I went to Tuesday’s Trinity River Corridor Project Committee meeting knowing exactly what I was going to write about: the Texas Horse Park.

I had my story ready to write Monday until I looked ahead to the meeting agenda and saw the committee was getting briefed the next day.

Basically, my story was going to talk about how the City Council would be voting Dec. 12 on approval of $2.7 million to move forward with the design for the horse park.

The big scandal? Well, I knew that Texas Horse Park, Inc. (THPI) had only raised approximately $350,000, and it needed to raise more than $15 million by September 2008.

That’s a lot of money to raise in a small amount of time, and I wondered why the city would spend taxpayers’ money to move ahead with the project when THPI was doing such a poor job of fundraising.

This looked like the classic case of an item that would be overlooked by the council. Likely no one other than council members Mitchell Rasansky and Angela Hunt would have done their homework, and the citizens would be stuck with the bill.

I spent my weekend reading through documents related to the Texas Horse Park, including the 33-page agreement between THPI and the City of Dallas. Sadly, this has become my life. So I arrived Tuesday morning hoping to add a few nuggets of information for my story.

I arrived about 10 minutes early and as usual, there weren’t many people there. It was pretty much Rebecca Dugger and a couple other city staffers.

A few minutes later, Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan came in and had a conversation with someone who had just sat down in the audience next to me. They talked about how fundraising would be easier now that the whole Trinity mess was done.

It turns out that the woman she was talking to was Diane Pitts, a board member and former interim executive director with THPI.

I leaned over and asked Pitts a few questions. We had plenty of time to burn as the meeting started 21 minutes late.

Pitts confirmed that THPI has raised approximately $300,000. She mentioned that a “major donation” would be announced at the beginning of the year. Pitts also said the Trinity referendum had impacted THPI’s ability to raise funds and with the vote out of the way, she indicated that fundraising would kick into high gear.

We talked briefly about the September deadline for THPI to raise $15 million. “That’s not a lot of time to come up with that much money,” I said.

“It is a lot of money,” Pitts said.

She then mentioned how THPI was making sure it wasn’t stepping on the toes of Trinity Trust and Dr. Gail Thomas.

“They have a lot more money to raise, and we have an office right next to them,” Pitts said.

This was shocking news to me. Here was Pitts, who represents an organization that needs to come up with $15 million in approximately nine months, saying she doesn’t want to take away potential donations from the Trinity Trust simply because they have more money to raise.

This didn’t do anything to give me hope that THPI was going to be able to come up with more than $1.6 million per month.

The meeting finally began, and the first order of business was a presentation by Dugger called “What’s Next for the Trinity River Project.” Councilmember Dave Neumann, chair of the committee, instructed his assistant to hand out maps of the Trinity River Project.

Neumann told Dugger that he thought including this map in future presentations would help committee members better understand the locations of certain items. He had a big smile on his face. This was the equivalent of kicking major ass on the committee to Neumann.

Then Councilmember Mitchell Rasansky pointed out that the map was four years old. Pure genius.

One of the interesting parts of the update by Dugger was that the city was given the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) on the Trinity Parkway by the NTTA for review on Nov. 7, the day after the election. Surely someone would have a question or two about this. Nope. More business as usual.

Then came the horse park briefing, which was done by Craig Reynolds of Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, Inc.

Not much new information was revealed in his presentation. This was simply a way to get council members up to speed on the horse park.

Buried in the committee members’ packets was mention of the Dec. 12 agenda item, which is a supplemental agreement with Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, Inc. for the design and construction administration for the Texas Horse Park. No where in that memo did it list the amount of the agreement -- $2,673,000.

Then something unexpected happened. The committee began asking questions. And not just questions but good questions.

Mitchell Rasansky asked Reynolds how much the city has accrued in fees with his firm. The master plan for this project is complete, and Reynolds said the city has run up a tab of approximately $750,000. That money is coming from the 1998 Bond Program. Reynolds said the city has paid somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000 of those fees, and fees are accruing at approximately $70,000 monthly.

Then Dave Neumann asked the big one. Of course, I knew the answer, but it was refreshing to know he cared. Addressing Paul Dyer, director of the Park and Recreation Department, he asked how much money THPI had raised.

“At this point, we understand they have had trouble raising funds because of the Trinity issue. Now that has passed, they are moving in earnest to raise their funding,” Dyer said. “And they have had a very difficult time with people committing money.”

Dyer also explained that the park board had reservations about this issue, and it wants monthly updates from THPI to see how it is doing.

“They’re very comfortable with the fact that they are going to be moving very quickly after the first of the year with their fundraising,” Dyer said.

Yikes. I really start to cringe now when I hear the phrase “very comfortable.” When Mayor Leppert is comfortable, it means he’s dodging commitment. Dyer did a great job of dancing around the question without mentioning an actual number.

It seemed like Neumann was gonna let him off the hook, but he pressed him for a number. Dyer told him that THPI had raised approximately $300,000 and added that there would be “a big announcement after first of the year” and a “major donor is lined up.”

“I’m very supportive of the project, but we have $15 million of the taxpayers’ money on the table,” Neumann said.

Neumann seemed like he was going to vote to move forward with the contract next week, but it’s rare to hear him ask relevant questions.

Councilmember Ron Natinsky, who is not on the committee, then pressed Dyer about the operational costs associated with this project. Throughout the presentation, the committee members were told that THPI would be picking up all operational costs. However, Natinsky pointed out that the City of Dallas will be paying for $1 million in costs over four years.

Natinsky also asked how much of the $2.7 million in the proposed agreement would be spent by September, and Dyer said approximately $2 million. Dyer made it sound like the park board would consider stopping design in March or April if fundraising hadn’t picked up, and Natinsky asked how much of the money would be spent by then. Reynolds said somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000.

Natinsky said the only way he would vote for the supplemental agreement is if there was some written agreement tying fundraising goals into the amount spent on design.

Councilmember Linda Koop asked the fundamental question to this debate.

“Is there a reason why we have to go ahead and proceed with the construction design?” she asked.

“In order for their donors to see progress and see something that showed what it was going to look like, they needed more detail. Whether that’s true or not, you’d have to ask Texas Horse Park, Inc. that,” Dyer said.

Willis Winters, assistant director of the Park and Recreation Department, added that the ideal time to open the horse park is in the spring, and starting the design in January is necessary to meet the spring 2010 target opening.

“I’m sorry,” Koop said. “I can’t go on spending $2.6 million without any assurances that the horse park people have been able to raise any more money than they have been able to already.”

This was unbelievable. Pitts seemed as surprised as I was. I think she expected this to fly by with no opposition much like I did. No rubber stamp? Good questions? Common sense? What the hell was going on here?

When Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Elba Garcia took the floor, I sat anxiously. I waited to jump up in thunderous applause if she was going to do something other than business as usual.

Dr. Garcia, vice-chair of the committee, said previous committees and councils knew this was how things would work. This was already approved and blah, blah, blah.

“This is the part that we really need to pay for because otherwise, we’re not giving them the tools to raise the funds. And we knew this, we agreed with this, and we approved it at the council level,” Dr. Garcia said. “Pulling out right now, in my opinion, will be backing out on our word.”

Rasansky said it was his understanding that the city wouldn’t start spending money until the fundraising was in place.

Dr. Garcia got some payback in the form of a gaffe by Councilmember Carolyn Davis.

“The city has put more money in this project than they’ve done the Homeless Assistance Center,” Davis said.

Dr. Garcia went nuts, whispering into the ears of Neumann and Rasansky as Davis continued.

She kept a disgusted look on her face until Neumann added this to his final comments.

“Just for Ms. Davis’ notice, the taxpayers approved $23 million for the Homeless Assistance Center. We’re into $750,000,” Neumann said. “Now $750,000 is heck of a lot of money, but the Homeless Assistance Center was $23 million.”

Dr. Garcia certainly should have been outraged at Davis’ ignorant remark. But I’d be lyin’ if I said it wasn’t funny to watch her squirm.

OK, that’s it from the meeting. Let me fill you in on some final details on what exactly is going on here.

In 1998, voters approved the $246 million Trinity River Corridor Bond Program. Included was $2.56 million for an equestrian center, which evolved into the Texas Horse Park.

In 2006, voters approved the $1.35 billion Bond Program. Included was $12 million for construction of the horse park and $2 million to buy land for the horse park.

On Sept. 13, 2006, the City Council authorized a 30-year agreement (20 years with two five-year renewals) with THPI. In addition, the council approved $1 million from general funds to be paid for operation of the horse park.

On Oct. 26, 2007, the City of Dallas and THPI signed a contract. Basically, the contract says the city will pay $14.56 million toward construction of Phase I of the Texas Horse Park. This is the $12 million from the ’06 Bond Program and the $2.56 million from ’98. It also says the city will pay $1 million in operating costs over four years as agreed in September 2006.

THPI is responsible for the remaining $15,440,000 in construction toward Phase I and also must have $500,000 in a reserve account for operating expenses. This money must be raised two years from the agreement with the city in September of 2006.

THPI essentially handles all other costs such as operating costs past what the city pays, insurance, lawsuits, security, employees, upkeep, etc. It also pays the city 20 percent of its annual net revenues, and the city maintains ownership.

Of course, no one else at the meeting knew any of this. Several committee members asked for copies of the contract.

So here’s the deal. Dallas taxpayers are on the hook for a total of $17.56 million. That’s $14.56 million for construction and design, $2 million for land and $1 million in operation costs.

So far, $750,000 has been spent on a master plan for the horse park. Check out the presentation. It’s gonna be great. No doubt about it. Keep in mind that page 8 is a more than $70 million plan that has not been financed. Page 9 is Phase I, which is what the city and THPI will get for a combined 30 million bucks.

I don’t want to kill this deal. However, the city has already spent twice as much as THPI has been able to raise.

THPI argues that the Trinity referendum really hurt its ability to fundraise. I fail to see how having a toll road inside the levees would have any bearing on someone contributing to a horse park that would have been built regardless.

Additionally, the referendum wasn’t certified until late July, which begs the question: What was going on from September 2006 through July 2007?

With another $2.7 million on the table on Wednesday, the council should take action and vote against moving forward with spending taxpayers’ money until THPI shows it can do a better job of getting its act together.

I was encouraged by the committee discussion and hope other council members show the same reservations. It was unfortunate that Councilmember Vonciel Hill was not at the committee meeting. She is not on the committee, but the horse park is in her district.

What’s my biggest fear?

If THPI cannot raise the funds by September, which appears the likely scenario, here are the options for the City of Dallas.

1. Terminate the agreement, cancel the project and reprogram the remaining funds. More than $3 million will have been wasted.

2. Attempt to negotiate a reduced scope of the Phase I development with THPI.

3. Proceed with Phase I or a modified version of Phase I with a different operator. The fundraising process would have to start all over again.

4. Delay the project until THPI can raise the remaining funds.

I don’t like any of these options.

What’s the rush to keep spending?

Before the taxpayers are asked to put another penny toward this project, THPI needs to stop crying about the Trinity referendum, stop worrying about stepping on the toes of the Trinity Trust, and start kicking some ass.

No more excuses. $15 million in nine months. Ready. Set. Go.

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