Park Service to pay remaining tower LSI

The National Park Service has sent a letter to the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission that proposes remitting the remaining Leasehold Surrender Interest balance of $646,624 on Hot Springs Mountain Tower in two separate payments.

The commission agreed to the amount at is April meeting. It will hold its regular monthly meeting at 3 p.m. today in the Arlington Room of the Hot Springs Convention Center.

"This past spring, we were able to finalize the ending Leasehold Surrender Interest (LSI) value for Concession Contract No. HOSP001-04 (HOSP001), the Hot Springs Mountain Tower," Cameron H. Sholly, regional director of the Park Service's Midwest Region, said in the letter, which is dated June 19.

"Pursuant to our agreement of the ending LSI value of $646,624, our next step is to amend HOSP001 to reflect this new value and to continue to address payment of the LSI."

The remaining LSI would be paid in two payments, the first at a value of $280,000 and a final amount of $366,624, should the commission sign Amendment No. 2 of the concession contract on the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. The letter notes that the Midwest Region Concessions and Leasing team is "working to obtain a final payment in the amount of $366,624."

According to Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison, this is the first contact the commission has received from the Park Service since an agreement was reached in April.

"We all agreed on that final amount and this is the first we've heard from them since," Arrison said. "We've sent the letter to our financial officer, Vicky (Ross), and our attorney (Scott Hickam) before we sign anything."

The commission operates and manages the tower under a concessions contract with the Park Service. Construction of the tower was financed through a city bond issue in the early 1980s, but the Park Service retains the title because of its location on federal land atop Hot Springs Mountain.

The contract was extended for up to one year in December 2013 and was granted another extension in December 2014 with the contract period not to exceed Dec. 31, 2015, "or until the effective date of a new contract, whichever comes first."

Since October 2014, a request from the commission for a $1 across-the-board price increase for admission to the tower has been denied twice, as the Park Service is still in the process of developing a prospectus on the tower -- a prelude to putting the concessions contract up for bid, possibly this year.

"Progress continues on the prospectus, and we will notify you when we are closer to advertising the business opportunity," Sholly said in the letter. "Again, we appreciate your timely responses in the LSI negotiation."

The commission is more than six months into the second contract extension.

"Going by the letter, it sounds like they are still working on the RFP (request for proposals), but we'll see," Arrison said. "We're still disappointed that there's no RFP ready and that the letter didn't give us a date or even a time frame."

Local on 06/29/2015

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