by Dennis Dalman
They say the devil’s in the details, and that is why the planners of the Sartell Community Center have been working on those devilish details to bring a consensus into focus for policies on how the center will be operated.
The $11-million facility, in south Sartell, is expected to open sometime this August. It will contain three gyms, a walking track, a multi-purpose room, a professional kitchen, a KidZone, a locker-library service, a senior-citizen center and more.
At the May 22 council, a lively and detailed discussion centered around mainly restrictions about food at the center and whether or not the policies are consistent across the board.
Council member David Peterson took issue with those two topics and therefore declined to vote yes for approval of policy updates as presented by city staff. The other four members voted yes.
The two guest speakers at the meeting were Lyle Mathiasen, the center’s operations consultant; and Brian Deyak, owner/operator of ProField, St. Cloud. Last year, the council hired both those men to help forge policies for use of the community center.
Sartell City Administrator/Financial Director Mary Degiovanni told the council the policies as suggested at this point could well be tweaked in the future, but the city will first need to know who and how the center is used, along with many other factors that go into deciding usage policies. Deyak and Mathiasen, who have both had wide experiences in running athletic centers, agreed that flexibility is key, based on usage data.
The council debated among themselves two questions: Should groups who rent space at the center be allowed to bring their own potluck type foods? Should the senior citizens who use the center pay rental fees or do in-kind volunteer work for their place within the facility?
Mathiasen said laws regulate how food is prepared and distributed in such centers and only licensed caterers are allowed to provide food to visitors, along with vending machines.
Several council members said many in the public will be disappointed when they apply to rent the multi-purpose room and then cannot bring their own potluck foods or use the center’s kitchen to make snacks or a dinner. Why, council member Peterson asked, can the senior-citizen group (The Senior Connection) hold potluck meals but other groups won’t be allowed to do the same? The Senior Connection has had many potluck meals throughout the years at its other temporary locations, including in the School District Office Building.
Potluck dinners would be possible, Mathiasen noted, but only for a group that would bring in the food only for its members who would not give it or sell it to any non-group member while in the center. But only licensed caterers could prepare food in the center’s professional kitchen.
Then why, Peterson asked, would seniors be allowed to bring in slow cookers and such and prepare foods in the senior-center kitchenette area? Making exceptions for the seniors would not be fair for other groups of people, Peterson maintained.
Deyak said those who operate the center, in this case the City of Sartell, cannot knowingly allow food into the center even if sandwiches, cookies or snacks. The determining factor is consciously knowing how much food, and who is bringing it in and letting it happen.
Both Peterson and council member Mike Chisum said such reasoning will lead to an “ice-covered slippery slope,” as Chisum put it. Many groups, he argued, would not be willing to rent spaces there if they have to pay more for catered, as opposed to potluck, meals.
Degiovanni said the senior-center portion of the Sartell center was planned and built with their needs in mind, and one of those needs is the capability of bringing their own foods in just for their members to share.
Council members Ryan Fitzthum and Pat Lynch, as well as Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll, did not have any objections to allowing an exception for senior potlucks.
Senior rental?
Degiovanni said The Senior Connection will not pay rental for its use of the senior space in the center since that was part of the center plans from early on, that the facility would include a space for seniors.
Peterson said he thinks the seniors should pay a rental or at least do some in-kind volunteer work at the center so other groups don’t feel slighted when they have to pay rentals there.
Again, Degiovanni said the space was planned and built just for the seniors without any rentals planned-for-use policies. In addition, the seniors do, in fact, plan to do some volunteering and staffing at the center. Degiovanni noted the seniors, along with Sartell Girl Scouts, managed to collect 3,000 used books to be stocked in the senior center’s bookshelves, which will be open to use by anybody, not just seniors.
Other policies
Sartell city staff, Mathiasen and Deyak met with many individuals and groups so the input could be used in designing use-policies for the center. They also consulted the League of Minnesota Cities for policy models, as well as those of other cities with city centers.
During the first year of its operation, the center might require many adjustments based on usage, but throughout the process all involved must strive to draw up policies that are fair and consistent.
Several council members said they want to ensure the policies make the center user-friendly and affordable, with access for all, with ongoing flexibility.
There will be four priorities for rental policies at the Sartell Center.
Priority 1: For activities sponsored or co-sponsored by the community center.
Priority 2: For activities sponsored by the Sartell-St. Stephen School District or Sartell youth organizations, with at least 75 percent of the participants being Sartell residents or school-district residents.
Priority 3: Sartell adult organizations comprised of at least 75 percent of Sartell residents or school-district residents.
Priority 4: Commercial uses or individuals or groups not meeting the above criteria in the other priorities.
It was noted the policies cannot exclude out-of-towners because any facility built with half-cent sales-tax funds must be “regional” in nature, not able to exclude people not living in Sartell. The Sartell Center is being built almost totally with sales-tax revenue.
Rental fees
The following fees are not set in stone yet, and even later they can be amended for various reasons depending on user-demand, volume-user discounts and reduced fees during low-demand or seasonal factors.
The following are some examples:
Gym rental: $25 per hour for priorities (1-3 see above) and $40 for priority 4.
Walking track: $3 per day or $55 per year-round usage.
Pickleball. $3 per session or $50 for 20 uses.
KidZone $20 per hour, two-hour minimum.
Multi-purpose space A: $15 per hour for priorities 1-3 and $20 for priority 4.
Multi-purpose spaces A and B (if they are both rented together): $25 per hour for priorities 1-3 and $40 for priority 4.
Agreement
All at the council meeting agreed that flexibility is important in shaping policies but that it must be done in a fair, consistent and transparent fashion.
The only way to ensure that is to wait and see who uses the center, which uses are in heaviest demand and seasonal fluctuations, along with other factors and data.
The city staff and the council will be updated on those factors throughout the coming year – and beyond.
Peterson said he expects the council to receive highly detailed data on a monthly basis, such as usage by age groups and even data on heating, cooling and all other operational factors. Since Sartell will serve as the center’s “executive board,” it’s essential the council is privy to that data month to month, he noted.