Council votes to table fee schedule discussion until September

Over the last few months, multiple members of the Rhinelander Common Council have expressed dissatisfaction with the new fee schedule for special events held within the city limits.

The fee schedule, approved by this group of alderpersons last summer, went into effect on Jan. 1. Since that time, a number of organizations have asked the council to waive the fee associated with their event.

On July 24, the council approved waivers for a block party to be held on Wisconsin Avenue later this month, the Redikulus Dae event scheduled for Aug. 2, as well as the upcoming Duck Dash and ChalkFest events.

Redikulus Dae and the Duck Dash/ChalkFest are organized by Downtown Rhinelander Inc. which requested the waivers.

The council first learned about the block party during its July 10 meeting.

“Our area on Wisconsin Avenue has had a block party for the last two years and this year we came to get our papers to register for the block party and we found out it’s going to cost us $100,” Wisconsin Avenue resident Sharann Schoppe explained during the July 10 public comment period.

“We’re an old-fashioned block party, all neighbors,” she added, noting that the event typically involves approximately 25 to 30 people gathering in a one-block area. 

Alderman Tom Kelly asked that the block party request be included on a future meeting agenda and city adminstration obliged, scheduling the matter for discussion on July 24.

All of the waiver requests on the July 24 agenda were approved with minimal comment, however council members continued to raise concerns about the schedule.

“We have, just in this meeting, approved the waiving of fees for four events,” alderman David Holt said. “It seems to me that the mood of this city and the council is that nobody seems to be very happy with this fee schedule. I do know that there are a number of people, just because of what they’ve told me, that were unhappy with the way that it was implemented, the way that it was sold to council and passed. And so if we’re simply going to waive fees each time a request comes up then we need to suspend the fee schedule. If we don’t want to do that, we need to redefine the degree to which we’re going to stick to having fees.”

Mayor Kris Hanus responded by asking Holt to clarify whether he was referring to the special event fees only. The full fee schedule, which was included in the meeting packet, also includes costs for services like the sale and care of gravesites, among other things.

“Specifically, the special event fee schedule that just went to effect (in January),” Holt replied.

As the discussion continued, alderman Tom Barnett stated that he is in favor of “getting rid of the fee schedule” for special events.

“Mainly because it was something that was just recently implemented. The city has not done that in the past and it was a way of nickel-and-diming events....,” he said, adding that he believes the fee schedule will lead to the city losing popular events.

“The fact that they bring in tourism, they bring in money to local businesses, should be enough for us to say the fee schedule was a mistake,” he added. 

Like Holt, he also referenced the council being “sold” on the fee schedule.

 At that point, Hanus asked City Clerk Austyn Zarda for statistics as to the number of waiver requests received.

Zarda reported that the city has received seven requests for waivers while 10 events took place without a waiver request, for a “roughly 42 percent waiving rate right now.”

“The other big difference is that now every one of these (waiver requests) is coming before this body to decide on,” Hanus added.

“I think there’s just a perception that we’re waiving every fee,” city council president Eileen Daniel contributed.

 “A lot of good events are going to go away (if the fees are not revised or eliminated) and it’s going to be really bad,” Barnett reiterated. After Barnett stated that he would like to revisit the entire fee schedule, Daniel made a motion to table the topic until the second meeting in September. The motion received unanimous approval, though it was unclear if the discussion in September will involve only the fees associated with events or the entire schedule of all city fees.

The discussion ended with alderperson Carrie Mikalauski suggesting each alderperson independently review the schedule and submit prospective changes to the city administrator ahead of the September meeting.

To watch the council meeting, visit www.hodagtv.com.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].