Explanation
Background:
The City of Columbus ("City"), the Columbus Zoological park Association ("Association") and the Board of County Commissioners of Franklin County, Ohio ("the Board of County Commissioners") previously entered into an agreement, which will expire in 2005, for provision to the Columbus Municipal Zoo ("Columbus Zoo") of funds from a five year tax levy that the electors of Franklin County, Ohio, adopted at the General Election held on November 8, 1994. The Board of County Commissioners again desires to furnish financial assistance to the Association for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo contingent upon passage of a tax levy proposal to be submitted to the electors of Franklin County, Ohio, at the General Election to be held on November 2, 2004. The following legislation authorizes the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to execute those documents necessary to enter into an agreement with the Board of County Commissioners and the Association for provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo through December 31, 2023.
Emergency action is requested to allow this authorization to be effective prior to the November 2004 General Election.
Fiscal Impact:
N/A
Title
To authorize the Director of Recreation and Parks to enter into a three party agreement between the City of Columbus, the Board of County Commissioners of Franklin County, Ohio, and the Columbus Zoological Park Association for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo, and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, by the Agreement and Declaration of Trust dated May 5, 1980, authorized by Ordinance No. 1086-80, passed May 5, 1980, as modified by the agreement dated February 19, 1981, authorized by Ordinance No. 344-81, passed February 9, 1981, by the agreement dated January 5, 1982, authorized by Ordinance No. 2699-81, passed December 14, 1981, by the agreement dated July 29, 1983, authorized by Ordinance No. 1400-83, passed July 11, 1983, by the agreement dated March 14, 1990, authorized by Ordinance No. 553-90, passed February 26, 1990, by the agreement dated October 31, 1994, authorized by Ordinance No. 2279-94, passed October 24, 1994, and as authorized to be amended by Ordinance No. 1378-2004, and by the Amended and Restated Lease Agreement, entered into July 22, 2003, the City of Columbus, Ohio ("the City") has transferred responsibility for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at The Columbus Municipal Zoo ("the Columbus Zoo") to The Columbus Zoological Park Association ("the Association") for the period through December 31, 2023; and
WHEREAS, by the terms of the aforesaid agreements as modified, the Association has accepted and will accept responsibility for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo for the period through December 31, 2023; and
WHEREAS, the Association is a non-profit corporation chartered by the State of Ohio for the purposes expressed in the Articles of Incorporation of the Association and is an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and no part of the net earnings of the Association inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual; and
WHEREAS, in 1994, the City, the Association and the Board of County Commissioners of Franklin County, Ohio ("the Board of County Commissioners") made an agreement, which will expire on December 31, 2005, for the provision to the Columbus Zoo of funds from the ten-year tax levy that the electors of Franklin County, Ohio, adopted at the general election held on November 8, 1994; and
WHEREAS, the Amended and Restated Lease Agreement, entered into as of July 22, 2003, by and between the Board of County Commissioners, the City and the Association, provides for the Association to use and occupy the Columbus Zoo for zoological, conservation, educational, research, recreational and other related purposes through December 31, 2023; and
WHEREAS, in connection with a tax levy proposal to be submitted to the electors of Franklin County, Ohio, at the general election to be held on November 2, 2004, the Board of County Commissioners, pursuant to the provisions of Section 307.76 of the Ohio Revised Code, again desires to furnish financial assistance to the Association for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo to residents of Franklin County, Ohio, and again desires to make an agreement with the Association and the City in regard to use of such financial assistance for such purposes by the Association; and
WHEREAS, the City desires to make such an agreement with the Board of County Commissioners and the Association; and
WHEREAS, the Columbus Zoo serves the residents of Franklin County, Ohio, and it is in the public interest to support one of Central Ohio's most noteworthy facilities; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Recreation and Parks Department in that it is immediately necessary to enter into such an agreement with the Board of County Commissioners and the Association for the preservation of public health, peace and safety; now, therefore
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1. That the Director of Recreation and Parks of the City of Columbus, Ohio, be and he is hereby authorized and directed to enter into an agreement with the Board of County Commissioners and the Association for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo. The agreement shall become operative upon: (a) submission by the Board of County Commissioners of a proposed tax levy for the provision and maintenance of zoological park services and facilities at the Columbus Zoo (the "Zoo Levy") to the electors of Franklin County, Ohio, at the general election to be held on November 2, 2004; and (b) passage of the Zoo Levy by the electors of Franklin County, Ohio, at the general election to be held on November 2, 2004.
Section 2. That, for the reasons stated in the preamble, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.