New Stevensville town fees pose issue for local civic groups

The Stevensville Town Council recently approved a variety of new fees for special events and park use which groups say will increase costs for many of the town's annual events.

The fee changes will increase application costs for Stevensville's Harvest Valley Farmers Market from $225 to $890 annually, according to market officials.

The new fees, adopted during their Thursday, Feb. 12, meeting, will also bring changes to events established in the town for years like the Creamery Picnic and parades.

Stevensville Mayor Jim Crews says the problem lies in an ordinance for special event permit fees that has been overlooked by town officials for the last 16 years, so now they have to define terms and redetermine fees to correct the error.

“This has been in effect since 2008 and the fact that it hasn’t been addressed since then is not a good thing,” Crews said.

Harvest Valley Farmers Market President Jessica Bundren said that it’s an error that has been overlooked with no issues before, leaving her and others to wonder, why now?

Bundren asked Crews if he is admitting he overlooked the ordinance during his previous term as mayor.

“When I was here in 2016 and 2017 apparently, I did,” Crews said. “But there are several council members that did as well.”

Among the fee changes affecting the market are a $15 application renewal fee, and the need for approval of the renewal dates every two weeks before the Town Council. Bundren’s concern is the original permit application, which was also approved during the meeting, has dates listed as May 1 through Oct. 4, and she worries a bi-weekly renewal process before the council could lead to a situation where the farmers market could be denied if someone else submits to have an event in the same location on the same dates.

As it stands approval for events are on a first come first serve basis, and the Town Council doesn't always meet bi-weekly.

Crews said they would have to address the meeting schedule in regards to the changes and recommended Bundren file all 12 renewal requests to be put on the agendas ahead of time so  they would be the first ones to ask for those dates every two weeks.

“We have an issue that we need to deal with too,” Crews said. “We don't hold council meetings every two weeks. So that's something that we've got to look at. We might even have to hold a special meeting to approve your two-week time.”

Stacie Barker, who is one of the Harvest Valley Farmer’s Market managers, said she is disheartened by the fee changes.

Barker said when she looked into other markets in Hamilton and Missoula they are approved through the city without the consent of council members. She also noted the impact it will have on the Creamery Picnic.

“It's been an event that has gone on for 113 years, and now you want to add all these different fees,” said Barker. “It really saddens me to think that our town is tearing these types of things out, and it started last year when there was a petition to bring us off of Third Street.”

Another change adopted included rewording of the ordinance surrounding special event permit fees. Instead of stating the special event permit costs $125 and special event permit with alcohol costs $200, which town officials said can be misread as only a $75 difference, it will now say the special event permit costs $125 and to have alcohol is another separate permit costing $200.

Electricity use fees will also change. The original ordinance charged $20 per day per event for electricity, and the new fee is $20 per day per outlet with a provision to possibly charge for the amount of power used once testing with portable meters is finished and the results are brought forward at a future meeting. Crews says it would then be changed to power used by kilowatt hour times the towns charge rate to determine the fees.

Other permit fees established include $50 for bonfires, a $50 parade fee when filed without a special event permit, and a $20 per day, per street road closure fee.

During public comment, former Stevensville Civic Club President Sean Doyle pointed to language in the new special event permit applications themselves, separate from the fees, that poses an issue for road closures when it comes to closing a highway, which they regularly do for parades.

The new application requires a permit from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) to be included when seeking approval, but you cannot get a permit from MDT without having all the special event permits approved by the town.

“We do have to provide the town permit, we have to provide our traffic control plan, we have to provide insurance, all the same things that, unfortunately, the town requires in order to get the state permit,” Doyle said. “I've dealt with three different district supervisors we've had that are up in Missoula over the last four years, and they're all adamant that you got to have it, because as soon as you click no on the application checkbox it gets rejected. It doesn't even go to a person.”

In response, the Town Council approved a motion to table the new special event permit application language for a future meeting.