Lawrence’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted 4-3 to make a stronger statement to the city commission against a proposal to implement fees for residents to use Lawrence’s recreation centers.
The city’s rec centers are currently admission-free. Parks and Rec staff members presented a new proposal Monday for lower fees than what they’d previously proposed, which would’ve charged adult residents $25 per month to use Sports Pavilion Lawrence and the East Lawrence and Holcom Park recreation centers.
The new proposal would instead charge adults $12 per month to have access to use all three of the rec centers. There would be reduced rates available for people who qualify based on their income.
Read more background information about the proposed fees in the articles linked below and at this link.
Luis Ruiz, director of the department, said staff did not yet have an updated graphic to reflect the updated proposal, but the fees that the previous proposal would’ve charged only for use of the East Lawrence and Holcom Park rec centers would also cover Sports Pavilion Lawrence under the updated proposal.
There was no updated proposal included in the meeting agenda.
Advisory board members last month agreed on sending the commission a statement against the $1.8 million budget cut the Parks, Recreation and Culture department is facing, but that statement did not explicitly mention the board’s opposition to the rec center fees.
The majority of Lawrence city commissioners the following night indicated they’d support charging fees to use rec centers, though they wanted to look at options to keep them free for children.
The advisory board has no budgetary authority and won’t get to make the final call on this issue, but they are appointed to advise the city commission through their perspectives and expertise.
Board Chair Lisa Hallberg said the board is here to “be the voice of the people like us, the people who live here, the people who use these facilities.” She said she wanted the board to give the commission a statement about the fees that was unambiguous.
Board member Marilyn Hull had drafted a statement, which the board reworked a bit on the fly before voting to approve it.
“The Parks, Recreation and Culture Advisory Board recommends that you maintain the policy of keeping indoor recreation centers admission-free for self-directed exercise and recreation,” the statement read.
“While we appreciate staff’s efforts to make access less costly than originally proposed, we continue to believe that fees introduce inequity and barriers. Further, providing proof of low income is a burden, and this program will be difficult and time consuming to implement,” it continued.
Hallberg, Hull and board members Taylor Bussinger and Vicki Collie-Akers voted in favor of making the statement; members Lee Ice, Ruth DeWitt and John Nalbandian voted against the motion.
Another draft of the statement had included that “Free access ensures that all residents, regardless of income, can use safe, healthy spaces year-round. This supports public health, youth development and community connection, while reducing long-term costs,” and that “Revenue targets are unlikely to be met as users leave or turn to private gyms. Taxpayers already support these centers. Free access guarantees that all benefit. Please protect equity, wellness and access. Keep Lawrence’s recreation centers free for all.” It was not entirely clear from the motion whether that additional language would be included in the final statement that will be provided to the Lawrence City Commission via a future meeting agenda.
Ice voted against the motion because he said if the board made that statement, he would want to also discourage increasing charges for other Parks and Rec activities and facilities to compensate. He said he wanted to be assured that youth sports league teams won’t have to pay 10% more, or that admission to the pool wouldn’t increase by $2, for instance.
Nalbandian said he voted against it because “I think it diminishes our credibility with the city commission, because we’ve already said this.”
Board members did not indicate that they would oppose charging spectator fees of people who come to Lawrence for youth sports tournaments. Lawrence city commissioners also spoke in favor of charging spectator fees.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage:
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
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