Othello park rental fee revision sparks heated discussion

Yahoo

a day ago

Jun. 10—OTHELLO — Park rental fees in Othello have been amended after some confusion led to an overcharge of the Othello Chamber of Commerce and a spirited discussion between Othello City Council members and city employees Monday.
The confusion involved garbage fees for events sponsored by the Othello Chamber of Commerce, which brought Chamber Manager Jackie Wilhelm to the May 27 council meeting to ask about them.
"I discovered that with (the city's solid waste contractor) the city of Othello receives dumpster services at no charge under an existing contract," Wilhelm said. "Despite this, the Chamber was billed $2,814 last year for 12 dumpsters, dumpsters the city had already requested and received for free."
Wilhelm said the fees charged for 2025 were going to be higher and asked for an explanation. She talked to the contractor, she said, and was told the garbage containers were provided to the city at no charge, but heard from city officials that the fees were actual expenses.
"I feel like when we signed that, I wasn't getting transparency from the city," Wilhelm said.
Council members voted to review the fees, and city officials released a letter a few days later saying some incorrect information from the garbage contractor caused a mistake when calculating them.
"Once the issue was brought to our attention, we immediately investigated and confirmed the miscommunication. We appreciate the Chamber raising the concern so it could be addressed properly," the letter said.
Revised fees were presented for council consideration Monday; the garbage container fees were reduced. Parks and Recreation Coordinator Valerie Hernandez said the contractor did not know the events were sponsored by outside organizations and not the city, which changed the price structure.
A fee on smaller garbage containers added for community events drew vehement protest from council member Corey Everett. They are, he said, similar to containers provided to individual residences, and the proposed fee was similar to the monthly charge for individual households.
"The city is not getting charged for those (containers)," he said. "Fred down the street is almost paying (that) for monthly service, a little bit over, and we're going to charge that for one (use)."
Public Works Director Robin Adolphsen said that while the garbage containers themselves are free, it still takes time for city staff to monitor and dump them. Each venue already has containers, she said, and event organizers are only being charged for any extra garbage cans required.
Everett said he thought the city shouldn't charge for the extras at all.
"That's something that's given to the city that we're turning around and charging the nonprofits for," he said.
Everett said that while the city spends money for city employees to monitor the park, event organizers do pay for at least some employee time.
"Regardless, we're charging for something that the city is receiving for free," he said.
Council member John Lallas agreed, saying it would be different if the city owned them. Hernandez said the council had the option to change the fee schedule.
Lallas said in his opinion, city officials should ask for as much as the city pays, and no more.
"If they provide a charge to us, then that's all we charge them for the event. That's all we ask them to pay for," he said.
Charging for city labor is a different discussion, Lallas said.