09 - FAIRGROUNDS EXHIBIT BUILDING FEESItem No. 9
memorandum
TO: Mayor & City Council
FROM: John Godwin, City Manager
SUBJECT: FAIRGROUNDS EXHIBIT BUILDING FEES
DATE: May 9, 2016
BACKGROUND: As we discussed at the last city council meeting, use at the event center we
took over last fall from the fair association has been pretty light. These first few months have
been the "off- season" to some extent, so we expect to get more rentals during the summer, but
we still need to try to get more uses in there for more activities and more hours.
STATUS OF ISSUE: The council adopted the use policy already in place under the fair
association, including the existing fee schedule, which generally addressed larger events and
activities. One way we may be able to get more users is to work with smaller, but recurring
users, so we are suggesting the additional of the following language to the policy now in place:
"The city may negotiate a specific agreement with a regular, recurring facility user that both
provides a service to the public and is a non - profit agency or organization." Our purpose is not
to make a profit, so if we can work deals that fully recover our costs while providing more
activities to the community, we will be well - served. This could also help us recover our fixed
costs that must still be incurred when the building is empty.
BUDGET: Should increase revenues.
RECOMMENDATION: Approve revising existing use policy.