Zoo to operate under unchanged contract

The Sedgwick County Zoo will continue operating in 2017 under an 11-year-old agreement with the county.

The county had sought to change the agreement earlier this year to boost its voting power on the nonprofit zoo board and regulate the zoo director’s public statements. The zoo board opposed that proposal. The agreement became an issue in the August primary election for the Sedgwick County Commission.

“The terms of those tweaks to the contracts would have been pretty minor mostly,” said commission Chairman Jim Howell.

“To the extent we didn’t come together, that old agreement is still in place,” Howell said.

Zoo board president Mark DeVries said operating agreement discussions have moved to the back burner after the county backed off its suggested changes to focus on a new funding agreement.

“It’s been a positive discussion, and we hoped to bring this to a conclusion,” he said.

Sedgwick County government and the Zoological Society have been in talks for new operating and funding agreements for months. At times, those negotiations have approached the point of gridlock.

The operating agreement sets the roles of the county and the zoo board in the public-private partnership that runs the zoo. The land and buildings are owned by the county and leased by the society, which runs day-to-day operations. The society is responsible for the zoo’s animals.

Each side has the choice to cancel the operating agreement every year, which would essentially let the county assume control of the zoo. This year, Nov. 18 was the last day for either party to say they wanted to cancel the agreement for the upcoming year.

Since Nov. 18 passed quietly without a cancellation notice or a new agreement, the current operating agreement will be kept for 2017.

“We’re still maintaining the status quo and there are no changes,” Sedgwick County public information officer Kate Flavin said.

There’s been an operating agreement between the zoo and the county since the early 1970s. The agreement’s last changes were in 2005.

Commissioner Dave Unruh favored keeping the current operating agreement.

“I’m very pleased that the deadline is expired and we’re going forward with an agreement that has clear proof and examples of how it’s been positive for the zoo and the community,” Unruh said. “I think things are going forward with less tension.”

The funding agreement was canceled last year. The zoo will receive $5.8 million from the county next year, according to the budget approved in August. The society also funds the zoo through donations, memberships, fundraisers and ticket sales.

“At this point, 2017 funding is in place,” DeVries said. “(But) we are working with the county on a replacement funding agreement (for beyond 2017).”

DeVries said he expected the two sides to reach a deal in the next couple of months, probably in early 2017.

Howell did not want to talk about how close the two sides were to an agreement.

“The process for them to consider proposals is kind of a long process,” Howell said. “We can be much more dynamic than they can. We have meetings a lot more often than they do.”

“We’ve given the zoo plenty of time. That’s for sure,” he said.

For the rest of the year, DeVries said, the zoo board is more focused on finding a replacement for zoo director Mark Reed, who will retire Dec. 31.

This story was originally published November 24, 2016 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Zoo to operate under unchanged contract."