Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
With a little negotiating, Shawano County has resolved its lease on the Mielke Arts Center for another five years.
The County Board approved a new lease Wednesday that requires the Shawano County Arts Council to pay more of the utility bills and handle more property maintenance at the center.
Arts council members had raised objections about the county’s efforts to shift new responsibilities and costs to the nonprofit group, which organizes the Shawano Folk Music Festival and many other cultural events at the county-owned facility.
But the council’s board approved the new lease, and nobody from the organization voiced any concerns Wednesday as county supervisors reviewed the deal.
Supervisor Bert Huntington told his colleagues that the two sides overcame some issues when they got together to negotiate a new lease.
“We got that all taken care of,” he said. “It’s good now.”
Huntington is chairman of the county’s public property committee, which met with arts council representatives last month and negotiated the new lease during a public meeting.
The arts council, which pays just $1 to lease the Mielke Arts Center from the county, also pays 60 percent of the utility costs and contributes $1 from every event ticket sold to a maintenance fund. The county pays 40 percent of the utility costs and maintains the interior of the building, which includes a theater, dressing rooms and public lobby.
The current five-year lease expires at the end of the month.
When lease negotiations began, the two sides clashed over such issues as a county request to curtail use of certain restrooms and an arts council proposal that the county should pay rent to use the property for any county government functions.
Those sticking points were resolved when the two sides compromised on an 80-20 split for utility costs, and the arts council agreed to take over interior maintenance so that access to restrooms would not be limited.
Steve Dreher, the county’s building maintenance director, told supervisors Wednesday that the two sides worked out their differences under the new lease.
“It’s a win-win for both,” Dreher said. “It’s a good contract.”
IN OTHER BUSINESS
At the Shawano County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday:
• County Board Chairman Jerry Erdmann reported that the county’s finance director duties had been reassigned to other employees, but the board was not asked to vote on the arrangement and no supervisors raised any objections.