The Stanley City Council voted to approve the new rate for rental of the Stanley Community Center to go into effect in 2026. The rates will be $500 for half of the building and $1,000 for the entire facility. The new Depot Pavilion, still under construction, will be available for rent at $50 per side, while the rates for the other pavilions and buildings in town will remain unchanged for 2025.
Henke explained that the City was in the “red” about $4,000 in 2023 for the community building’s expenses. For 2025 the rate is $450 for renting half of the building and the entire building rental is $900 and Alderperson Mark Fitzsimmons recommended the new rate of $1,000 to rent the whole building and $500 for renting one half of the building.
Voting against the rate increase, Alderperson Laurie Foster spoke up stating that people are already complaining about it. “I think that’s too much.”
“Then they can get a lesser facility for cheaper,” said Alderperson Jacob Huff.
Fitzsimmons emphasized the need for resources to maintain the facility to ensure it remains appealing for rentals.
Foster reminded the Council of the price increase earlier this year for Chapman campground rates. “They went up and now people are complaining, and we got less people. Now increase the community center? It’s going to decline again,” said Foster.
“There’s a cost to doing business with everything. The bottom line is we have a nice facility,” said Huff. He added that regardless of what they do, someone is going to complain. “I would like to be able to give it to the community for free. Bottom line is we can’t do that. We have to at least break even. Right now, we are getting too far in the red, so we have to do something to combat that.” He added his agreement with Fitzsimmons. “Everything else is going up astronomically but that’s not. We want this to be available to people.”
“Everything is going up, but people’s paychecks are not going up. They aren’t going to be able to afford it,” Foster countered.
Alderperson Ben Wald asked if there is any way to cut down on the unpaid use for organizations that are using the community center at no charge. He added that if they were charged even $100, it would help the City to break even.
Huff said that he agreed with Wald. “We’re going to have to make some kind of a minimum fee.”
Chapman Park Campground Rates
The Council discussed the rate prices for Chapman Park Campground sites. Currently the rates are $40 for electric sites and $35 for non-electric sites.
“It’s been a summer that hasn’t been full of campers,” said Fitzsimmons citing weather. “Yes, our numbers are probably down but I think everybody else’s are probably down too.”
Huff said that he felt that long term camping rates should be for two or three weeks. “We have to be able to let our people go in there to mow the grass and stuff like that.”
Meyer said he received feedback from people who told him that they won’t camp at Chapman Park anymore because the fees are too high. “I think it would be smart to lower our fees,” he stated.
A Sparta resident who is a former Chapman Park camper attended the meeting. He told the Council that he has camped all over the country and has enjoyed camping here for thirty years. “99.9% it’s been great, until this year when the price jumped so drastically. I don’t see how you can justify $40 without a weekly rate or without a monthly break.” He explained that other campgrounds offer an incentive for campers to stay longer and added that the Chapman Park campground rates are too high since the campsites aren’t full hook up and moving every week or two isn’t easy for campers that don’t have a motor home. He also mentioned that without an employee to oversee the campground, some people are arriving late and leaving early to camp without paying at a loss of revenue for the City.
Mayor Mike Henke discussed having camping rates set at $35 a day, $175 for a week stay, $300 for a two week stay, and $500 for a month stay.
Meyer said that he feels that $35 a night without full water hookup is not competitive with other campground sites that have water hookup.
Henke explained that this rate would be for 2025 and recommended tabling the discussion on the campground rates to a later date to the agreement of the Council.