Ogden City plans to help fund potential improvements to the Marshall White Center on Local News

OGDEN – Ogden City still isn’t sure what to do with the Marshall White Center, but they have a new plan to raise money that could be put into the Marshall White Center.

Ogden’s Community and Economic Development Department has come up with a proposal that will enable the city to hold $ 1 million annually for the next five years – money made from rental income from Boyer Business Depot Ogden and to be placed in a reserve fund for Marshall White. The city collects rental income from tenants operating out of the BDO and divides the money 50-50 in a public-private partnership with the Boyer Group. After cost, the city raises about $ 8 million a year there, a figure that doesn’t include property tax revenue there.

According to Ogden Comptroller Lisa Stout, the move would require a council-approved revision of the ordinance setting out how to spend the proceeds from BDO leases.

“The intent was to know that the Marshall White Center needed (needs) improvements – this would provide a source of funding … or allow the city to maintain debt to build the (center),” Stout said.

Inaugurated on 28th Street west of Washington Boulevard in 1968, the Marshall White Center has long served the city’s low-income residents of racially and culturally diverse backgrounds. In recent years, the future of the center has become a regular topic of conversation for the Ogden administration and city council. In March 2018, the facility’s pool was closed after officials discovered large cracks in the surface. Initial estimates suggest that it could cost more than $ 2 million to get the pool back to working order.

In the three years since the pool was closed, Marshall White users have regularly asked the city to fix the issue. However, the high cost and the ability to open a new YMCA facility have made the problem less straightforward than it appears on the website’s interface.

In October last year, the city formed an advisory board to guide decisions about the community center and completed a technical study outlining the current state of the building. Stout said a community poll asking residents what they would like to see at the center, along with a number of advisory board recommendations, will be sent to the council for consideration in May.

While there aren’t yet any solid plans for the center, city officials say it makes sense to save money on any project that ultimately shows up there.

“The whole idea is for the administration to propose something to be done,” said the council’s executive director Janene Eller-Smith. “They don’t know what it is, but that doesn’t mean they can’t start saving.”

As funds pile up, using the money would require additional approval from the council, Stout said. Ogden’s chief administrative officer, Mark Johnson, said if the move is finally approved, the $ 1 million annual funding could be extended beyond five years if the city deems it prudent.

As discussions on Marshall White have intensified over the past three years, several councilors have called for more immediate action at the center. Councilor Angela Choberka said she feared the five-year collection period would lead some community members to believe that a resolution for the center would continue to be postponed as money is raised.

But Johnson said that was not the government’s intention.

“It’s a plan to put the money aside – we know we’re going to need something, we just don’t know how much,” said Johnson. “The message we’re sending is, we know we’re going to have a bond to do something, and … we need a source of repayment for the bond.”

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