The McCall City Council tonight will be asked to approve leases up to four years for jet-ski rentals and lake tours at Legacy Park on Payette Lake.

The McCall Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee voted against recommending long-term leases at the park since the park is scheduled for improvements next year that may change the way the park is used.

"We are doing this now so that we can get the process started before spring or summer so that business decisions can be made," McCall City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said.

If the council approves the plan at its regular meeting tonight, the city will seek proposals from businesses that would like to use a stretch of beach at the park for recreational watercraft rentals or lake tours.

Those proposals would be due by Dec. 3, but Kirkpatrick said that the new city council elected on Tuesday would make the decision sometime in February. That would give the advisory committee a chance to see the proposals.

"We're really concerned about along-term lease," said parks and recreation advisory committee member Kevin Briem, who was elected to the council on Tuesday.

"We may have a situation that is not conducive to put jet skis there."
Briem said the committee drafted an official response to the action before city council tonight.

"I'm not sure what kind of changes we would do to the park that would make it unusable for concessionaires," Kirkpatrick said. "I don't see any work being done that would prohibit the use from that location."

The McCall Urban Renewal Agency is scheduled to open bids on Feb. 13 for a major overhaul of Legacy Park. Work would begin next summer.

The parks and rec committee also does not believe the city is getting what the business opportunity on public land is worth, Briem said.

"Every year that comes up and every year we try to tweak it," Briem said. "We're not getting what it is worth."

This past summer the city received $3,273 from Cheap Thrills Rentals, a company that uses the northern most stretch of the Legacy Park Beach to rent personal watercraft, McCall Parks and Recreation Director Brock Heasley said.

"The public has stood up and said we're not excited about it," Briem said of private businesses using public property.