The Parks and Recreation Committee met 01/22/2024. Two of the items they took up were the updated rental and fee schedule policies for Houdini Plaza and Jones Park.
The Jones Park rental policy update was approved unanimously after minimal discussion because the policy change was minimal and merely added in information regarding the ability to use propane grills in the concrete food preparation area.
Most of the discussion revolved around the proposed increase in fees for renting Houdini Plaza.
The rental fees were set on a sliding scale based upon the type of organization that rented the plaza ranging from as low a $25 for a local non-profit to $500 for a private even. City staff was requesting an across the board increase of $25 for those rental fees which would result in the following increases:
- Local Non-Profit Organizations – old fee of $25 to new fee of $50
- National Non-Profit Organizations – old fee of $100 to new fee of $125
- For-Profit Organization – old fee of $300 to new fee of $325
- Private Event – old fee of $500 to new fee of $525
The increase in fees was proposed because the initial fee structure had been set 10 years ago, and in the time since the cost of staff performing maintenance and cleanup had increased.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) felt that an increase of $25 would be onerous to local non-profits and that the money the city would receive in increased fees under the existing proposal was nominal. He made an amendment to change the fee increase from a $25 across the board increase to a 20% increase which would have resulted in local non-profits paying $30, national non-profits paying $120, for profit organizations paying $360, and private events costing $600.
This amendment was voted down on the grounds that it cost the same to clean up after a local non-profit event as it did for a private event and that nearly 100% the organizations that had rented Houdini Plaza last year had been local non-profits. Additionally, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza indicated that the fee structure proposed by Alderperson Schultz would result in staff having to come back and ask for another increase in fees sooner than they would with the $25 across the board increase they had initially proposed.
After the amendment was voted down, the committee went on to vote 4-1 to approve the updated rental policy and fee structure as initially proposed by city staff with Alderperson Schultz casting the dissenting vote.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
This item had initially been approved with no debate or discussion. Alderperson Schultz then referred it back to committee for further discussion referring to the fee increases as “significant”, saying, “I think anytime we’re reviewing fee increases, some significant fee increases, it’s worth a conversation at committee.” The item was then discussed at the 01/08/2024 Parks and Recreation Committee meeting at which point it was held to give staff time to gather historical data on rentals. Alderperson Kristin Alfheim wryly commented that they had probably spent more money in staff time to pull that data than they would have brought in through the increased fees and felt they should have just trusted staff’s initial judgement on this matter.
Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) supported Alderperson Schultz’s proposed 20% increase which would have resulted in local non-profits only having to pay $30 rather than $50 to rent the plaza. He mentioned the bad economy and said that some non-profits were experiencing financial struggles. “[R]aising prices on them might make them go away from doing more in the community.”
Alderperson Schultz felt that his proposal was more equitable than the flat $25 across the board increase that had been proposed. He said, “I’m trying to show the local nonprofits who may not understand that they can rent this—reserve this space, that they can do it, and we’re cognizant of them in trying to bring them to the downtown district and have events in Houdini Plaza which engages the community. And that’s really what we’re trying to do—engage the community with our nonprofits. They may not even be aware that they can rent that space.”
In answer to questions by Alderpersons Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) and Kristin Alfheim (District 11) Director Gazza said that the cost to the city per event for things like labor and clean-up were the same regardless of the status of the organization that was renting the plaza. Additionally, a 20% increase would likely result in staff having to come back sooner to request another fee increase as compared to if the $25 increase was approved.
He also noted that the city already heavily subsidized events. “You’re talking about maintenance, electricity, toilet paper, bathroom cleanup, grounds care, and any vandalism or damage that occurs. You could have—a lot of times when events occur, concrete needs to be washed afterwards, and things like that. So, we do have quite a bit of cleanup after these events. So, this intent isn’t to recover 100% of fees, but offset some of the costs.”
Additionally, it was mentioned that Houdini Plaza had been rented 32 times. 31 of those times, it was rented by local non-profits. The other remaining time, it was rented by Runaway Shoes which was technically a for profit entity, but they were collaborating with the city for an event, so they did not have to pay the full for-profit fee.
The committee voted 3-2 against the amendment to increase the fees by 20%, with Alderpersons Schultz and Wolff casting the two votes in favor of it. The committee then went on to vote 4-1 to approve the updated policy and fee schedule as proposed by staff with Alderperson Schultz casting the dissenting vote.
[I get that I’m super grouchy, but, frankly, I have now come away from this discussion and the previous committee discussion feeling that the rental fee should be increased even more for local non-profits. If the proposed fee increase had been approved without discussion I wouldn’t have cared, but all this discussion has just made It sounds like local non-profits are being inappropriately subsidized by the taxpayers of this city. I would assume that was not what Alderperson Schultz intended to achieve.]
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1161864&GUID=62979814-C536-4811-9122-803C5E41E5B8
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