Parks board recommends lower vendor fees for short events; forwards recommendation to city commission

The Clovis Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted to recommend lowering vendor fees for short community events and will forward the recommendation to the Clovis City Commission for final approval.

The recommendation followed a request from Jenny Stacy, community relations coordinator with the Clovis Police Department, who said the police department’s National Night Out historically has trouble attracting food and retail vendors because the current $100 vendor fee is difficult for small vendors to recoup. "I would like to request that this fee be lowered or waived for community events," Stacy told the board, adding she hoped a $25 or $50 fee would bring more vendors to the event.

Board members discussed whether waivers should be allowed. Several members said they were reluctant to create an exception that other event organizers might request. The board considered an event-driven approach rather than a vendor-driven one and debated where to draw the half-day threshold.

Commissioner Frazee moved to approve a recommendation that vendor fees be $50 for events of four hours or less and $100 for events longer than four hours. A second was recorded in the meeting minutes but not clearly attributed in the transcript. The board approved the recommendation by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. Chair Parler noted the advisory board’s action is a recommendation and that the City Commission must take the final vote.

The change, if approved by the City Commission, would apply citywide to events rather than only to the police department’s National Night Out.

The board did not set an implementation date; the matter will next appear before the Clovis City Commission for a final decision.