Board moves to limit private rentals of town facilities, schedules fees workshop for June 22

The Nottingham Select Board directed staff to remove private rentals from the reservation form for town facilities, keeping town and nonprofit uses in place, and scheduled a workshop on fee structures for Monday, June 22 at 7 p.m.

Staff explained the reservation‑form revisions and recommended delaying private, commercial or non‑town rentals because current cleaning and staffing capacity does not support private events. Board members discussed an hourly fee versus flat rate structure, cleaning‑cost recovery and use of the recreation revolving fund to cover additional cleaning for larger events.

The board generally agreed to prioritize town operations and town‑affiliated nonprofit uses, limit outside private use while the building and staffing situation stabilizes, and hold a workshop to compare facility rental fees and recycling‑center fees against local benchmarks. The workshop was scheduled for Monday the 22nd at 7 p.m. and will include a staff packet of comparisons to other towns.

Why it matters: the decision affects residents and local organizations that use town meeting space and could change availability for private parties or out‑of‑town users. The board emphasized town business and nonprofit community groups will continue to have access while private rentals will be suspended pending fee policy review.

Next steps: staff will update the reservation form, publicize the June 22 workshop and provide comparative fee data; any fee changes would likely require public hearing and further board action.