Council to review decreased rates at The Civic

Rental fees at The Civic in Neosho may be lowered dramatically pending city council approval of a recommendation made Tuesday night by Neosho Parks and Recreation Director Todd Banes.

Under Banes’ plan, the $750 fee to rent the entire facility would be lowered to $375 in most cases. The cost to rent just the main floor would be dropped from $450 to $250; just the east or west wings from $125 to $100; and there would be no additional charge for use of the kitchen which currently costs an extra $250, minus a $125 deposit, on top of other costs.

Also, local civic organizations wanting to use The Civic to hold their regular meetings would be charged the same rate they now pay to use any other city facility, namely the Lampo Building and the Rec Plex, which is $25 a month. This is instead of $25 per meeting they are now being charged at the Civic.

“Personally I don’t see why we should charge anything different,” Banes said. “A facility is a facility.”
Banes said the current rental rate structure at the Civic is fine for a concert or other public event where someone was going to make money for profit, but that it was too steep for most people to pay for a private or non-profit event, such as a wedding reception or a banquet.

He said the Lampo Building in particular has rented out well, being occupied 28 days out of 30 last month, while the Civic has remained mostly empty and unused.

He said the high fees scare people away.

“By and large the response we get is ‘well, we just can’t afford that.’” Banes said.

He said the Lampo is too small for some functions and that people and organizations who would like to use the Civic end up holding their events in other cities because of the cost. In comparison, according to Banes, Carthage Memorial Hall rents out for $275 for 8-12 hours; The Ramsey in Joplin for $500 for all of Saturday night ($100 on weekdays); and the entire Joplin Memorial Hall and parking lot for $1,000, which includes alcohol charges.

“People leave our town and go somewhere else to rent facilities,” Banes said. “And we really don’t want that...We feel the Civic is a very unique place to rent and we want people to use it, but we have to get it where the fees are workable.”

Banes said the local civic clubs in particular shouldn’t have to pay $25 a meeting to use the Civic and that they shouldn’t be charged any more than they are to use any other facility.

“The civic clubs are what built this town, they’re the strong suit of the town, and we’re not asking them to pay a whole lot anyway (at the other facilities) so I would just as soon have the same fees,” Banes said.

Councilman Tom Workman agreed, noting civic clubs were “instrumental” in getting the sales tax passed that paid for the Civic’s renovation.

“I think it’s a good deal that they be given the right (to use it at a low cost),” Workman said.

The council will decide on whether or not to accept Banes’ revised fee structure for The Civic at a future meeting.

In other business Tuesday the council:

• Approved, on a 5-0 vote, changes to Chapter 405 of city code reinstating inclusionary zoning for C-0 through C-3 zones, making R-1 through R-3 zoning districts inclusionary also, adding hotels and motels to commercial districts and deleting telegraph offices;

• Approved, on a 5-0 vote, a cost overrun for taxilane work at the Hugh Robinson Memorial Airport  for a net additional increase of $60,735.25, which is minus other cost underruns. Of this amount, the city will pay $6,073.53, with the Missouri Department of Transportation picking up the rest. According to city development services director Craig Jones, the extra costs are for the replacement of “mushy” soil beneath the base rock that is be laid prior to concrete paving. Also adding to the additional cost was the discovery of an abandoned utility trench left over from old Camp Crowder. Water, gas and sewer lines are to be removed and the trench filled in;

• Approved, on a 5-0 vote, an amendment to the electric service agreement with Empire District Electric to install two 16,000 Lumen HPS street lights on the corner of College and Smith streets for an increased monthly cost to the city of $16.36.

• Accepted letters of interest from Mark Knight, Kevin York and Rick Sweet for appointment to one vacant term that began on June 1, 2010 and ends Sept. 30, 2012, on the Airport Industrial Development Board. No appointment was made.