Council consensus: decrease Civic Center rental fees

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove city council held another discussion at Tuesday’s night city council meeting regarding the Copperas Cove Civic Center rental fees. 
After approximately 30 minutes of discussion, the council conceded to recommend lowering the full-day rental rate to $500, from the present $800 rental rate. 
Tuesday night’s discussion was a follow-up from the March 6 meeting. Councilman Jay Manning had requested the discussion and possible changes take place, citing the loss of revenue to the city along with decreased rentals was due to the increased rates. 
 “We increased the price of the full day rentals of the civic center, which was the main thing that was changed, from $500 to $700, to $800,” and Manning pointed to facility revenue decreasing. 
“I would submit that the cost when you add all the costs in, are really immaterial,” Manning added. “It doesn’t really matter what we are doing if nobody is using it. We’ve had numerous people move to the Knights of Columbus, to the civic center in Kempner, to the catholic church…once you run people off its hard to get them back.” 
The city presented the numbers for rentals since 2014, along with operating expenses. From the 2014 fiscal year to the present, the civic center has brought in $54,900 in rental revenue, but lost $17,500 with the discounted rentals. 
Parks & Recreation director Joe Brown said there are other operational considerations related to the civic center. 
“We haven’t spent any money on the civic center. Two years ago, the civic center was a scary place. I don’t think I would have rented it for $50,” Brown commented. “Again, we have plans this year to put some more dollars into the building to make it a more aesthetically pleasing environment.”
Brown added that advertising and marketing the civic center comes into play. 
“We’re working as a staff to do better in those areas.”
Councilman Dan Yancey said the bottom line was cost, and that it was a barrier that needed to be looked at and he would venture that virtually every civic center in every city is not self-sufficient. 
“With that, we need to keep that in mind when we try to come up with a pricing model that is going to be suitable for the public to be able to use this in a proper manner. We don’t want those events going to Kempner or other places outside Copperas Cove. If it’s Copperas Cove oriented, it needs to be in Copperas Cove. Period.”
Haverlah said that if the fee is reduced, the council should look at the discount policy.
“If we’re going to reduce the fee then everyone needs to pay that fee and not allow the civic center to be given away or used at a discounted price, because the price is already going to be dropped.”
The council directed Haverlah to have fee schedule changes drafted, to include lowering the rate to $500, remove the discount option, remove half-day charge and additional hourly charge, but retain the fees for stage setup and rental of the kitchen and sound system. 
The option of any discount would be left up to the council. 
“If there is a public purpose or special situation involved, then that would come back to us anyway,” Yancey said.
Councilman James Pierce Jr. later called the recommendations a “win” for the city and a good compromise. 
The recommendations to change the fee schedule will come back to the council in the future for the council’s vote.