Residents urge reopening of East City Park stage discussion as project budget and outreach draw criticism

John Slagboom, a Moscow resident, used the council’s public comment period to ask the City Council to “reopen genuine discussions” on the proposed replacement of the East City Park stage, saying the project’s budget had “ballooned to $885,000” and that public engagement had been limited.

Slagboom said the original stage was built largely by volunteers and repaired after an arson fire, and he disputed the consultant Design West’s characterization of community support. “Design West has presented this as showing ‘overwhelming and unanimous’ community support for the current design,” Slagboom said, adding that only a small number of written responses were collected at an open house and that he had records of former city and arts commission members raising concerns about the process.

Mayor Lewis replied during the meeting, saying the stage is a capital improvement that has been in the city’s budget for several years and that staff and council have held many meetings and engagements on the topic. Lewis said the governing body’s decision was to move forward and emphasized that staff would answer outstanding questions and follow up with residents. “There’s been public engagement,” Lewis said, adding that the design stage discussed had been a 30% design and that he would stand by the decision made by the governing body.

The exchange left the issue unresolved: Slagboom asked for renewed public discussion and transparency, while the mayor and council indicated the project has been considered through standing processes and budgeted as a capital improvement. No formal vote on changing the project scope or re-opening public engagement was made at the meeting.

The next procedural step for the project is for staff to respond to written questions and for council to consider any follow-up requests at a future public hearing or agenda item, should they decide to reopen the discussion.