Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 7:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I would suggest to anyone that is voting in this years City election to go to a City Council meeting prior to voting. I think you will be shocked at what you see. For instance, a topic has been brought before the council on three different occasions and the council has yet to either deny or accept the request. They simply say that they will look into it. I believe that six weeks is ample time to do some research and provide an answer to the request. Once again I strongly urge every voter to attend a council meeting and see the current council at work.

Posted by MomOf2 (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

UAEng states that there is an issue, in their opinion, being overlooked by the Clanton City Council but fails to inform us all of the issue. Once a decision is made, is it something that will change City policy as a whole? something that will affect all residents or just a few? or is is that UAEng is not getting what they what when they want it. There are always 2 sides to a story and even though this new website allows all who desire to post, it does not always allow for full and factual accounts.

Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

To start with I am one person not a group, but on to more important issues. I did not list the issue because it is not my biggest concern. I am most concerned with the lack of effort by the city council to come up with a decision. If it's against the request then so be it, but I think that anytime a request is brought before the council it should be resolved. No it will not change city policy as a whole. However, I doubt if there are many times that an issue is brought before the council which will affect City Policy as a whole. Of course it will not affect all residents, but it will affect a good many of them. How many times do you think the council is faced with a decision that affects all of the residents? The request I am referring too is the cost of renting the softball fields. The city charges $400 a day to rent the fields when by my estimates (I was forced to do my own estimate because the city never did) it costs them roughly $200 for someone to use the fields. I am all for people paying to use the fields so that the city will not lose any money, but why does the city need to make money off of it when the majority of these people already pay taxes to the city. Once again this was not my biggest concern, but since MomOf2 asked about the issue I decided to explain it. Would you care to correct me on anything?

Posted by JanineS22 (Jan Smith) on July 29, 2008 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Perhaps they need to make money off of venues they can charge for, so that they can maintain the general use areas that they do not charge for. Playground and recreation areas (tennis courts, corner park, Goosepond, etc...), annual fireworks, a beautiful city we can all be proud of. All of that cost money.

Perhaps the lack of action by the council to reduce the fee you are charged is their answer to you. They can't make exceptions for everybody. They make policies and we expect them to enforce them.

If you don't want to pay the fee they charge, don't use the facility.

Posted by UAEng (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't believe anyone ever asked them to make an exception. They were asked why they charge that amount and the only reason they could give was because that is what Prattville charges. I'm not sure what Prattville has to do with Clanton, but that was there response. Also, why should the youth that choose to use the softball fields be charged while the ones that choose to play tennis are not charged? Do you not think a more appropriate action, assuming they were not interested in changing the fee, would have been to deny the request rather than to just keep saying that they would have to see how much it cost them and then they would consider it? Your last sentence is very true despite the lack of originality on your part.

Posted by hijinks (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 7:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I would think that they charge for use of the ball fields because they are for team sports,whereas the tennis court is normally just two-four individuals.As for why they are basing their rates on what Pratville charges, they could have based the rate on what Alabaster or Pelham charges.But each municipality looks at a surrounding municipality to come up with what they feel is a fair rate to charge.If taxes were enough we wouldn't be asked to pay an extra $30 for each of our students in school or do fundraisers during the school year. But taxes aren't enough,so we have to pay a little more to have the thing we want and enjoy.