City should hold off on signing MICA lease

On June 10, 2014, Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA) and the city of Mercer Island signed an agreement that stated, “If during the next two years, MICA’s fundraising efforts are progressing at a rate that will likely enable MICA to proceed with the project and MICA can demonstrate that to the reasonable satisfaction of the city, then MICA and the city intend to enter into a long-term agreement that will ensure the property will be available for development and operation of the MICA facility [emphasis added].”

But now the council has precipitously decided to add the MICA lease to the Jan. 19 council agenda. Mayor Bassett said, “… The intent is that we take it [the MICA lease] up with the intent of taking action.” Why the rush to action when MICA’s fundraising efforts have not met the standard set by the council?

Citizens have been told the MICA lease is modeled after the PEAK lease. But the PEAK lease was signed by the president of the Boys and Girls Club of King County, an organization with over 70 years of experience building and running centers in King County. MICA, on the other hand, is a new organization with no experience running arts centers, whose first executive director has already been replaced by two new employees and MICA has no endowment protecting the city’s land in the event of MICA’s failure and default. Would you risk a personal investment in an organization with no experience and no financial reserves? The city’s proposed contribution of $2 million to MICA is the tip of an iceberg of incongruities and deception. Financial liability, wetlands regulations and lack of parking are still unknown challenges that MICA and the city have not addressed.

The city should require MICA to meet the criteria it set out before taking action on the lease. The city should sign the lease only when all of the “key issues” identified by the city attorney (zoning, wetlands and parking), in addition to financial liabilities, have been addressed and resolved, and MICA’s fundraising efforts have assured that 100 percent of construction funds are in hand before breaking ground.

Meg Lippert