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Mitchell board approves $41 nightly rate for Lake Mitchell Campground; staff to test call‑center reservation model
Summary
The Parks and Recreation Board approved a proposed increase to Lake Mitchell Campground rates for 2025 and discussed using a call center to handle reservations; staff said the call center averages about $6 per call and proposed a $3 per‑site increase to offset the service.
The Mitchell Parks and Recreation Board on Feb. 13 approved a proposal to raise Lake Mitchell Campground nightly rates to $41 for 2025 and to increase the monthly rate from $5.25 to $5.35.
Kevin, a parks staff presenter, said the campground’s nightly rate had been $35 in 2017 and rose to $38 by 2023; the board approved the $41 figure after discussion about local market rates and administrative costs. “It would average about $6 per call,” Kevin said of the call‑center service staff proposed to use for handling reservations and customer calls. He suggested increasing rates by roughly half the call‑center charge—about $3 per site per reservation—as a way to offset that expense.
Staff told the board the call center handles reservation‑related calls for roughly 20 other campgrounds and charges by the minute; the parks department had relied previously on an administrative assistant who fielded messages and calls directly and is currently without that staff member. Kevin said message volume in season could be substantial: “There’d be times where she’d come back from lunch and there’d be 15 to 20 messages on her phone.”
Board members discussed market positioning—trying not to be the highest local rate while also avoiding being the lowest—and noted campground improvements coming online, including a new tornado shelter that will require engineering work. A Gerstel architect bill for tornado‑shelter engineering appeared among the campground vendor charges presented in the packet.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the 2025 rate schedule and directed staff to publish the new rates and update the reservation system. Staff said they will monitor reservation volume and the fiscal effect of any call‑center fees and may revisit shelter rental fees and other charges next month.
Clarifying details recorded in the meeting included a cited glycol boiler leak repair (~$3,700) unrelated to campground rates but noted in the bills, and a parks staff estimate that the call center averages about $6 per call. The board asked staff to report back on reservation volumes and the budgetary effect of the call‑center plan before making further fee adjustments.
