Chester, Perryville sign recreation agreement
<span>CHESTER -- In a two-for-one swap, the City of Chester has agreed to trade resident rates at Chester Skateland and the Chester Public Library to the City of Perryville for resident rates at the Perry Park Center.</span>
<span>The agreement - which was formally approved by the Chester City Council at Monday's meeting and runs until May 31, 2016 before being automatically extended on a month-to-month basis - will see Perryville residents receiving a library card at an annual fee of $15 and pay the same fee to use Skateland as Chester residents.</span>
<span>Resident membership rates at the Perry Park Center start at $20 per month for youth (ages 3 to 13) and $50 for family. Non-resident rates are $5 higher in each category.</span>
<span>"This agreement basically means (Chester residents) will be treated just as if they were residents of Perryville, Missouri," said Chester Mayor Tom Page in a video interview after the council meeting. "Whenever they go to enter the Perry Park Center for swimming or all the other activities.</span>
<span>"In the absence of our swimming pool, we want to move forward in giving them an option this summer."</span>
<span>The Chester Municipal Pool closed in June 2014 after major water leakage was discovered. In the months since the closure, the Chester Pool Committee was formed and the CPC is currently discussing options on both the current facility and the feasibility of a new one.</span>
<span>The agreement highlights Chester and Perryville as being each other's closest municipal neighbors and "desire to strengthen the support and mutual aid offered by both" in providing access to each other's facilities at resident rates.</span>
<span>"We feel like Chester is our sister city," said Perryville Mayor Ken Baer in a phone interview with the Herald Tribune on Wednesday. "We communicate back and forth and it's great to use your skating rink in exchange for our swimming pool.</span>
<span>"I think it's a great opportunity for all of us to cooperate and be great neighbors."</span>
<span>Legally, the agreement makes note of Chapter 70 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, which allows for "municipal corporations" to contract and covenant between each other after following certain procedural guidelines.</span>
<span>The Illinois Constitution includes similar legislation, allowing units of local government to contract or associate with other states and their units of local government to obtain or share services.</span>
<span>Should either city wish to terminate the agreement, a 60-day written notice is required and facility access would cease within that timeframe, with the exception of prepaid memberships and events.</span>
<span>"It was approved (by the Perryville Board of Aldermen) last night and I signed the agreement this morning," Baer said. I'm looking at signing some other things that will further collaboration between the two cities."</span>