By Chris Frost
EAGLE TIMES NEWS EDITOR
CLAREMONT, N.H. — On a 7-2 vote Wednesday, the Claremont City Council approved a memorandum of understanding between the Arrowhead Recreation Club and Wheelhouse Bike Shop.
Councilors O’Hearne and James Contois voted against the memorandum.
The council continued the agreement on Aug. 9 after questions were raised about the construction cost for an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant bathroom.
Club Vice President Brian Zutter said the board met and agreed on the operating agreement last week.
Mayor Dale Girard asked if the the club publicly posted the meeting and whether the public participated.
“That’s been a concern from November when we started getting phone calls from people in the community saying they are sure,” Girard said about the closed meetings. “Now, it seems like the ARC board is not going public to allow your membership to be there; even if the board members declined and met in an Executive Session, it doesn’t sound like you did it in a public session to allow your membership to be there.”
Sutter said the club’s board met in a closed-door executive session.
“In the use of a board is the ability to meet that way,” he said. “We’re going back to the point where the membership did agree to enter into an operating agreement some time ago.”
Mayor Dale Girard asked about the bathroom.
“One of the things in the agreement is that we’re going to take one of the bathrooms out and do a ticket booth before we get started,” he said. “My understanding is once we start to do construction work, everything would have to be done to bring it up to code in order to get an occupancy permit.”
Planning and Development Department Director Nancy Merrill said Deputy Building Inspector and Health Officer Leigh Hayes looked at the location, and determined Arrowhead Recreation Club will need a permit.
“We’ll have to follow up on that,” Merrill said.
Girard said other businesses weren’t allowed to occupy the building until they met the ADA requirement.
“Is this going to be the same situation where if they pull out the second-floor bathroom, they would be able to occupy the building until the bottom-floor ADA bathroom is completed,” he asked.
Merrill said the “unisex ADA bathroom on the second floor” would be okay.
Councilor Nicholas Koloski noted the operating agreement addresses the completed ADA bathroom within a one-year timeframe.
“The estimate we have is nearly $20,000,” he said.
City Manager Yoshi Manale said the ADA bathroom will be part of next year’s budget.
Councilor Andrew O’Hearne said he didn’t like that the ARC board did not have a public meeting.
“Is it going to be standard practice that we don’t have dates these were signed,” he said.
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