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Council approves community center change orders and narrows future free bookings; nonprofits raise questions
Summary
Council approved two final community center change orders totaling $60,527.65 and debated a new booking policy that would grandfather existing reservations but limit new free use to other government agencies; nonprofits asked how the policy would affect them.
Project manager Samantha Gray presented two late change orders for the new community center that primarily covered fixture changes, technology and lighting, and added ADA sidewalk connections. Council approved change order 22 for $39,373.80 and change order 24 for $21,153.85; motions were made, seconded and carried on the record.
Council then debated a new policy for community center bookings. One council member summarized concerns that unconstrained free use had strained maintenance resources and said the city should "grandfather in all existing reservations" while requiring that new, fee‑waived bookings be limited to other governmental agencies. A motion was made and seconded to amend prior direction so that only other governmental agencies would receive free use; existing reservations as of the meeting would be preserved.
A representative of Westwood Ridge, Wendy Wood, described the event her organization runs for people with developmental disabilities and thanked the council for past support. Nonprofit stakeholders asked how the new policy would affect nonprofit access; staff said they would provide a booking list and that future policy could be revisited after monitoring demand.
Next steps: staff will use the list of current reservations to grandfather existing users and implement the new booking rule for future requests; council anticipated reviewing the policy again in a year if needed.
