By Mary-Justine Lanyon
It was standing room only in the meeting room at the Rim of the World Recreation and Park District’s district office for their June 24 meeting.
The hot topic was the proposed fee schedule. Several members of the Golden Oaks Senior Citizens Club expressed their dismay over a perceived new fee of $150 per hour for their use of the Hootman Center. Others who play pickleball on the courts at the Lake Gregory Community Center were also upset about an increase in their fee.
Currently, William Conrad told the Rec and Park board and staff, Golden Oaks, through their thrift shop, subsidizes a number of activities. They host community dances at minimal to no cost to the community. “Golden Oaks gave $24,000 to the community last year,” he said, expressing his concern over what he perceived as a new fee of $150 per hour.
Ron Manning identified himself at the president of Golden Oaks and manager of the thrift store. “We have always been a team with the Hootman Center. We put $34,000 in in advance to make programs happen and now you want to charge us for it. We want to use the Hootman Center when it would be empty. You replaced tables we bought. I bought 65 chairs three years ago; I guess they’ll be trashed.
“It’s like you have a vendetta to get us out of there,” Manning said.
Lake Arrowhead resident Jill Neumen, who plays pickleball several times a week on the Lake Gregory courts, noted that many seniors are on fixed incomes. “I understand your issue – keeping the budget. A lot of us have volunteered up here for decades. We’ll clean the facility, open and close it. There are more seniors up here now than young families. We need to do more for our seniors.
“You need to be creative and think out of the box. How can you utilize our help? Let’s have some brainstorming sessions with seniors,” Neumen said.
Rec and Park has charged pickleball players $15 a month; under the proposed fee schedule, that would be increased to $40 a month.
The district, General Manager Jenny Hueter said, had a fee study done “to make sure we are charging properly and covering our costs as much as possible.”
“It’s easy to build facilities,” said Director Lawrence Mainez. “The hard part is maintaining them.” Mainez noted he had been asking to have a fee study done but the district had adjusted fees “based on emotion. The law says governments have to charge fees that are rational. We are stewards of public funds. This fee study was an eye opener for me.”
Because the consultant’s report on the fee study was not available, Mainez added he wasn’t comfortable approving the proposed fee schedule without having the study posted on the district’s website. The board voted unanimously to table approval until the study is available.
During the discussion, Hueter had referred to exclusive and ongoing use of the two community centers – Hootman and Twin Peaks. “We don’t use the fee schedule for ongoing use,” she said. “It’s negotiable.” She added the $150 per hour fee would be for a one-time event like a wedding or birthday party.
In a follow-up conversation, Hueter clarified what she meant. For example, she said, Rec and Park has ongoing facility use agreements with the two Rotary clubs that meet at the Twin Peaks Community Center. The rate – which is set at her discretion – depends on the time of use, the day of use, whether the group needs storage space, how many people will be involved, what they are doing.
“That’s what I’m trying to do with Golden Oaks,” Hueter said, adding Golden Oaks has been with the facility since it was constructed in 1986.
The county gave Rec and Park a block grant of $160,000 to build it, she said. “Golden Oaks was involved. They had volunteers there. They engaged the community to get supplies. They have always been part of it.”
Hueter added that Golden Oaks “has never paid for the use of the Hootman Center. They don’t pay us today. For the past couple of years, we have said this is a big burden on the park district. It’s hard for other organization to use the facility – everything inside belongs to the Golden Oaks. It looks like a senior center. We are trying to make it look more neutral.
“We do not want to kick them out,” Hueter noted. “We are trying to come up with an ongoing facility use agreement where they pay something. It would be something reasonable. They probably use it 35 to 56 hours a month.”
Hueter added that last year she had the Golden Oaks sign a facility use agreement and gave them a year to work through how they could come up with a reasonable agreement.
“I gave them a year because it has been their home for a long time,” she said. “Change is hard. We’ve been in talks since then.”
That facility use agreement expires on Aug. 1. “We need to come up with something. My hope is we come up with something reasonable. We value the history but we have to think about the future. We want to continue the partnership but they have to meet us in the middle.”
There are similar issues at the Twin Peaks Community Center, Hueter noted.
“Recent events have shown how important these buildings are to the community as a whole,” Hueter said, pointing to FEMA’s use of the Twin Peaks building after Snowmageddon.
As for the increase in the pickleball fee, Hueter said they lease the space from the Rim of the World Unified School District and they are responsible to cover the cost of the lighting, utilities, someone to open and close the building. That is especially important now that the school district has its offices there.
“We make about $300 a month on average” at the Lake Gregory Community Center, Hueter said. “That is not enough to cover our expenses. The lighting and heat are expensive.”
A further complication is that the gym needs upgrades – a new floor, more efficient lighting. Who will pay for that?
“Even at $40 a month,” Hueter said, “Rec and Park will be subsidizing half of the cost, which we think is more than reasonable.
“We want to stay open – these are the only indoor pickleball courts in the area. We want to support people being active.”
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