Laserfiche WebLink
EN HILLS <br />MEMORANDUM <br />DATE: December 21, 2009 Item LC <br />TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members <br />Ron Moorse, City Administrator <br />FROM: Michelle Olson, Parks and Recreation Manager <br />SUBJECT: Recreation Fee Assistance Program <br />Backiround <br />The Parks and Recreation Department has followed a standard fee assistance procedure that <br />has been in place internally for years. With the struggles in the economy, our fee <br />assistance requests have increased in the past year. For this reason and because there is no <br />official written program, staff has drafted a draft document for Council review. Staff <br />would like to utilize tonight's work session to review and revise the current fee assistance <br />procedures in order to bring a written program forward to a future Council meeting for <br />approval. Staff has been researching various fee assistance programs throughout the metro <br />area. This type of program is offered in the majority of the surrounding suburbs. The <br />application form currently being utilized for fee assistance is included for Council review <br />(attachment A). The basic guidelines that staff have followed when reviewing requests: <br />• The participant must be a resident of Arden Hills. <br />• The request must be submitted in writing and/or with the application form <br />and must explain the circumstances surrounding the assistance request. <br />• Fee assistance is limited to one registration per quarter per participant. <br />• Staff asks that the applicant pay a small portion toward the fee, even if it is <br />as little as $2. If a program is offered free of charge, it is not uncommon <br />for participants to not show up for the program. If they pay a small <br />portion of the fee, the participant tends to show more commitment to <br />honoring attendance at the class. If they do not show up for the program, <br />this becomes difficult because they have taken the spot of a possible full <br />paid registration. <br />Discussion <br />Staff has included a draft of the proposed Recreation Fee Assistance Program Guidelines <br />(Attachment B) and application form (Attachment C) for Council review. Below is a list <br />of items that highlight additions and changes to the current procedures: <br />I (Metro-inetl ardenhills IPR&PWIParks (Memos I Council Memos 1122109 Recreation Program Fee Assistance <br />Policy.doc <br />