POULSBO — The Marine Science Center Foundation got a jump on one of its New Year’s resolutions Wednesday night as the city council approved its lease for the Marine Science Center building.

The agreement cemented one of the foundation’s primary goals as it seeks to reinvigorate the center and show the Washington state Legislature that it deserves more funding.

Currently, the foundation has a $250,000 state grant which was awarded during the 2006 Legislative session, but until the lease was signed, little could be done with the money.

Its resolution for 2007 is to have the center up and running by May, even though supporters are optimistic that it could happen much sooner.

For Bight of Poulsbo founder Bill Austin, who spearheaded the effort to reopen the center after it closed its doors in March 2005, the council’s action was a long awaited move.

“Everything is ready to go. We’ll be going into the building as soon as we get the key,” Austin said.

Although the MSC isn’t expected to reopen until May, Austin said he’s optimistic that it could happen as early as March.

With the lease agreement in-hand, MSCF President Bruce Harlow said the foundation can now approach the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners and request a similar agreement.

Under the terms of the lease, the city will be responsible for making bond payments on the building and providing exterior maintenance, said Public Works Director Jeff Bauman. The foundation will be responsible for the interior maintenance, custodial services and utility costs.

But securing the lease didn’t come easily as Councilman Mike Regis questioned the financial value of what the city was receiving for allowing the foundation use of the building.

Since the fair market value of the building is $18,000 a month, the council needs to be able to show the public what the tradeoff is in terms of hard numbers instead of general statements, Regis said.

“We have the numbers. We know what it would cost and we have what it costs us,” he said.

Those numbers need to be included into the agreement, so the council will have a frame of reference for future discussions about lease terms, Regis said.

Regis’ concerns were met with a strong rebuttal from Councilwoman Kimberlee Crowder.

“We don’t get revenue from it, but we get the Marine Science Center and that’s the tradeoff,” Crowder said. “That’s the benefit to the public.”

In attempting to clarify Regis’ comments, Councilwoman Connie Lord said he was trying to quantify the benefit of the foundation operating the center as “due and just compensation to the city.”

“I don’t know how you can quantify it until they’ve been operating for a while,” Lord said.

While understanding Regis’ concerns, Councilman Dale Rudolph said the lease agreement doesn’t change the city’s status as a landlord for the building, but does give the public something in return.

“The public wanted a Marine Science Center in Poulsbo, and all that this agreement does is signs us up to be landlords,” Rudolph said.

As the discussion over the nuances of the agreement continued, Councilman Jeff McGinty stepped in and brought the lease up for approval.

“We’re all taking a risk in this,” McGinty said. “I think they’ve worked very hard with the lease, and I think we need to give them a fair shot to make it work.”

Crowder seconded McGinty’s motion for approval and the lease was approved by a 5-1 vote with Regis voting no, because, as he said, “I have to much reservation about this.”