CWI trustees quickly and unanimously approve Idaho Center transfer

NAMPA — After months of heated debate, the Ford Idaho Center transfer quickly and quietly became official Thursday.

College of Western Idaho trustees voted unanimously to take over the center, which the city of Nampa has owned for more than a quarter century.

College of Western Idaho Board Chair Jim Reames, left, speaks on a proposal to acquire the Ford Idaho Center at a board meeting Thursday in Nampa. At right is trustee David Bishop. (Sean Dolan/Idaho EdNews)

The transfer gives the state’s largest community college a 90-acre complex that increases its footprint — and could open up opportunities for land leases and tie-ins to CWI academic programs. The no-cash transfer does not come without cost. The complex comes with $25 million in deferred maintenance bills, and the city has spent $21 million subsidizing the center over the past two decades.

Now, the work will begin on several fronts, CWI President Gordon Jones told EdNews after Thursday’s vote. The college will begin working with Oak View Group, the national firm that manages the complex, and with community groups that have used the center for years, such as the Snake River Stampede rodeo. The college will put together an Idaho Center advisory committee, and ramp up fundraising to offset costs such as maintenance.

“We all have to get our track shoes on,” Jones said.

The centerpiece of the Idaho Center complex is a 12,200-seat multipurpose arena, which opened in 1997 and hosts events ranging from concerts and rodeos to graduation ceremonies and trade shows. The complex includes an adjoining, 10,500-seat outdoor amphitheater, which opened in 1998, and the Ford Idaho Horse Park and Sports Center, which hosts equine events.

Before Thursday’s board vote, Jones restated his case for the acquisition. CWI will be able to use the Idaho Center facilities to support hands-on learning in everything from agricultural programs to event management. The center could springboard CWI into intercollegiate athletics, in sports such as rodeo.

The acquisition is also strategic, he said. It gives CWI land that sits between its main Nampa campus and its career-technical building. It allows the growing college to master plan for a larger, 200-acre campus — a campus that is still smaller than other Idaho colleges and universities serving fewer students.

“We’re at a deficit today,” Jones told trustees.

Nampa and CWI officials began talking about a possible transfer about a year ago, although the idea didn’t go public until July.

The idea has been controversial since the outset.

Critics have accused Nampa of giving away a public facility — while questioning how CWI can afford to take over the center and assume the cost of maintenance. Several Canyon County legislators have publicly criticized the transfer.

It took the Nampa City Council several months to pull the trigger. After numerous public hearings — and allegations of improper, closed-door discussions — the council finally OK’d the transfer Monday. Council members deadlocked on the decision, and outgoing Mayor Debbie Kling broke the 3-3 tie.

Three days later, it took CWI trustees barely an hour to make the deal final.

Much of that time was spent going over the mechanics of the legal documents. But trustees also spent several minutes touting the opportunities that come with the new holdings.

College of Western Idaho Trustees Jim Reames, left, and David Bishop listen to a report on the Ford Idaho Center during Thursday’s board meeting. (Sean Dolan/Idaho EdNews)

Board chair Jim Reames said he had received “a bunch of emails” about the transfer, from supporters and opponents alike. But he also noted that, 18 years ago, the Treasure Valley was in an uproar over the proposal to create a community college.

“What silences a lot of that is success,” Reames said.

Nampa City Council member Natalie Jangula attended Thursday’s CWI board meeting, saying she wanted to see the process through to the end. Jangula supported the transfer and said it was the most “grueling” decision in her four years on the council.

“I was relieved it was a unanimous vote,” she said after the meeting. “It just tells me that their hearts are where we were hoping that they would be, and where they’ve said that they’ve been this whole time.”

Jones acknowledged that the transfer has drawn opinions from across the spectrum: from supporters, from opponents who were worried that the city was giving up a community asset, and from residents who just wanted to sell off the center.

But Jones also saw a message in Thursday’s vote.

“I think (they) saw, with one voice, that the Ford Idaho Center represents tremendous opportunity for the school,” he said.