On the July 15, 2010 City Council Regular Meeting Agenda, I discovered item 12. Fee Structure for City Buildings. I immediately knew that something was wrong. First, no assess fee could be passed on the Consent Agenda. Secondly, there was no Ordinance for the assess fee. I told both the City Attorney and the City Manager about this Charter violation of “Sec. 5-206,-Service charges.: The city council by ordinance shall have the power to assess and collect fees, charges, and tolls for sewers, sanitary and health services, or any other services provided or made available within and without the coporate limits of the city for the reasonably estimated cost to the city providing or making available such services. If unpaid, such charges shall be collected as provided in section 5-209 of the charter.” Mayor and Council moved the adoption of the non-existing Ordinance to the August 5, 2019 Regular Council Meeting.
Mayor and Council have the power by Ordinance to charge fees for the rental of City building; and they have the power by Ordinance to excempt residents from those fees without creating any unnecessary financial hardship on the City. The City has only one recreation center with limited public rental space for residents and the general public. When Fire Station 3 at Campcreek was built it was designed to have space for community meetings at no cost to residents. During the discussion of rebuilding Ben Hill Fire Station 4, beginning with my administration and subsequent administrations, it was understood that it would include a Community Room for residential meetings and not limited to neighborhood association meetings. See proposed Facility Rental Policy. Click Here Facility Rental Policy
The Proposed Ordinance that Mayor and Council will be voting on at the August 5, 2019 Regular Council Meeting should exempt residents for paying a rental fee for the use of the Community Rooms/Space at Fire Stations 3 and 4 for four very important reasons:
- The residents are already paying for the building, maintenance, and operations of all of the City buildings in their property taxes.
- The Lease-Purchase Agreement with the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) for thirty -six years for the new City Hall and Fire Station 4 is backed by the “full faith and credit of the City” meaning all current and future property taxpayers will pay until the Agreement is paid in full.
- The Community Rooms at the Fire Stations were never meant to be money makers for the City.
- Exempting residents from rental fees will not cause any financial hardship to the City.
Residents should be provided free use of the Community Rooms at Fire Stations 3 and 4 for suggested free activities not limited to the ones below:
- The discussion and planning of charitable events within the City.
- Federal and State issues that affect the City and residents.
- Discussion and implementation of educational and motivational opportunities for City’s youth, young adults with court related issues.
- Discussions by “experts” in the fields of juvenile justice; domestic abuse; sexual harassment; Federal and State benefits; veteran support; etc.
- Group Activities: Book clubs; art/crafts, and gardening tutorials; girl and boy scout meetings; etc.
Mayor and Council should weigh the benefits of exempting residents from rental fees to those activities that taxpayers money is used to pay for listed in the “Council Department Fund”. Of the $247,450 in the Council Department Fund, $26,800 deal directly and solely with the activities of the full Council. The remaining $220,650 is for the Mayor and Council discretionary slush fund. Not any of these funds include Mayor and Council’s salaries; or the City paid portion of their health and life insurance; and medical benefits. To review a list of taxpayers activities listed in the Council Department Fund, Click Here: The High Cost of Poor Leadership See page 2. The last page is an additional $84,000 expense to fund the cost of musical (Special Events) events in the “Council Department Fund located in the Economic Development Fund Budget. This additional expense brings the total Council Department and related expenses to $300,650.
If this policy had been in effect when I requested space for my three Community Two Hours Workshops during operating hours, I would have had to pay $120; and for the two Community Two Hours Workshops during non-operating hours another $120 for a total of $240. I would not have had them. Mayor and Council should be more than willing to exempt residents from rental fees at Fire Stations 3 and 4 because the financial cost to the City of using the space has already been accounted for in the total Fire Department Budget.
I urge every resident to read the document and list suggested changes to the length of time needed for a requested meeting date; and to demand that residents be exempt from rental fees at Fire Stations 3 and 4. As always. PLEASE SHARE! THANK YOU.
