Minutes 1993 0503 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Minutes - San Leandro City Council Meeting - May 3, 1993 Page - 9 - NEW BUSINESS (continued) Council Member Corbett said she would be interested in comparing whether other cities have help in prepping their fields. Mr. Smith said the fee is intended just to cover the cost of the fields, such as utilities, mowing, and general maintenance, but not prep costs. Council Member Corbett asked if there was anything in the proposal to decrease the fee for families who had several children participating. Mr. Smith said he would work with the leagues on this aspect. Council Member Kerr said he thinks this is a good idea; but, in some of the leagues, the leagues actually do most of the work. He asked if the figures were based on including umpires, grading the fields, etc. Mr. Smith said the fees were just for the fields themselves. Council Member Kerr said his main concern was trying to make the charge equitable. Council Member Polvorosa asked how many fields are provided now for the youth leagues. Mr. Smith said there are ten which the City maintains, mows, etc. , but the teams do the prep work. He said at the Ball Park there is a fee system in place if the teams want preparation, but that is the only place where there are fees for prep work and where the City does the work. Council Member Perry said the City has always had the philosophy of providing low-cost youth activities. She said she did not have enough information without looking at the total budget to make a decision. She said this would apply for exclusive use of fields and asked what fields would be charged. Mr. Smith said any time there was a permit involved where someone had the field set aside for their exclusive use there would be a charge, and this would cover all sports. Council Member Perry asked if the City had a breakdown of maintenance costs by facility or type of sport. Mr. Smith said he did not; and one reason was, for example, the Pacific High School site is a multiple-use facility with a number of sports and activities, so it is difficult to provide a breakdown for each sport. Council Member Perry said she had a problem with the charges being based on the number of participants versus a standard fee for a game or use of a facility. She said a standard fee would allow organizations to determine if they wanted to charge the individuals, get a sponsor, etc. She said she was concerned that the per-person fee sends a wrong message and would be hard to enforce. She said a lot of recreation programs have a resident versus a non-resident fee. She said she wanted to look at the total budget. Mr. Nahm said the Commission felt this type of fee allowed each individual league to know exactly what the charge would be, then they could plan fundraisers, etc. He said the fee is to cover annual operating expenses.