Much discussion took place Tuesday regarding the Playhouse sustainability committee at the Whitehall city council meeting, as the council voted 6-1 to accept the committee's recommendations for how to generate more revenue for the city-owned building.
Accepting the recommendations does not mean, city manager Scott Huebler said, that the recommendations will necessarily be enacted. Most notably, the committee's recommendation that the city commit to providing up to $50,000 of annual building funding (if necessary) is subject to budget discussions later this spring.
"It's hard to run a little theatre in the black," Frank Bednarek, who presented the recommendations on the committee's behalf, said. "I want to be candid with you."
The recommendations were unchanged from the ledger approved by the sustainability committee March 31. In addition to the city funding request - which the committee suggested could come from a rise in marijuana tax money allocated to the Playhouse or from other areas - various price hikes to raise revenue were recommended. Among them was an increase in rental fees that the committee found would be justifiable due to similar area facilities' prices currently being more than the Playhouse's. Bednarek said if the price hikes provided 15% more revenue to the Playhouse, it would eliminate the need for additional city support.
Scott Brown was the lone dissenting vote, and during council discussion, he presented three letters he'd received for the public record, each from a writer who was against city subsidization of the Playhouse. (Several public commenters spoke in support of some level of subsidy.)
Other discussions revolved around the length of commitment proposed by the committee; Brown and Steve Sikkenga each said they preferred a shorter term than the five years presented, taking note of Bednarek's statement that all capital campaign money from the 2019 renovation of the Playhouse is on course to be collected by the end of 2026, which could open the door to embarking on a long-term endowment drive. Such a drive, if successful, could allow the building to operate without further subsidy.
"At the end of two years, we will know pretty well how this plan is working," Sikkenga said.
Council member Tanya Cabala said she would have preferred to see more of a "strategic plan" on how the goals set forth by the committee would be achieved, and Tom Ziemer echoed those thoughts. She also said she'd have liked to see the recommendations come before a work session so they could be further refined before being put to a vote.
"I'm disappointed to be put in this position," Cabala said.
Budget discussions at future meetings will further clarify what level of support the city will provide the Playhouse and how it will be enacted, but most council members continued to, on the whole, express support for the facility even as they examined the specifics of the sustainability committee recommendations.
The council's other action Tuesday was to unanimously approve a contract with the Muskegon Conservation District to "offer technical guidance and consultation" regarding the small piece of property north of Tannery Bay that the city is developing into a public access site for the lake that would connect with the current bike paths in the city. MCD had already given the city a design concept for the site, and now is helping the city work with the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) to refine the concept. The contract did not have a definitive dollar amount on it, calling for a $40 per hour consultation fee plus a $0.70 per mile reimbursement rate, but city manager Scott Huebler said the total outlay would likely fall between $3,000 and $5,000.
During discussion, the council discussed to what degree the property could be restored to its natural state (Huebler said MCD's plan would call for as much of that as possible) and whether it was feasible for the final plan to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Engineers have expressed confidence that can be done under the current plan.
Also during the meeting, police chief Roger Squiers introduced current Whitehall detective lieutenant Brandon Mahoney as his replacement; Squiers will be retiring May 31. Squiers said he's had Mahoney, who has been on the force for over 25 years, in mind as a successor for some time and believes Mahoney is ready to take the job.
The council received a letter from Walk the Beat in March requesting that the Whitehall social district be slightly extended from its current boundary, WaterDog Outfitters, to Covell Park. The festival believes the move would incentivize attendees to walk from Whitehall to Montague and vice versa rather than drive. The council did not take any action on the request, but it was clarified that such a move would likely be year-round, as the regulatory hoops to make the move would be prohibitive to go through for a one-day extension.
