CARD wants increased role in Riverfront Park

The Center for Asbestos Related Disease wants to take on a bigger role at Riverfront Park.

At the Libby City Council meeting on May 1, CARD Executive Director Tracy McNew approached council to propose renting out the Asbestos Memorial Pavilion at Riverfront Park to the public during the summer.

McNew said it would give CARD the opportunity to provide care for the pavilion, allow people to plan events in advance and enable CARD to erect a memorial with names on it.

“We believe that this proposal would be a positive step forward for both CARD and the city,” McNew said at the meeting.

Mayor Peggy Williams said the next steps in the process would be to put this proposal as an item on the city council agenda and then have legal work done on a proposal.

“We typically get calls requesting to rent the Asbestos Memorial Pavilion at Riverfront Park throughout the summer months," McNew said in a recent email. "I think that with such a short window for outdoor events in Montana, people try to find any location they can to preplan events like birthday parties, anniversaries, memorials, class reunions and weddings.”

While CARD doesn’t receive a large amount of requests, the organization said they had talked with people who had been referred to them by the city.

City Administrator Sam Sikes said the city will not refer people to CARD, but noted that there has been a miscommunication regarding the pavillion dating back several years.

The Asbestos Memorial Pavilion was constructed from 2006 to 2007 by a group that no longer exists, Sikes said. The city paid for the concrete and Lincoln County added the roof, but a miscommunication has persisted that control of the pavilion has been passed down to CARD, Sikes said. All future requests will no longer be directed to the CARD clinic by the city, he said.

After the meeting McNew said that Williams informally told her that she would follow up with CARD.

“There are quite a few details that would need to be hammered out between both parties in any kind of a Memorandum of Understanding or lease agreement so I don’t have any details yet,” McNew said.

Under the desired agreement by CARD, the city would continue to maintain the area, although McNew does not anticipate that improvements would be made without the plan's intervention.

“If this all works out, we hope to find grant funding to create an asbestos memorial that would have individual names on it,” McNew said. “In addition, we’d like to repaint, replace the picnic tables, add signage and rent the pavilion out for events rather than it being used only on a first-come, first-serve basis,” McNew said.

The income generated could be invested back into upgrades and maintenance.

An agreement like this is not unusual, Sikes said. The city enters into agreements for places such as the Chamber of Commerce, baseball fields and tennis courts, Sikes said.

Sikes also said the Fred Brown Pavilion is rented out by reservation and is controlled by the city. When it is not rented the people use it on a first-come, first-serve basis, he said.

“The offer made by the CARD clinic at the council meeting is currently being considered by the Mayor working with our city attorney,” Sikes said.