By Rebekah Ritter
Intern Reporter for the Tribune

Thursday night, Lee’s Summit City Council approved a $4.1 million inter-fund loan to the Park Board for the purchase of the Longview Recreation Center from Kansas City’s Metropolitan Community Colleges.

The inter-fund loan will be a five-year loan. According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Park Board, the board will make payments to the city an annual basis, on or before the last day of each fiscal year for the next five (5) years, beginning June 30, 2020.

The monies will be paid out of the city’s Water and Utilities fund, and the interest accrued on the loan will be put back into that fund.

Currently, the recreation center is being used as a teaching facility for Longview Community College. After the purchase, teachers and students at Longview will no longer gain free entry into the facility, instead they will get a discounted resident rate. Along with that, membership fees into the recreation and community centers will be raised to $209.00 per year.

Classes will still be taught at the recreation center, and teachers will be given offices in the building. After the purchase, sports teams at Longview will still have practice. During those practices the facility will still be open to the public, but the gymnasium will be closed during games.

At the city council meeting, council member Edson asked about the availability of practice space to swim and dive teams. Joe Snook, Administrator of Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation, stated that there are no school sanctioned swim and dive teams currently using the facility as a practice space, but the private teams will be able to discuss the use of the facility as a practice space after its relaunching.

Snook said renovation of the facility will begin September 1, 2018, and he hopes to reopen it by November 1st.