Minutes - 20071009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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said that it costs $25,000 a year to put up an inmate, and these two passible felons were diverted because of the tent revival. This would more than cover the $250 fee. He asked about how Hog Day works. He said that Hog Day closes off the streets and this tent revival will not be closing off the streets and will be giving food away for free. Chair Carey said that the Board also has same questions about the future for Hog Day. This year Hog Day charged a fee for the first time ever. He said that the fee policy was not designed to raise revenue, but there are some expenses associated with the uses of a particular facility. The Board also has concerns about the exclusive use of a whole park. Commissioner Gordan said that she thought the request was to rent the whole park and not just the ball field. Chair Carey said that this was one of the questions and it was not clear at the last meeting. It is becoming clearer. He said that the Board will request that the Manager come back with some clearer rules and regulations about the use of the County's facilities. Commissioner Jacobs said that he was disappointed in this abstract because some of these issues were discussed at agenda review. He said that in June he was opposed to having a fee to rent an entire park because citizens pay taxes that are used to build parks, and then some citizens would be in some way excluded when an entire park is rented out. He said that the Board has also not discussed any time limits to reserving a park (i.e., three days, six days, etc.). He was hoping that the Board would suspend the fee far park rental and send it back to staff for analysis of the issues. Geof Gledhill said that the right way to da this is to amend the budget ordinance to suspend this fee. The Board can express its intent to do this and have the budget amendment brought back. Commissioner Jacobs said that this should come back to the Board with a lot more thinking. Commissioner Gordon said that a major issue is whether any group can take aver a whole park so that no one else can come to the park. She does not want to set a precedent that will preclude addressing that and other issues that need to be addressed. Chair Carey said that this is not setting a precedent, and the questions need to be answered before there is another request like this. Commissioner Foushee said that she thought Geof Gledhill said that the Board could take action tonight to suspend the budget ordinance as it now reads until a policy can be made clearer as it relates to renting parks, etc. She said that if the Board suspends the budget ordinance as it now stands tonight, it would not change anything except that there are some things hanging until staff brings back additional information. Geof Gledhill said that by acting tonight, the Board would amend the budget ordinance to suspend the fee. It would apply to all parks where the $250 applies. Commissioner Nelson asked if the proposal was just for the ball field or the whole park and Rev. Brooks said that the ball field is where the tent will go. The public would be able to use the rest of the park. Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft said that she does not have an application yet for this event. Last year, most of the activity occurred on the ball field, but there is not much else in the park right now. She said that there are two fees for ball fields that were approved in the past and the one most applicable in this situation would be the tournament fee, which is $1001day. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to amend the budget ordinance to suspend the $250 fee for rental of parks to be reconsidered in light of the concerns raised by the public and the Board, including but not limited to the appropriateness of allowing the rental of an entire park, use of an entire park for profit by an organization, circumstances under which we might waive fees, and the limits on the length of time a group might rent the facility.