Century eyeing costs for rental properties

In a workshop last Thursday, the Century Town Council came up with possible higher fees and security presence on a case-by-case basis as part of changes and updates for rentals in the town, which will be voted on at a future council meeting.

Councilman Luis Gomez said the current policies in place for facility rentals in the town are outdated and he felt the council needed to get in depth with each rental agreement so new policies can be created. He encouraged comments from everyone present.

“These policies effect everyone in the town,” said Gomez. “Including the sheriff's department. In the past, the sheriff's department was in the contract. Going forward, that may not be the case.”

The rentals for the Agriculture Building and the Century Business Center had the following policies:

The fee for rental is $380 and must be paid in full five days prior to event; security is provided by Escambia County Sheriff's Office; the rental fee is $200 for non-profits with a pastor or officer's signature; the minimum age to rent is 21; the building must be left clean to get $100 cleaning deposit back; no one is allowed in parking lot or in building after 12 a.m.; no admission to be charged unless pre-approved by town council; no tobacco, no drugs, no alcohol is allowed inside the building; bathrooms are to be cleaned; key must picked up by 3:30 p.m. the Friday (or day) before rental date. If not, the contract is null and void. No staff will be available to provide key outside business hours. The key must be returned to town hall by noon next business day. For cancellation, a 48 hour cancellation notice is required. Other policies were in place regarding cleaning procedures.

Gomez read the new draft which was not approved but tabled by the council in a recent meeting. He said he checked with the town of Flomaton's rentals, and they require a deposit and have a no alcohol policy so they don't require security.

Councilman Smith asked how they hold the renter liable and Gomez said the person who signs the contract is personally liable.

Gomez said he wanted to eliminate the pastor's signature, because many times, the pastor is not on the premis­­es during the event. Interim City Manager Vernon Prather suggested a consequence clause of no future rentals for someone who does not follow the policy. Prather said he will incorporate the council's input at that workshop into a new contract to be submitted for approval at a future council meeting.

Discussion about security determined the fee used to be $25 an hour, which increased to $30 an hour, which recently has gone up to $33 an hour, with a 4-hour minimum. On a contract, the fee is a minimum six hours for security, of which up to no more than $60 can be refunded if the event lasts less than six hours.

Gomez asked a deputy about the duties at events.

“We are required to be there for that job and whoever is in charge to give us a certain job to do, such as patrol parking lot, perform frequent walk-throughs, keep loiterers out of parking lot, etc,” said a deputy.

The deputy said guidelines should be given to deputies of what behavior is expected and enforced and that they are supposed to be there entire time of event. Gomez and the deputy agreed these policies were established during a previous administration.

William Reynolds with northescambia.com verified that according to the county's website, Escambia County decides on a case-by-case to have security at an event, determined by possible amount of alcohol.

An audience member said she used to participate in events to raise money with and for young people, but her organization no longer holds events because the possibility of violence has risen among the youth of today.

“You've got one person who will act a fool and ruin it for everybody,” she said. “In my opinion, security needs to be there, especially with society today, they absolutely need to be present.”

Century resident Oneal Dubose asked about modifying the existing ordinance for no alcohol at any event rental. Prather told him the process of approval, readings and final approval, which takes a while to modify.

Dubose had a contract for a gospel event he planned, and Gomez asked why he had the contract, citing that the council tabled that contract stating that 10 p.m. was the cut-off time for any event.

Dubose said he went to get a contract for his daughter's sweet 16 birthday party July 21 and Councilman Gomez saw that it was the contract recently submitted to the council and tabled.

“Why does he have two of those not voted on contracts in his possession?” asked Gomez. “It's not like it's a mistake. Those should have been taken out of the building after the first time.”

Councilman Gomez was at Dubose's event and said he saw a town worker there and discovered he was there for overtime that was not approved by the council. Gomez said he was told the worker was there because Dubose could not get the key on Friday to decorate, open the building or to lock it when the event was over.

Dubose said town employee Emily Easterling called him Friday at 3:30 p.m. and said he had two hours to decorate the building for his event. He reminded her about picking up the key on Friday before the event and Easterling told him the town was not doing that anymore.

“She said if I issue out a key on Friday, then you will have to pay an extra $200 for picking up the key on Friday,” said Dubose. “She said town employee Larry Hammond would have to come unlock the building and then come back and lock the building.”

He told her there was nothing in place stating that and that he was not informed when he came to town hall to get the contract that it had been modified. In past engagements with the town, he had picked up the key on Friday before 3:30 p.m. and return it the first following business day.

Dubose said about 10 minutes later, Mayor Ben Boutwell called him and told him that in the past, when the town has given out the key, people used the building the whole weekend and only paid for one day.

Dubose said he told the mayor that was not specified when they rented the building to him, and he has people coming to decorate and set up expensive music equipment. The mayor said he would have Hammond lock and unlock the building.

Dubose said he had to stay at the building from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. to protect music equipment and Hammond did the check of the building at the start and at the finish of his event.

Councilman Gomez had Dubose read the contract he had in his hand, which stated the key had to picked up by 3:30 p.m. Friday prior to the event and key must be returned to town hall by noon the next business day.

Gomez pointed out that the town hall staff had breeched the contract because they said they could not give you a key to a contract Dubose had signed. He noted that the council stated about a month ago that the current policy was not acceptable and to leave the contract as it was until the workshop.

“It was taken upon yourself (Mayor Boutwell) to breech the contract,” said Gomez. “It wasn't an oversight. It wasn't a mistake.”

Councilman James Smith pointed out that nowhere on the contract was someone required to pay $200 to pick up the key. Smith asked where the mayor was and Prather said he was listening on the telephone but was having trouble getting onto the meeting.

Dubose said he felt like he was being held accountable for rules being broken in the past.

There was discussion about charging an admission and Prather said that a vendor's permit approved by the council is a possible way to address that policy.

The suggested changes the council will address at a future council meeting are:

The cost to rent the community center on Highway 4 should be increased to $250 with a $198 security deposit (ECSO) and a refundable $100 cleaning deposit, for a total rental of $548. The town will supply cleaning supplies.

Security presence will be decided on a case-by-case basis, considering various aspects of the event.

The Century Business Center will be $100 rental fee, $198 security and $100 refundable cleaning fee for a total of $398. The town is working on renovating the building and the mayor has been working with a non-profit group who has food on pallets in the building that needs to be moved. The is a big kitchen that Councilman Gomez said community groups have expressed interest to utilize.

The town's splash pad will be $25 an hour with a 2-hour minimum. There will be expanded hours and listed CDC guidelines.

Keys have not been returned in the past, according to Town Clerk Kim Godwin. Reynolds suggested the town switch to code locks instead of keys to use a rental.

The end time of an event was suggested to be 12 a.m. Councilman Smith suggested 1 a.m.

Recently, Mayor Boutwell told a 16-team group who wanted to use a field in the town Sunday that it would cost $50 an hour. Council members expressed concern where Mayor Boutwell came up with that amount and why he quoted it.

Councilman Gomez said the word 'mistake' is being used is reference to fee pricing, but he felt it was not a mistake but was intentional. He said he had been asked by the group about the fee and they were told they cannot give out keys unless $50 an hour is paid. Councilman Smith wondered where that quote came from.

Mayor Boutwell said Easterling came to him and he wanted to bring it to the council.

“I told them that we really don't have a policy,” said Boutwell. “It has to be brought before the council and that's what I did Monday night. I apologize to Mr. Dubose, it was on me. We are going to go with the old policy until you all make the policy in the direction we need to go. All I can say is I apologize for anything that has been misinformed. I've been clarifying with the front desk, don't do anything but the way it used to be until we get the council setting us in the right direction.”

In the past, the town did not charge people or groups who used fields at parks when lights were turned on, but some members of the council wants to pass those costs onto the group using them.

Although no amounts were suggested, discussion about use of the parks in the town led to renting McMurray Park out “as is” right now, with lights that do not work, until the town can repair the lights.

Council members discussed charging per hour to occupy the field and to pay for the lights.

Prather said it's pretty easy to calculate a cost if the lights are on and how to calculate a fee.

Councilman Leonard White expressed concern that for many years, teams were not charged and he did not think it was fair to start charging.

Councilman Smith said that they are there to correct that to benefit the town.

“Now we are trying to make better of that,” said Smith. “It's not that we are trying to take anything from the residents, but we are still trying to help the city as a whole. We should try to incur a little bit of a fee for it.”

Prather noted how not charging can effect the town's millage rate.

“Not everybody who could potentially use your park facilities is a town resident,” said Prather. “If you subsidize your parks 100 percent with no user fees, then you have to have a higher millage rate to pay for other people who aren't paying your millage rates to use your facilities. There's a balance there.”

Councilwoman Dynette Lewis said she felt what wasn't done in the past is the whole reason the town is in its current situation.

Councilman Leonard White asked if a fee would be charged for use of a park that had lights that did not work and if the town intended to repair the lights.

Anthony Pleasant Park's bathrooms and concessions are not usable, so consideration for amounts must take that into account. Vandalism and an outdated fire suppression system are two reasons they are not usable.

There were different opinions about whether the roadside park (Nadine McCaw Park) on Highway 29 should be rentable since it is a public park. The bathroom doors have been ruined in the past from frequent urination and the appliances inside have been destroyed.

Council members discussed renting the stage to bring in revenue while keeping the park open for travelers passing by.

Councilman Smith said he didn't think it was very appealing currently and suggested making changes to help make it nice to encourage people to stop.