Pipestone Flyer
The City of Leduc and the Leduc Regional Chamber of Commerce have a new deal in place.
The City’s Director of Information Support Services, Kenn Bur, told council at their meeting April 14 that after two years of negotiations, there is a new lease contract, a new Visitor Information Centre contract and new parade management contract are in place.
In December 2012, the 18-year contract with the Leduc Regional Chamber of Commerce expired said Bur. Although its taken some time to put the contracts together, Bur said, “We believe we’ve reached a balance where this is a good contract for us and the Chamber feels like it’s good for them.” Under the lease agreement, the chamber’s interest in the property was established at $300,000. The equity will be paid back to the Chamber in the form of lease payments over six years, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013 at 3.22 per cent on the declining balance, compounded annually. Total interest over the course of the contract would be $28,233.
The City’s rent will be an annual payment of $46,200 (plus GST) from 2013-2018 with the city making a lump-sum payment of $51,033 at the end of the six-year contract for the balance of equity owed. The chamber will lease the entire 3,300 square feet at a base rate of $14 per square foot, and will continue to pay utilities, janitorial and basic maintenance. The chamber will be responsible for repairs less than $1,000 per incident (not including GST) and the City of Leduc will be responsible for major, necessary repairs over $1,000 per incident, excluding tenant negligence, leaseholder improvements or furnishings that could be covered by tenant insurance.
The chamber will be responsible for building security; while the City of Leduc is responsible for the security of external Visitor Information Centre assets like the RV station and the City of Leduc video billboard sign.
Under the new Visitor Information Centre agreement, The City of Leduc will pay the Leduc Chamber $76,000 per year to manage the VIC and operate it 290 days per year, including 70 days with extended evening hours and 36 weekend and holidays.
The City of Leduc will also refund the Chamber $8,000 per year plus GST for the portion of the Visitor Information Centre rented by the Chamber.
The City of Leduc reserves the right to be notified of any third-party funding, but we will allow the chamber to continue to seek unlimited additional funding from Leduc County for the balance of this contract. Other third-party funding solicited by the chamber from any sources other than Leduc County is to be divided equally with the City of Leduc to offset Visitor Information Centre costs.
While the Chamber declined to coordinate the City’s parade float in 2013, under the new agreement, the chamber will be responsible for managing the City’s parade float program from 2014-2018 for an annual fee of $10,000 to contract a decorator plus $2,775 per parade to a maximum of nine parades.
“It took an inordinate amount of time but I think the agreement we were negotiating was unique,” said Councillor Dave Mackenzie. “The Chamber is an important City partner.” The agreements were ratified by council.