City Commission talks new ordinace, YMCA lease

An ordinance was signed by the Marquette City Commission to streamline fees to non–profit organizations at their meeting Monday night.

The city usually waives or reduces fees applied to non–profit organizations for events.

The new ordinance is meant to help streamline the procedure, creating objectivity into establishing those fees.

“This ordinance will codify and formalize this procedure, which before has been a cash and catch can procedure,” Mayor Pro Tem Robert Niemi said.  “We’ve tried to formalize it with an application process, but this will set a series of standards by which the commission and the city and the organizations that benefit can see exactly what’s going to be happening.”

The commission also discussed extending the YMCA of Marquette County’s lease an additional ten years.

A USDA loan the YMCA currently has makes it a requirement to extend the loan on the property.

“We’ve used fifteen year on the (current 45 year) lease already, so that leaves us a balance of 35,” YMCA of Marquette County CEO Lisa Coombs-Geroux said.  “We have a need for an additional ten years on the lease in order to continue forward with the USDA loan, to move forward with the expansion at the YMCA.”

One of the stipulations on the lease is the YMCA would have to share the costs of snow removal at Lakeview Arena.

Niemi said the stipulation was added because the YMCA is now a more established organization and has a continuous stream of revenue.  He added at the end of the year, the total cost of snow removal would be divided between the city and the YMCA.