Council fails to pass parks shelter rental fee changes

Newton City Council was short two members at its Dec. 16 meeting, which was just enough for a quorum but it also meant every action needed a unanimous 4-0 in order to pass. The absence of Melissa Dalton and Joel Mills resulted in the failure of the amended parks shelter rental fee schedule due to a 3-1 vote.

According to city council agenda documents, the current fee schedule allows for a morning rental and an afternoon rental at each park shelter for $50 each. But city staff identified consistent cleanup challenges when vacating shelters rented by different parties in the morning and afternoon blocks.

To remedy this, staff proposed the fee schedule change from a $50 half-day rental to a $75 full-day rental. It is stated that any potential decrease in revenue caused by fewer rental slots available will be easily offset by the increased rate and staff efficiency since they did not have to leave other jobs midday.

Council member Randy Ervin asked how often the city has held simultaneous morning and afternoon rentals; he would hate to limit opportunities for citizens. Erin Chambers, director of community development, said the frequency both slots are rented in any given day is relatively few during the reasonable seasons.

“But the challenges or the issues faced, particularly on a weekend, are significant,” Chambers said, noting there were multiple incidents in which customers who rented the shelter found an untidy space and were given a refund. “…It simply wasn’t acceptable the way it was left.”

From a staffing standpoint, the city could not get a person there to clean the shelter for the next person in a timely manner. Chambers said the amended fee schedule would clean up a lot of those challenges. But she reiterated it is relatively uncommon for both slots for a single shelter to be taken up for a day.

Newton Mayor Evelyn George said the amended parks shelter rental fee schedule would eliminate the frustration people would feel coming to a shelter and not having it be cleaned up. Still, Ervin would inevitably vote against the action, but it was with the knowledge that he could bring it back on the agenda.