Following concerns that three local nonprofit organizations had not received the same information on the availability of funds through the city’s Transient Lodging Tax grant application process, the Philomath City Council approved during a meeting Monday night how the money will be distributed.
During the City Council’s Oct. 14 meeting, the issue was tabled because of the possibility that the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo had specific information on the increased level of available funding this year — details apparently not offered to the Benton County Historical Society and Philomath Area Chamber of Commerce.
In the spirit of fairness, the council opted to hold off on a final decision while Mayor Chas Jones approached the two organizations to see if they would want to submit larger grant requests. Both did with the historical society upping its request from $1,500 to $7,500 and the chamber increasing its ask from $1,200 to $3,000. The Frolic and Rodeo’s original request of $15,000 remained intact.
Approaching the issue from a mathematical perspective, the council approved a plan in which each organization will receive 70.8% of the amount that had been requested — a percentage that adds up to the total amount of $17,700 that is available to dole out.
The Frolic and Rodeo will receive $10,620, the historical society was awarded $4,956 and the chamber will get $2,124.
“Everybody’s still getting a lot more than they got last year and the Frolic and Rodeo is still getting twice as much as anyone else,” Councilor Christopher McMorran said after making a motion suggesting those amounts.
City Councilor Jessica Andrade had questioned the Frolic and Rodeo’s values following Chris Workman’s statements on freedom of expression during the city’s Finance and Administration Committee meeting last month, an explanation that included a reference to the Nazi flag as a controversial image.
Workman, city manager, serves on the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo’s board of directors and chairs its events and publicity committees. The organization’s board sent out a press release with clarifications on previous references that had come up and to support Workman’s stance on freedom of expression.
Andrade reiterated her concerns following the press release during the City Council’s meeting earlier in the month and again questioned whether support should be offered to the organization. She unsuccessfully attempted to amend a motion during the Oct. 14 meeting to remove the Frolic and Rodeo entirely from consideration for TLT grant funding.
This past weekend, the Frolic and Rodeo’s board officially approved of a policy that would allow the denial of a float in the parade if it didn’t meet their values. News of that move led to Andrade changing her mind on how to vote on Monday night.
Workman said the Frolic and Rodeo’s board implemented the new policy Sunday during its annual retreat.
“Essentially, the policy is the Frolic and Rodeo reserves the right to not allow a float into the parade if the Frolic and Rodeo board of directors feels that it is not family friendly, it’s not positive, it’s not in the spirit of the event, which is supposed to be exciting community entertainment,” Workman said during an interview after the meeting.
Workman said that in reality, that approach had always been the case with the Frolic’s board but now it’s just spelled out in a written policy.
“I’m no longer hesitant to give them money for this because I think that it’s really important to be able to say no to hate if it were to present itself,” Andrade said.
The Frolic board’s decision had been announced on the organization’s website and through social media but at some point was removed with “some very negative comments that we felt were inappropriate so we took the post down.”
The Frolic and Rodeo plans to apply the funding toward its grandstand renovation and expansion project in Skirvin Park. The historical society will use the money for maintenance needs and the chamber plans to use the funds to help cover the costs of various events, developing a business map and establishing a new chamber information distribution site.
Workman had provided information to the council involving key definitions that revolve around the meaning of tourism-related promotion and facilities, which are requirements connected to the TLT grant distributions. There was no discussion on that particular issue.
A motion to approve the funding allocations were approved on a 5-0 vote (Jones, Councilor Diane Crocker absent).
