Administration and Finance Chairman Colin F. LePage.
To the relief of civic groups, Haverhill city councilors are recommending doing away with police detail and other fees for non-profits having public events.
At last night’s Administration and Finance subcommittee, members said the cumbersome process they created for waiving fees for charitable groups isn’t working. Last year, councilors waived nearly $3,000 in police detail costs, for example. City Clerk Linda L. Koutoulas said the body has yet to deny relief to anyone asking.
“These fees have been waived for each of these events and basically it’s every event that has come before the council.”
Instead, the committee will recommend to the full city council a flat $50 fee be charged to groups such as Team Haverhill and the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce. That amount would cover the cost of shepherding papers around City Hall, verifying insurance coverage and obtaining department comments and other approvals.
Besides police details—used to block streets during outdoor events—they agreed blanket vendor fees should also be eliminated. Previously, the city charged each outdoor vendor a $100 fee to set up food and gift sales carts and booths. After receiving complaints, councilors then charged a blanket $250 for each event, covering all vendors. Groups weren’t happy about that either.
After waiving fees, the city was supposed to put money aside to cover the costs of police overtime, but never did. Administration and Finance Chairman Colin F. LePage said Mayor James J. Fiorentini agreed to commit $6,000 to such a fund beginning next July, allowing fee waivers to take place on a first-come, first-served basis until the money runs out. LePage said he worries, however, that might endanger events such as the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display, as has happened in the past. Councilor William J. Macek said he doesn’t want any group to be denied.
“I think this stuff is what gives the city character,” he said.
Get rid of the fireworks. Save money and aggravation.
Bldg 19 lot is private. Now with CVS and Burger King where are people going to park? The owners should take a play from mistah mayor and charge to park for this “big” event
Yup
I do not believe the citizens of Haverhill want to go back to a Fourth of July Fireworks Event without a Police presence to insure order. The Plaza was a “battleground” back in the day before the Police took control of the security.
How about transparency from city hall Jim (oops I meant)Joe citizen..
Why have the fees if we are getting rid of them for some and not others..
It’s another conspiracy Jack. Perhaps, to increase hotdog sales. Thank God for your diligence. #coocoo
Huh ? So what if some folks complained. Ok so who pays for the food permits and fire dept inspections of the vendors food stands during these events ? Does Haverhill even require food vendors to be certified to sell food items and have a city permit ?
“That amount would cover the cost of shepherding papers around City Hall, verifying insurance coverage and obtaining department comments and other approvals.” –
Come out of the Dark Ages, go paperless.