Residents of Dickinson who were upset by the city commission's decision to repurchase property it had sold to Odyssey Theaters, effectively ending a multi-screen movie theater project, may soon get another shot at their dreams.
Thanks to a motion made by outgoing city commissioner Sarah Trustem, the project has another opportunity to come to fruition in the hands of recently elected city commissioners, John Odermann and Suzi Sobolik.
After the June 2 vote, Trustem read comments by Dickinson residents and reflected on her vote. She decided to reach out to Linda Carlson, deputy city administrator, to see if the commission should or could reevaluate the decision.
"We have been getting numerous calls, numerous people coming in person asking what's going on," Carlson said. "I believe that citizens in our community did not understand that when the discussion of the parking lot was being decided on, that no matter what happens, those lots under discussion will not be turned back into a parking lot. These lots will be developed as a commercial build and generating revenue. It has been the intent of the commission that something would be built there."
Trustem disagreed.
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"It was made clear that the intent of a few is that the property's going to be sold regardless, and that's never really been a commission talking point. We have never verbally said that if the city takes this back, then it will be sold and it's going to have these parameters," she said.
Trustem, one of the three commissioners who voted to repurchase the parking lot on which the theater would have been built, spoke about her thoughts on the issue.
"I think that with everything that was going on during that last meeting, this needs to be a decision that's made by the next sitting city commissioners, as it will either be property that the commission takes back and has control over or holding Odyssey to that new extension, whatever those parameters look like," she said.
After her comments, Trustem made a motion to rescind the vote that called for the city to repurchase the property from Odyssey. Commissioner Jason Fridrich, who voted against the repurchase, seconded.
Carson Steiner, retiring commissioner who also voted to repurchase the property, expressed disappointment in the entire process.
"This board made two previous errors that city government should never make, and I'm disappointed in the board and I'm disappointed in myself that it actually got this far," he said. "What I mean by that is that city government should not pick winners and losers, and that's what we did at the last meeting ... Now we're going to push it to the next meeting for the new commissioners, and they're going to violate their code of ethics the first meeting they come to where they're going to have to vote for a winner or a loser."
Steiner continued, "Where this should have stopped was the very first meeting when the issue was drawn up that the only thing that could be built there slanted toward a theater. No one else could buy that place. That was the first part of picking a winner and the people who wanted the parking lot, the losers."
Trustem's motion passed 3-2 with Steiner and Mayor Scott Decker not in favor.
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The theater will be discussed again during the commission meeting on July 7.
