Ripon Common Council Backs Pavilion Project For Mitchell Gift
11 September 2019 News
Support was building for the Grace and Lloyd Mitchell Plaza and S.D. Mitchell Cultural Center, but by a close vote of 5 to 3 the Ripon Common Council last night decided to commit the Lloyd Mitchell gift to the city to a new pavilion for Murray Park. Alderperson Aaron Becker argued that support for the pavilion proposal built prior to the introduction of the proposal for the plaza and cultural center. Others felt it should have gone through the vetting process by the Park and Recreation Committee like other projects did. The committee recommended the pavilion project. But Mayor Gary Will says the vetting by the committee was the first step and not the end-all-be-all. He says ultimately it boiled down to the Council’s decision. “As long as the body collectively the majority of them had the opportunity to view it, discuss it, see it that is what I wanted before we actually voted on it moving forward. Could have waited, could have discussed it some more.” The other hitch is whether there will be time this fall for the pavilion project to start construction. Will says there are some processes a public project has to go through that will take longer than 8 weeks to complete. If it can’t be started until next spring that would add some costs to the project. The Mitchell gift to the city was about $485,000.
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