Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council approved permits for the Oregon Jamboree and the Calapooia Rodeo last week.
The permits allow the Calapooia Rodeo to use a public address system during the rodeo on July 9, 10 and 11 and the evening dance on July 9 and 10 until midnight.
For the Jamboree, the council agreed to close Sankey Park and Weddle Bridge to the public from July 29 to Aug. 2. and sections of 18th Avenue, with parts of 18th Avenue designated for disabled parking only. The permit includes use of a public address system, permission to use city property for a beer garden and approval of a liquor license.
The council also approved waivers of the peddler?s license requirement and waiver of water service, consumption, equipment and some employee service fees.
The city will provide general assistance.
The approval does not include a waiver of manpower costs used within the Jamboree site, including a dispatcher, two officers on the site and a bicycle officer working in and around the Jamboree. The police chief also works inside the Jamboree site but is not charged to the Jamboree.
The approvals are essentially the same as last year?s with some minor changes, including the disabled parking on 18th Avenue.
The cost of additional police manpower outside the event was estimated at about $5,000, Police Chief Bob Burford said.
Councilman Dick Hill said the city should look at charging the Jamboree for the costs for manpower off the Jamboree site.
The Jamboree is looking at buying property and making a profit again, Councilman Hill said. He believed the Jamboree could afford to pay the cost, especially based on his understanding that the Jamboree was created to help the city.
Councilman Jim Bean agreed, saying that the city was in ?dire straits.?
The city cut more than $200,000 from its general fund proposal for 2004-05 to maintain law enforcement funding this year. The city anticipates possibly larger cuts next year.
The council may not be aware of a couple of items for consideration, Jamboree Event Manager Peter LaPonte said. Between the city?s transient occupancy tax and splitting camping fees at upper Sankey Park, the Jamboree provided the city $4,800 last year, nearly what the city expends for manpower outside the Jamboree site.
?If the Jamboree must pay the fees, what about the other events in town?? LaPonte asked. ?What about the rodeo? What about the Celtic festival??
The Jamboree helps market Sweet Home in several states, LaPonte said. It provides money to community projects through the Sweet Home Community Foundation. It paid for a new sprinkler system for the School District 55 fields used by the Jamboree.
If the council wants to look at having the Jamboree pay the costs, LaPonte said, it is late to do it for this year. The Jamboree?s budget is already set. He asked the council to give the Jamboree a year?s notice and to remember that the costs waived by the city shows the city?s support for the Jamboree.
With the city?s funding problem and Jamboree profits so large, ?we owe it to the citizens to get everything we can,? Councilman Hill said.
If the city were to look at what could be called an ?impact fee,? City Manager Craig Martin said, the city might develop a policy.
The Jamboree probably creates a higher demand for city police services than the rodeo, Martin said, but the city should look at those other events too in developing a policy for next year.
Corky Lowen was probably the only one in the room who was on the original committee, she said. When the Jamboree was created, the committee wanted to make it self-sufficient, so it could make its own way.
?We shouldn?t be subsidizing them forever and ever and ever,? Lowen told the council.
The council voted unanimously to approve this year?s agreement with a fee waiver for off-site staffing costs.
Present at the meeting were Jim Bean, Jessica Coward, Dick Hill, Bob McIntire and Mayor Tim McQueary. The council met for its regular meeting on June 22.
In other business, the council:
– Approved the 2004-05 budget and levied taxes, along with a supplemental budget for 2003-04. Supplemental budgets adjust the current budget to reflect changes throughout the year, including unanticipated revenues and expenses, such as grant projects.
– Increased racquetball court fees from $35 to $50 per year for individuals. Non-resident fees went from $38 to $75 per year. Family rates went from $45 to $75 for residents and $60 to $112.50 for non-residents. Employee rates increased from nothing to $25.
– Set new sewer and water rates, which take effect on July 1.