Civic band urges Marshfield not to charge storage fees as city pays outside bands

Members of the Marshfield Civic Band appealed to the Budget and Personnel Committee on March 17 to halt a proposed $1,700 charge to continue storing music and instruments in rooms at the Oak Avenue Community Center.

"Now I'm told that the city wants to charge us $1,700 to use that space," said Donna Hastrider of 1708 South Balboa Avenue, who described the band’s long local history and said the group provides eight free community concerts each season. Hastrider said the band has stored materials at the Oak Avenue facility for decades and asked the committee to allow the band to continue doing so at no cost.

Randy Astra, who said he has played with the band since 1978, urged the committee to reconsider the storage fee after the band lost a prior stipend. "Can you imagine us musicians, 50 plus of us that are coming in and playing for nothing ... and yet we have to pay to do that for the city? I don't think that's really right," he said, contrasting the proposed $1,700 storage fee with a city plan to provide about $20,000 for bands at Wel Plaza.

Donna Roser, another local resident and band supporter, told the committee the band provides substantial community benefit and asked that any fee be as small as possible so volunteer and donated funds remain available for music and musician stipends.

The comments were made during the public-comment portion of the March 17 meeting; later on the agenda the committee considered Oak Avenue rental agreements and a phased fee schedule for groups that use space in the building, but that item was discussed and tabled without a vote. The committee did not make a decision on the Civic Band’s request at the meeting.

The committee's next procedural step will be to consider the Oak Avenue rental agreements at a future meeting or send the matter on for further review; no formal waiver or exemption for the band was recorded in the March 17 minutes.