City holds key to ice park future: Management contract now under park board control

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The future of Jordan Valley Ice Park now rests solely in the hands of city of Springfield officials. Also in the city's hands is the $567,376 deficit the park has incurred in its first two years of operations.|ret||ret||tab|

Since Oct. 1, the Springfield-Greene County Park Board has been operating and managing the ice park. The park board took over the $84,000 annual management contract from St. Louis-based Group Seven, which operated it for two years.|ret||ret||tab|

Despite financial losses both years, City Manager Tom Finnie said he is satisfied with Group Seven's management because profits weren't expected. And while city officials are confident the bottom line will improve under park board control, those expectations aren't immediate.|ret||ret||tab|

"I don't think there will be a dramatic change in the finances," Finnie said. "Very few of these kinds of facilities make money right from the beginning, particularly in an area where there has never been a substantial ice skating program."|ret||ret||tab|

Springfield-Greene County Park Board Director Dan Kinney believes profits are at least three years away. |ret||ret||tab|

Following a $309,254 loss in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to a Jordan Valley Park financial report, the city's Finance Department is projecting a $48,000 loss next year.|ret||ret||tab|

With those numbers in mind, city officials say it was beneficial to learn from Group Seven's management.|ret||ret||tab|

"I think it was really good to get a year or two of outside help in getting it up and running by someone experienced in it, but I think at this point, the parks department's taking it over and running it, much like we do the other park facilities is a plus," Finnie said. |ret||ret||tab|

Group Seven is owned by St. Louis-businessman Anthony Sansone Jr., who also is part owner of the Springfield Spirit. The Spirit will continue to play home games at the ice park, Kinney said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Financial fix|ret||ret||tab|

Facing $8.5 million in outstanding bond debt on the ice park, city officials have devised something of a quick-fix plan. City staff have proposed a bond refinancing plan that would drop the current tax-exempt bond interest rate of about 6 percent in favor of taxable variable rate revenue bonds, which carry an approximate 2 percent interest rate at this time, according to Mary Mannix in the city's Finance Department. |ret||ret||tab|

Finnie said refinancing the bonds would save the ice park about $300,000 a year, as long as the rates stay low.|ret||ret||tab|

"I'm guessing that there will be slow increases over a period of time, but not any great spikes," he said. "If it does begin to spike, we can refinance almost at a moment's notice."|ret||ret||tab|

The move also would free up opportunity for a naming rights sponsor, which the city has been seeking for the park. The hang up, Finnie said, is that tax-exempt bonds do not allow sponsors to receive value from the rights, as a corporate entity would.|ret||ret||tab|

City Council will vote on the bond refinancing Dec. 8.|ret||ret||tab|

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Park board control|ret||ret||tab|

The park board does not have big changes in store, other than adding another facility under park board management, Kinney said. The park board manages municipal golf courses, community centers, swimming pools, and tennis, soccer, softball, baseball and youth football programs.|ret||ret||tab|

Kinney noted that although the city is no longer paying Group Seven to manage the park, it is not a yearly savings of $84,000. "All the people that are employed down there have to be paid for," he said. "We will apply that ($84,000) to operations and maintenance of the facility."|ret||ret||tab|

The ice park retains its 10 full-time employees and up to 60 part time workers; but now they are contractual employees under the park system, said Jeff Cumley, ice park manager.|ret||ret||tab|

There is one addition to the ice park family. Parker the Penguin, a mascot expected to generate youth interest in the ice park, is making appearances at schools and ice park events, Kinney said.|ret||ret||tab|

But park board officials believe the greatest marketing tool is personal experience. Kinney hopes that attaching the park board name to the ice park will give a boost of confidence to the public, which is already familiar with the system's facilities and programs.|ret||ret||tab|

"By promoting it through the park system with all of our other family programs people will become more familiar with it as being a park facility," he said. "And I think attendance will pick up there just as it did in soccer. |ret||ret||tab|

"When you couldn't get a soccer game going around here several years ago, now you don't have enough fields. I think that junior hockey and figure skating and all of those things are really going to take off in the future."|ret||ret||tab|

Not only is it a sport and concept new to Springfield, but also the facility was Jordan Valley Park's first public project. Kinney believes that put the ice park behind the eight ball from the onset, but he sees greater things when other facilities come online.|ret||ret||tab|

"It was the first, and when the ballpark comes in and eventually the arena and it becomes a destination area for entertainment, then the ice park will play a very vital role in that," Kinney said.|ret||ret||tab|

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