RESOLUTION NO.12-001
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Somers has historically made the Town Hall available for use by Town residents; and
WHEREAS, it has been and continues to be the policy of the Town of Somers not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, or ethnic background; and
WHEREAS, it is the intention of the Town Board to continue to allow the use of the Town Hall by Town residents and Town-based non-profit groupd for the purpose of the family gatherings, non-profit events and such other activities as are outlined herein; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Town Board to clarify the policy for Town residents and for Town based not-for-profit groups to use the Town Hall; and
WHEREAS, consistent with such regulations, the Town staff monitors the use of the Town Hall by not-for-profit groups and organizations to ascertain compliance with such regulations and, in general, to insure that such organizations or groups are utilizing the Town Hall facilities in an appropriate manner, including restoring the facilities to the condition of cleanliness and orderliness in which they were found prior to such use; and
WHEREAS, the Town Board has received requests from various Town based not-for-profit groups and organizations to waive rental fees and the requirement that security deposits be tendered pursuant to the regulations for the Town Hall by such groups based upon the financial need of such groups; and
WHREAS, the Town Board recognizes that various Town based not-for-profit civic organizations and gorups provide valuable contributions to the community; and
WHEREAS, the Town Board has considered and established the hours whick may encompass use of Town Hall facilities as stated hereafter.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Somers Town Hall Auditorium and Conference Room shall be available to Town residents only and that any individual together with any Town based group, club, or organization using the hall shall be allowed such use only if the activity in question is non-profit and that upon request, any such individual, group, club or organization shall provide such information as shall be deemed necessary by the Town Administrator or theTown Administrator's designee to support the non-profit nature of the activity; further, any person, group, club, or organization who utilizes the Town Hall facilities shall not discriminate against any person because or race, color, age, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religion or national origin nor shall such person or entity publicize, advertiseor otherwise direct the activity in such a fashion which would directly or inferentially reflect on the acceptability of the patronage of any person because of race, religion, color, ancestry, sex, sexual a=orientation, age or national origin.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that any person, group, club or organization (hereinafter "'user") shall only do so subject to compliance with following regulations:
1. That the user shall hold the Town, the Town's elected officials, employees, agents and representatives harmless from and shall defend and indemnify all of the same from and all liability for injuries to or deaths of persons or damage to property arising from activities comducted by user, indluding loss predicated on the active or passive negligence of the Town, its officers, agents or representatives.
2. The user shall complete an application and pay appropriate fees for the rental of the Auditorium, unless waived by majority vote of the Board, which fees shall be deposited at the time the application is accepted by the Town.
(a) A Three Hundred ($300.00) Dollars refundable deposit is required for all who rent the Town Hall to be refunded only after full inspection of hall is completed by staff and all written policy guidelines have been met, Any cleaning or repair costs shall be deducted from the deposit at the direction of cleaning staff.
(b) The hall rental cost shall be One Hundred Twenty-five ($125.00) Dollars.
(c) No food other than light snacks/non-alcoholic beverages shall be allowed.
(d) All events where it is determined by the Town Administrator that is would be desirable to provide a security guard shall provide a security guard at the expense of the user, which expense shall be charged by the Town at the time of application.
3. Hours which Town Hall facilities will be available for use shall be established by the Town Administrator after taking into consideration the availability of Town personnel to open/close the building and other relevant consideration but in no case shall be before 8:00 a.m. or end later than 11:00 p.m. Rentals will be for events of a maximum duration of four (4) hours and users of the facilities will be allowed one (1) hour in advance of the event for setup and one (1) hour for cleanup, for a total maximum duration of six (6) hours.
4. Every group shall submit the applicable deposit in advance at the time of application; further, any determinations as to whether all or a portion of any rental funds shall be returned to the droup in question shall be made only by the majority vote of Town Board and only after full inspection of the hall is completed by staff to insure all written policy guidelines have been met and all appropriate cleaning or repair costs have been deducted, if necessary. All areas used shall be returned to a condition of cleanliness which existed prior to the event.
5. No alcoholic beverages of any kind will be allowed in the Town Hall portion of the building.
6. No fee shall be charged for use of the Town Hall building for current elected fedral, state or local officials, administrative agencies or their agents, to hold local office hours to meet with residents provided that the type of meeting or activity contemplated would not customarily require the incurrence of additional expenditures by the Town for cleanup or janitorial services following completion of the activity.
7. The Town may prohibit the use of the Town Hall on various days because of the needs of Town government, on holidays such as Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, ect., because of the unavailability of personnel to monitor the function, provide security or cleanup, or otherwise.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that based upon a review of the requests by the attached names organizations, the Town Board of Supervisors hereby grants a waiver from the requirements that each such group pay rental dees and/or deposit a security deposit with the Town Clerk for the use of the Town Hall facilities, such waivers being based upon the historical nature of the positive activities in the Town of Somers which each such group has demonstrated in the past and the condition that each such group, in being granted this waiver, shall continue to utilize the facilities in the same appropriate manner. This waiver is conditioned upon the continued use of the Town Hall property by any group named on the attached exhibit in a manner which does not cause the incurrence of expenses to the Town by way of damage, cleaning, or the like, as determined by Town Hall staff. In the event any such expenses are incurred, the offending group or organization shall be removed from this list of exempt groups and organizations and shall prospectively be required to pay all normal and customary rental or deposit fees, should they be allowed continued use of the Town Hall property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Town residents or Town based not-for-profit organizations which seek to use the publicly accessed Conference Room only (and not the Auditorium), may be allowed of such facilities by the Town Administration and the Town Administrator may choose to waive any fees associated with such use in the event that such use requires no incurrence of expenditures by the Town.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that non-resident employees of the Town of Somers may make application to the Town Board for the use of the Auditorium and/or Conference Room for not-for-profit purposes, which requests shall be acted upon on a case-by-case basis by the Town Board.
TOWN OF SOMERS
By: Benjamin Harbach
Attest: Timothy Kitzman, Clerk/Treasurer