03/24/97 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Session 1690, Minutes March 24, 1997 CITI7FN COMMENTS Ms. Althea Taylor, 7645 Hawthorne, wishes to hold Jazzercise classes at the Community Center. The problem is that the Community Center costs $18 per hour to rent. It could cost Jazzercise $800 a month to rent space in the Community Center. She discussed this with Lynda EuelI-Taylor and Dwight Freeman and they seemed receptive to the program but were unable to do anything about the fee structure. She then went to Chuck Kohlenberger, whom was extremely rude to her. She then spoke with Mr. Ollendorff. She said that Jazzercise was a well rounded program that also offers classes to senior citizens. She offered the City a one week trial free of charge, before a final decision was made regarding the fee structure, Responding to Mayor Adams, Ms. Taylor suggested that a reasonable monthly rental would be in the neighborhood of $250 - $300. Mr. Wagner apologized for any rude behavior that Ms. Taylor might have received by City Staff and further asked her if Jazzercise was a commercial entity and why they would need to use the city community center to run their business. Ms. Taylor responded that she was a franchisee and being that she was a University City resident felt she should be able to use the City facility such as the Community Center to offer these services to residents. Mr. Wagner, still not satisfied with the answer Ms. Taylor gave him, questioned her again as to the reason why corporate Jazzercise would need the community center to run a business and stated that no city building would be used for commercial businesses. Ms. Taylor, said as the franchisee, she was fully and solely responsible for finding locations to run her classes and again restated that the Community Center should be available for this type of personal fr~ness program, which benefits all residents. She stated that other communities such as Shrewsbury and Brentwood offered their residents Jazzercise classes at reasonable rental rates. Responding to Mr. Schoomer, Ms. Taylor said that they (Jazzercise) were not tax exempt. Mrs. Thompson directed City Manager Ollendorffto work with Ms. Taylor about this situation further to see if anything could possibly be done. Responding to Mr. Munkel, Ms. Taylor said that Shrewsbury charges them 1096 of all money Jazzercise brings in and Brentwood charges a fiat rate of approximately $300 a month. Responding to Mayor Adams, Ms. Taylor said that she hadn't asked churches, because she wanted the Community Center. She said the building was vacant quite a bit, and that they would use it twelve hours a week. She could not understand why it could not be used. No city staff would be required to set up or clean up. Her staff would do that. Mayor Adams said that Council would take the matter under advisement. BILLS FOR INTRODUCTION: A bill was introduced by Councilmember Schoomer, entitled: BILL NO. 8319 - AMENDING CHAPTER 25 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO RETIREMENT AND PENSIONS, BY REPEALING SECTION 25-43 AND ENACTING IN LIEU THEREOF A NEW SECTION TO BE KNOWN AS "SECTION 25-43. NORMAL SERVICE RETIREMENT." The bill was given its first reading.