposed cell tower may help baseball team

The Glacier Twins could receive a small infusion of cash from a proposed cell phone tower at Memorial Park.

Verizon Wireless is proposing to replace an 80-foot baseball field light with a new pole holding both field lights and a cellular antenna on the eastern edge of the Memorial Park stadium. Verizon would lease from the city a fenced area of about 1,300 square feet at the cost of $1,200 to $1,500 per month for 20 years.

Since the Twins lease the stadium land from the city, there were questions about which entity would collect lease money. The city originally felt it should collect because it owns the park land, but the Twins argued that because the cell tower will be located in the stadium, they should collect.

“The city assumed we got the revenue,” city manager Chuck Stearns said.

“But with a lease on the premises it gets more complicated.”

After discussing the issue during its Oct. 7 work session, council decided it would be willing to have the money go to the Twins as long as the city retained oversight on how the money is spent.

Some councilors were adamant that the lease money belongs to the city.

“I disagree with the position that it’s the Twins’ money,” John Anderson said. “However, if the city is willing to fund part of the money to the Twins, I don’t have a problem with that. I think it’s OK to come up with some sort of compromise.”

The Twins intend to create a fund for facilities maintenance with the revenue.

“We want to set aside the money for the future,” said Paul Johannsen. “The Twins don’t have money in their operating budget to care for the stadium.”

Once the stadium has been taken care of, Johannsen noted, money could go toward other projects at Memorial Park.

“If this money went into a capital fund and the city wants some of the money to do improvements, the Twins would be all for that,” Johannsen said.

Mayor John Muhlfeld suggested the Twins manage the funds with city oversight.

“The Twins could present to the park board for approval on how they intend to use the funds,” Muhlfeld said. “It would give us some check and balance to make sure the funds are being used wisely, while giving the Twins some flexibility to manage those dollars.”

Councilor Chris Hyatt said he would like to see the money from the lease be spent specifically on the Memorial Park block.

“These guys are community-oriented,” Hyatt said. “This is city land and city infrastructure that the Twins are maintaining. I am for them managing the money and a budget that has to be voted on by the parks board.”

“This is city money, but were allowing them to manage it because they were the fundraisers of this money,” Hyatt added.

The council agreed to create a memorandum of understanding with the Twins that would outline the specifics of how the lease money will be handled. The details of the MOU will be hammered out at a later date.

The City-County Planning Board will hold a public hearing on a conditional use permit application for the cell tower at its Thursday meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall.