Agreement signed for Sliter Park

Sliter Park is safe for another year.

The Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork and Flathead County Parks Department have come to a temporary agreement on the management of Sliter Park.

The agreement signed by both parties on July 10, stipulated the CFBB will contribute $3,500 for costs to Sliter Park, which will continue to be managed by the county.

The CFBB is able to hire an independent contractor to pick up trash, empty trash cans and remove and install toilet paper and paper towels in the bathroom; all other maintenance will be done by county employees. The agreement ends June 30, 2015, and will need to be approved by the county commissioners and park board each year.

In February, members of the CFBB met with the Parks and Recreation Board to discuss the county’s lease of Sliter Park from PacifiCorp.

The county department said they ran a deficit of $7,500 in 2013 between the revenue the park generated and what it cost to run, and had considered cancelling the lease.

The CFBB wanted the park to remain under county management and agreed to contribute financially to make that happen.

The Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork found the first agreement put forth by the county in May to be disagreeable. That agreement would have ended Nov. 1 2014, but asked for a full year’s worth of contribution. Bigfork community member Walter Kuhn called it “extortion.”

While the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork went forward with the new, revised agreement, they are looking ahead at future options, so they are prepared when the contract with the county expires in 2015.