Town to consider facility charge for Beach Fire
Town of Fort Myers Beach officials will be looking into whether or not a future facility charge will be applied to the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District.
The FMB Town Council plans to discuss the matter during its Monday’s workshop, slated to begin at 2 p.m.
Beach Fire has not been charged a fee for facility usage of Town Hall’s Council Chambers for four years, but Town officials have changed its fee schedule for Town Hall Meeting Room Rental according to the Town budget for fiscal year 2015-16. Come Oct. 1, line items in the budget state that any outside entity will be charged a rental fee of $30 per hour for the room without use of audio-visual equipment, $125 per hour with use of audio-visual equipment and attendant on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or $187.50 per hour with use of audio-visual equipment and attendant after 5 p.m. and on weekends. There is also a $100 room rental fee for setup and cleanup each time.
At its last meeting, Council was discussing a possible interlocal agreement between the two taxing agencies. Beach Fire would like to broadcast their meetings, and the Town facility has the ability to do so.
“The Fire District reaches far beyond Fort Myers Beach, and it kind of puts us in a bind between certainly wanting to be considerate and to work together, but also recognizing that we are two completely distinct and separate taxing districts,” said Mayor Anita Cereceda. “One taxing district is asking another taxing authority to provide a service to them. I am so sure that is very fair to the taxpayers here.”
Cereceda stated Town Administrative Service Director Maureen Rischitelli will provide several different options that will be discussed Monday. Possible scenarios for charges could be full or partial or waived. Beach Fire has a scheduled meeting in the freshly renovated Council Chambers on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
“I think we will get a brighter picture on Monday,” the mayor said.
Last week, Beach Fire Vice Chair Ted Schindler and Commissioner John Pohland addressed the Fort Myers Beach Council about the planned facility charge. During his plea, Schindler mentioned the charge would cost Beach Fire nearly $10,000 per year for two meetings.
Citing a partnership in fees and services, Schindler also reminded Town officials that Town code enforcement officers were allowed to use an office in the Beach Fire administration building for 28 months at no cost (a savings of roughly $14,000), that there was no charge for fire service assistance during Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve fireworks events ($4,700 in 2014), and that Beach Fire has not charged Town officials for the maintenance of fire hydrants since Town inception (more than $30,000 in savings).
Beach Fire currently has meeting advertising in place until the end of the calendar year. If it does decide to change venues, it will need to change its newspaper ad at cost.
“In the spirit of small town community spirit and cooperation, we would like the fees waived for the rest of 2015 as we have already advertised our meeting locations for the calendar year and would like to avoid changing the venue,” Schindler said.
Beach Fire held its regular monthly night meetings and daytime monthly workshops at Station #31 prior to moving to Town Hall in 2011. Fire officials decided to change the location of its sessions when former Mayor and current Lee County Commissioner Larry Kiker offered the facility at no cost. Having more room in Council Chambers and the ability to broadcast its meeting on Comcast Channel 98 was enticing to Beach Fire officials.
The potential full waiver until the end of the calendar year may only have to apply for one meeting per month. During past meetings, Beach Fire officials had discussed options for future fire meetings. The commissioners had already discussed moving its daytime workshop meetings back to Station #31. They also mulled over an option to possibly install an audio-visual system within Station #31, so that meetings could be recorded and broadcasted from that location.