Ironman payback request at issue

Post Falls leaders remain resolved that the city should be compensated for police and other municipal services used for this Sunday’s Ironman competition – a perennial request that some proponents of the regional event criticize.

The city has asked Coeur d’Alene and Ironman for more than $10,000 each year to pay more than 30 city employees, mostly police officers, and cover some supply costs. This year’s bill will total more than $10,800, according to Police Chief Cliff Hayes.

Coeur d’Alene and other jurisdictions do not charge Ironman fees for services. The Idaho State Police and Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office don’t participate.

For Post Falls, however, the reimbursement requests may have backfired. City officials were told earlier this year that the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce may have lost out on state grant money several months ago because the River City continues to charge for helping with Ironman. City leaders have sought to clarify if indeed that is true.

Coeur d’Alene Resort general manager Bill Reagan wrote in a February letter to members of the chamber that they would never get grant money from the Idaho Travel Council if the city continues to seek reimbursement for police patrols and other services for Ironman.

While none of the Post Falls officials interviewed believes the triathlon is a bad event, certain Ironman fans have differing views on whether cities should donate their assistance or be compensated.

Jonathon Coe, Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce president, said it’s not that the request for reimbursement is high but the fact that Post Falls asks for the money at all.

“It seems unfortunate that they have chosen that approach when nobody else is,” Coe said.

Hayes said the city asks to be reimbursed because the money comes from residents’ taxes, and Ironman is a for-profit event run by an out-of-state company.

Even the Post Falls chamber asked city officials to reconsider charging for services during Ironman. But in February, the City Council voted to continue the policy.

The first year that Post Falls requested reimbursement, Coe said, Ironman paid the bill. The next year, the Coeur d’Alene chamber was asked to foot the bill, and this year, the Florida-based company that owns Ironman and the Coeur d’Alene chamber will split the cost.

Hayes said several nonprofit events in the city also are charged for services. The Post Falls School District and the Lions Club both pay when they request a patrol officer to attend their events, he said.

The request may be re-evaluated next year because the city may not be charging enough, Hayes added. The cost for police officer wages for Ironman is based on a $19-an-hour average, but new officers make $18 an hour and veteran officers make quite a bit more, he said. Hayes, who also works the event, makes more than $43 an hour. Many of the officers end up working overtime because of the event, he said.

“We’re actually trying to be fair and not try to get it down to the minute of how much each officer worked,” the chief said. “But that’s way low, that figure.”

Larkin and Hayes said the city earns no money from Ironman, though they acknowledge that hotels and other local businesses profit from the racers and fans who flock to the area for the triathlon. The tax money is still lost, they said, so they ask for reimbursement. But they don’t want the chamber punished for their decision.

In Reagan’s letter to the chamber, which he signed as a member of the Idaho Travel Council, he said he felt it was “highly unlikely that (the council) would ever provide grant funds to Post Falls Tourism … as long as the City of Post Falls continues to charge events like Ironman.”

Reagan wrote in the letter that the council’s decision on the previous $10,000 grant application was because of Post Falls officials’ resolve to charge for services.

“I know you understand just how big an impact and (sic) event like Ironman has on our industry, and I know you would like to recruit similar events here. However, ITC support will not be forthcoming unless that policy changes,” Reagan wrote to Ron Ayers, Post Falls Chamber of Commerce Tourism Committee chair.

But that letter was not official correspondence, said Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin. Larkin said Nancy DiGiammarco, the chairwoman of the Idaho Travel Council and public relations director at Silverwoord Theme Park, informed him that Reagan’s letter was neither true nor official, and the chamber’s grant application was denied because the chamber was lacking in its presentation.

DiGiammarco and Reagan did not return repeated phone calls from The Spokesman-Review seeking comment.

The Idaho Travel Council is an advisory board of eight private-sector professionals appointed by the governor. The council is part of the state Department of Commerce and Labor’s tourism development division and is in charge of a travel and convention grant program that gives state money to cities and chambers of commerce for events that will attract people.Post Falls City Councilman Ron Jacobson said Reagan’s letter was a bit surprising.

“I still think (Ironman is) a great event and I hope it continues,” Jacobson said, “but I still think it’s not out of line to ask for reimbursement. Don’t penalize the chamber.”

Cathy Bourner, an Idaho tourism development grant analyst who works with the travel council and was hired after Reagan sent his letter, said she too was surprised by the letter.

“That would be entirely outside of the realm of the council,” she said. “I can’t even imagine that mitigating factors like that would be involved. … Yeah, that’s an odd statement for Bill to make.”

Angela Alexander, Post Falls Chamber of Commerce president, said the issue has been cleared up and she refused to discuss the letter. She said, however, that the chamber works closely with Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls and will make a new grant request for an event in 2008.

“It’s important to note that the city has their reasons for doing what they do and the chamber is a separate entity. We can only ask what we feel might be the best for the business community,” she said.State Rep. Frank Henderson, of Post Falls, sent a letter to state officials asking why travel council members allegedly withheld money because of the city’s Ironman request.

“I am not aware of a rule or statute that gives the authority to the Idaho Travel Council to punish an Idaho city for lawful actions taken by its elected officials,” Henderson wrote to Commerce and Labor Director Roger Madsen.

Madsen wrote to Larkin that the application was denied because the chamber needed to show a “stronger demonstration of city commitment.” Reagan and DiGiammarco were also sent copies of Madsen’s reply.

“I regret the unfortunate circumstances between the cities of Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls over the cost of support services for the Ironman Triathlon,” Madsen wrote. “… My hope is the two entities can work it out.”