Guymon council adopts revised fee schedule, approves $5 tournament spectator fee and annual CPI utility adjustment

The Guymon City Council on a unanimous vote approved Resolution No. 25-10 adopting a revised city fee schedule that includes a $5 daily admission fee for spectators at tournament play at the NAZ Soccer Complex and a CPI-based annual utility-rate adjustment.

Council members discussed the soccer complex changes at length, including enforcement, concessions and exceptions for nonprofit programs. Councilmember Mike Shannon explained the rationale: "What we're trying to do is capitalize on the tournaments ... Before long, we're gonna have to probably spend some capital. And ... staff feels like the $5 admission fee is applicable." The motion to adopt Resolution No. 25-10 passed with four ayes.

Why it matters: Council leaders said the facility is seeing growing tournament use and early vandalism, and the fee is intended to build a maintenance reserve for turf repair or replacement and other capital needs. Shannon told the council staff has observed vandalism and other damage and that the fee program will help fund repairs.

Details and implementation: The fee applies to tournament play only, not routine league practices or weekly league games; the council asked staff to distinguish formally between "tournament" (multi-day weekend events) and "league" play in any operating procedures. City staff said gates would be staffed by city employees and the spectator fee would be assessed to spectators, not players. The day pass is valid for a full tournament day rather than per game.

Concessions and ticketing: Staff described a cashless-friendly ticketing and concessions app the city plans to use, with QR-code sales and options for staff to validate purchases at the gate. A staff member presenting the concessions plan said the app "is a pretty smooth system" and that the city can accept cash initially but hopes to move toward cashless operations to reduce handling and counting mistakes. The council discussed allowing limited cash payments during a transition period but emphasized the goal of reducing cash on site.

Program exemptions and requests: The fee schedule includes a program-exemption provision for qualifying groups; council members discussed Kids Inc. and whether the organization could access fields. Staff said Kids Inc. can use the fields for tournaments and that exemptions or special arrangements would be handled case-by-case. Councilmembers acknowledged there may be initial public pushback but expected the process to settle after implementation.

Vote and next steps: Councilmember (mover) motioned to approve Resolution No. 25-10; the motion was seconded and passed with four ayes. Staff was directed to finalize operating procedures distinguishing tournament versus league play, set up gate staffing, and implement the ticketing/concessions app and signage. The resolution also updates utility rates under the CPI policy established in a prior resolution; the staff noted the federal CPI for the year was 2.9 percent and the annual adjustment will be applied as authorized in the earlier resolution.