Months of complaints regarding the rental of city property has prompted Warren officials to seek a rental ordinance.
City council members who have listened to complaints of price discrimination have directed attorney Jeffrey Schroder to compile guidelines for them to consider.
The ordinance would set parameters for the rental of City Hall, City Square Park, the Warren Community Center and other city properties.
“It is obvious that we need an ordinance that spells out exactly what the policy is and what the process is going to be,” said City Council Secretary Mindy Moore. “If I have a party at my house, I can invite whoever I want but when you are the city, you can’t pick and choose who you are going to charge and who you are not going to charge.
“It is just not right.”
According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, a group renting space at City Hall and City Square Park for a June 14 event was not charged by the city for that rental. The Bangladeshi Association of Michigan is renting the space for a festival later this summer and paid a $500 security deposit plus additional rental fees.
Organizers of the Asian American Heritage Festival held in May were not charged for use of the Warren Community Center for the event.
A group seeking to rent an area in front of City Hall for a National Day of Prayer event on May 1 was told they could not rent the area because there is a rental moratorium.
“My understanding is after they were told by the city they could not rent the space because there was a moratorium, they came on their own and gathered and said a prayer,” said Moore last week. “The event was not advertised.
“With that being said, if there is a moratorium in place, why are we seeing advertisements for other events including something on the City Hall atrium stage this weekend?”
The moratorium has been in place since last year to give city administration time to develop a rental policy. No such policy was ever submitted to the city council and a written response to questions from Councilman Jonathan Lafferty from community outreach directors Rhonda Hawe and Olu Jabari implied council has no authority to question rental policy. The response indicated prices and availability are at the discretion of the administration.
“In addition to the pricing issues, city council has to approve contracts so all rental contracts should come before city council,” said Moore.
She added once Schroder writes the ordinance, a council work group consisting of Moore, Lafferty and Melody Magee will work with department heads affected by the ordinance to ensure there is a process that works for everyone.
Councilman Gary Boike said he talked to officials in neighboring cities and they all have ordinances that govern the rental of city property.
“I think an ordinance and not a policy is what is needed,” Boike said.
Councilman David Dwyer expressed frustration with administration ignoring the moratorium and said the only way to solve ongoing issues is by creating an ordinance.
“I think we have no other choice but to proceed with writing an ordinance because clearly the administration could care less about the moratorium and they are just going to go ahead and do whatever they want to do,” said Dwyer. “Right now, there is not a whole lot we can do about it so writing an ordinance is the best way to go.”
