It’s official. The Mary Street Community House renovation is complete. The Clarkesville City Council announced at their Monday evening meeting. Clarkesville Mayor Barrie Aycock emphasized that the building had “not been restored” but renovated. The only thing left is the “original brick exterior.”
It will also have a name change. It will now be called the Clarkesville Community Center.
However, there is some work left to do to develop the policy and procedures for the rental of the community house to those wishing to use the facility. A draft document was presented to the council for their review and consideration.
Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson explained that the city needed to make it easy on staff to avoid clean-up taking up employees’ time between events. It needed to be clear what the responsibilities of the tenant are so that only one employee could walk through with the tenant before and after the use of the facility. It would be the responsibility of the tenant to supply all of the items for their event, including trash bags, utensils, and tablecloths. The city will have tablecloths available to rent, but a rental fee will be applied to have them washed and cleaned after each event.
The proposed rental fee schedule is as follows:
The council discussed serving alcohol on the premises. It would be allowed Monday through Saturday. No alcohol would be allowed on the premises on Sunday. It will be the responsibility of the renter to secure and pay for their own alcohol permits. A copy of that permit must be provided to city management three days before the scheduled event.
There will be a fee for an officer to be on the premises when alcohol is served. The number of attendees at the event will determine the number of officers that will need to be present. The minimum time for an officer would be for four hours. The fee amount would be set by the hour and has not been determined.
The council also discussed the occupancy number with tables and without tables. The number of occupants would be reduced if tables were in use as opposed to only chairs. Dickerson says he and Clarkesville Fire Chief Jason Poole will make that determination before the new community center opens and becomes available for rent as of June first.
The Clarkesville City Council approved the draft policy with the caveat that a few things still needed to be added. The policy for renting the facility should be completed before opening day.
The city council announced that there would be an open house for the community to see the renovated facility before it opens. They will announce a specific date in the coming weeks.
According to Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson, the building, which is handicap accessible, was renovated at a cost of $165,000. Clarkesville used SPLOST 6 funds to pay for the project. While the city does not expect to recoup its total investment from rental fees, Dickerson says city leaders are “just hoping residents can enjoy it.”
SNEAK PEEK
