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Select Board continues facility-use fee hearing after questions about exemptions and event revenue
Summary
Following public comment and a long discussion about fee exemptions, administrator authority and the Henniker Handmade & Homegrown event, the Select Board continued the facility-use fee public hearing to a future meeting for more public input and edits to proposed language.
The Henniker Select Board continued its public hearing on the proposed facility-use fee schedule after extended discussion about whether the draft's language should bar all exemptions and how the town should treat events that accept donations or charge admission.
Town staff proposed adding the Henniker Historical Society to the list of organizations permitted to use the community center without charge and flagged a provision that read: "absolutely no exemptions shall be considered if any funds are accepted at the door as income for the renter." Staff asked whether that absolute phrasing should be narrowed. The board debated changing the sentence to allow case-by-case exemptions and whether to give the town administrator authority to waive or reduce fees with subsequent reporting to the board.
Resident Kirk raised concerns about the town’s split of revenue from the Henniker Handmade & Homegrown event, saying on the record that publicity lists 85 artisans at $100 each and that the town's take was only $700 while the organizer's gross approached $17,000. "The gross is a minimum of $17,000 for 2 weekends...and the take that we have for those weekends as a town is $700," Kirk said. Board members acknowledged the concern and noted the special-event permitting process, insurance requirements and the ability to deny or alter permits provide regulatory safeguards.
The board discussed adding a cleaning fee (or deposit) for events that include food, clarifying whether the cleaning fee is refundable, and the mechanics of granting quick exemptions for time-sensitive needs (for example, funerals). Several members favored allowing the town administrator to make waiver decisions in time-sensitive cases but requiring the administrator to log and report those decisions to the board.
Selectman Martin moved to continue the facility-use fee hearing to a subsequent meeting to allow staff to redraft the language and to solicit more public input; the motion carried unanimously. The board set the matter for another reading, with staff to propose revised language that replaces absolute prohibitions with case-by-case exemptions and clarifies reporting of waivers.
