Arcadia to look at park shelter agreements

The Arcadia city council is looking to update its park shelter rental agreements and possibly increase the security deposit required. 

Mayor John Kimmel asked the city’s parks committee to review the park shelter rental agreements for all of the city parks to make sure they are uniform and fit the needs of the city. 

Kimmel and Alderman Don Kreibich said they recently went up to Memorial Park and saw broken glass on the ground. They stayed to monitor the cleanup effort of a group that had rented the pavilion. 

“Throwing glass around and leaving garbage on the floor is crappy behavior and disrespectful to all of the people who have spent money and generations building our community,” Kimmel said. “It’s kind of a slap in the face, that’s how I took it.”

Kreibich said it’s a matter of culture. While he said he wasn’t in favor of increasing the $500 security deposit to rent the pavilion for all users, “If it’s a quinceañera, I say you raise it to $10,000 because we haven’t had good success with those.”

The council president went on to say that the deposit could be reduced for weddings, “These are just words, but it’s like we have to get that out there… this is not looking good.”

Kreibich relayed a story about a night in which those who rented the pavilion failed to lock the building. He said picnic tables were taken outside and “It looked like a tornado went through there.”  

“It’s a big thing about culture,” Kreibich said. “I’m not a proponent of raising the security deposit because you’re penalizing those who follow the rules and were raised differently than the people who just don’t give a darn about our stuff.”

Kreibich said he stopped a kid at the park and said “You came into my house and you made a mess, I would never go into your house and make a mess.” 

“That’s not how we were raised. That’s our culture,” Kreibich said. “The culture we’re dealing with that we’ve had to deal with was not raised the same way, so we need to figure out how to bring that together.” 

City Clerk Angela Berg said the city has had a bad string lately, but people who don’t properly clean up after using the shelters have been more of an exception over the years. 

Alderman Paul Anderson questioned if the city could keep a list and deny future rentals to people who fail to adequately clean the property. Berg said they do track who has used the shelters. 

Kimmel said the city needs to be more vigilant in enforcing the rules that are in place.

“We need to make sure we’re doing things like having an adequate security deposit, pre-inspection walk-throughs, follow-ups and making sure people are out at a certain time,” Kimmel said. “Twelve noon means 12 noon, not 4 in the afternoon.”

Kimmel also asked the city parks committee to make sure the agreements are uniform. He noted that they have different closing times and requirements, particularly as it pertains to glass.