The Des Moines City Council voted 5–1 on March 27 to authorize a three-year partnership with the Des Moines–Normandy Park Rotary Club for the Poverty Bay Blues & Brews festival, approving the sponsorship package and authorizing the city manager to execute agreements consistent with the Rotary’s proposal.

Catherine Caffrey, city manager, and Jeff Gross, Rotary president and festival cochair, described a proposal that would treat the city as the festival’s center-stage sponsor for three years. Rotary requested an in-kind facility discount valued at approximately $10,000 toward Beach Park use, committed $2,000 per year to park-and-rec youth scholarships, and offered marketing and promotional benefits (logo placement, email/social media exposure, a city booth and speaking opportunities). Rotary also offered 40 general-admission tickets to be used at the city’s discretion. Jeff Gross said the festival typically draws about 1,200–1,500 attendees and that net proceeds support Rotary community programs.

Council debate centered on consistency with the city’s nonprofit facility-discount policy and whether the city should negotiate a larger scholarship contribution or an inclement-weather clause. Councilmember Grace Matsui moved to approve the Rotary partnership as proposed and to authorize the city manager to execute the agreements; Deputy Mayor Steinmetz seconded. Several council members urged more standardized rules for nonprofit discounts in the future; some suggested a one-year pilot and additional metrics to measure the partnership’s promotional impact on rentals and local businesses. A formal amendment to limit the agreement to one year failed for lack of a second.

Before the final vote the council indicated interest in working with Rotary to explore additional scholarship funding and to add performance metrics (event-origin data, facility rental inquiries and bookings) for evaluating the cooperation. The final recorded vote in the chamber named five yes votes — Deputy Mayor Steinmetz, Councilmember Nutting, Councilmember Grace Matsui, Councilmember Mahoney and Mayor Buxton — and one no vote from Councilmember Harris; one councilmember (Ochsiger) had been excused earlier in the meeting.

The motion authorizes the city manager to execute agreements consistent with the Rotary’s proposal. The council’s approval also noted staff comment that the event rental fee will cover estimated staff costs for the event. Councilmembers who opposed or expressed reservations asked staff to pursue standardized nonprofit policies and to seek additional scholarship or contingency language in the executed agreement.