Firm to charge for room's use

SANDPOINT — With no cost for use of its community room, the Columbia Bank Building on Church Street has been the go-to meeting place for many local nonprofits.

Now, several nonprofits in the community will no longer be using the facility for weekly and monthly meetings. Under new ownership by Sandpoint Equities, LLC, anyone who intends to use the room will be charged an hourly fee beginning next month.

"This has been a frustrating thing," said Dick Vail, president of the Kiwanis Club of Sandpoint. "This small-town USA caring is going down the drain."

Vail said he reached out to the property manager and has come up empty on finding common ground with the new owners on use of the room. He asked if the new owners would "support the bank's community spirit" and donate the room for use by Kiwanis for its weekly meetings. He was told that, "while the owners want to support community events, they feel they have done this through a reduced nonprofit rate."

During the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Thursday, Kate McAlister, chamber president and CEO, announced the chamber's decision to hold the meetings elsewhere after October.

"Next month is the D.A. Davidson Economic Forum," McAlister said. "We are going to try and have it upstairs in the auditorium — that will more than likely be the last time we meet here. I think you all have read about the fees that will be charged now for nonprofits. The chamber is a nonprofit; we are not a government agency. We fundraise for all our funds that we get, so it is going to be cost prohibitive to us to continue to have our meetings here."

Ned Brandenberger of Sandpoint Property Management, who is handling building management and leasing services, said the reason for the fees is there is a cost to providing this space.

"The carpet needs to be cleaned and there is wear and tear, the sidewalks need to be shoveled, and there is taxes and insurance — all those things associated with providing space," he said.

While some prices have been published on the building's website since Sandpoint Equities took over, Brandenberger said the owners don't want to do anything "drastic." The hourly cost is still under discussion, he said. The goal, Brandenberger said, is to structure something that "works for everyone."

"We are trying to look at people who regularly use the space to see what we can do as far as a price break for nonprofits and that kind of thing," Brandenberger said. "Unfortunately, there is a cost to providing it, so we have to charge something."

The prices Brandenberger referred to that are subject to change are posted on the website at thesandpointcenter.com. For the first-floor community room, the listed price is $40 per hour for nonprofits between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., and $50 per hour between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. It can be rented all day for $500. For-profit rates for the same room are $65 per hour between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., $75 per hour between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., and all day for $800.

Prices for the upstairs auditorium are listed as well. Nonprofit rates are $50 per hour until 4 p.m., $100 per hour from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and $600 all day. For-profit rates are $100 per hour until 4 p.m., $200 per hour from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and $1,000 all day.

Bob Camp, Sandpoint city councilman and Kiwanis member, also voiced his concern that local nonprofits like Kiwanis would no longer be able to use the room.

"There are not too many places in town where people can meet, and nonprofits don't have a lot of money," Camp said.  

Vail said he learned of the new fees in late August when he was preparing for the club's annual Christmas dinner. Vail said he was denied a face-to-face meeting with Sandpoint Property Management regarding his questions about arrangements and possible fees, and was told to email his questions, comments and concerns. When he discovered the club would have to pay $200 for the event, and $150 for cleaning, he realized they would need to find somewhere else to go.

Kiwanis meets on Mondays for a total of 47 weeks per year. With the proposed fees of $40 per hour for a nonprofit to use the room, it would cost $1,880 each year, just for the club's weekly meetings. In addition to the published prices, according to the emails Vail received from Sandy Sandford at Sandpoint Property Management, a $50 cleaning fee will be charged for standard use of all event rooms, and a $300 cleaning deposit is required seven days in advance for any event that includes food and/or beverages.

The emails from Sanford to Vail also state, "The owners feel the pricing is fair for all groups and is lower than the amounts Panhandle Bank previously charged; therefore, I am not able to drop the rates," adding there may be some leniency allowed in the cleaning fee.

"We give all of the money that we raise to our children — that's our mission statement, 'Supporting the youth of Bonner County,'" Vail said.

He proudly added that the club went from 1,440 user days at Camp Stidwell when he joined in 2014, to cracking 4,000 user days last week. Kiwanis also provides high school and college scholarships, shoes for youth, swim lessons, Head Start, Sandpoint High School Key Club, scout troops and more.

Vail emailed the Kiwanis lieutenant governor for the Pacific Northwest division, Doug Eastwood, regarding the issue. Eastwood informed Vail that no club in the division is paying a fee to use a meeting room. He suggested finding another place to meet, because the nearly $2,000 a year is "not worth it."

"Funds raising is too difficult as it is without giving it up for rent," Eastwood wrote.

A vote by the Kiwanis board this week was unanimous, Vail said. The group is going to find a new place to meet.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.