City Council has proposed adjustments to its fees for downtown events, including the addition of a charge of $50 an hour for each police officer, when security is needed.

The proposal for a new slate of fees came out of a city working group whose creation was connected to the police department having exceeded its $65,000 budget for special events protection last year by July or August, according to City Manager Christopher McGuire.

Parades and protests that required street closures were the events that demanded the most protection and were thus “the target” of the revisions, according to McGuire.

“We’re not trying to dissuade anyone from holding an event,” McGuire said. But it’s unacceptable to keep putting the burden on the city to absorb the unreimbursed costs, he said.

The working group proposed the changes after taking a look at what other municipalities across the state charge for their downtown events, McGuire said.

In addition to charging for police protection, the city would add a $100 “public events fee” for all events except residential block parties.

It would also charge the actual cost of clean up and repairs made necessary due to the event.

And it would authorize the Altoona Parking Authority to charge fees that it deems appropriate for particular events, while eliminating a prior slate of parking authority fees that assessed charges per space, with those charges varying lot-by-lot.

The new fee schedule would eliminate a prior $75 rental charge for use of Heritage Plaza.

The new schedule retains a $25 fee to apply for an event permit, but it eliminates a waiver of that application fee for residential block parties.

After discussion, council settled on a requirement that applications for permits be made at least 30 days in advance of events, to give staff enough time to process the applications — although most such processing take two weeks, according to McGuire.

A requirement remains for organizers to carry $1 million in liability insurance.

If the organizer of a protest wishes to avoid incurring police protection costs by confining participants to the sidewalks, so there’s no need for closing the streets, there is still the possibility that police presence may be needed — and charges to be thus assessed, McGuire said.

That would depend on police Chief Derek Swope’s assessment of the situation, McGuire said.

“If Derek gets intelligence that there would be conflicts, we would want to have police protection,” the manager said. “I’m not saying you can’t protest, but we have to look out for public safety.”

The proposal was discussed at a recent work session.

To take effect, it would need to be adopted by resolution at a regular meeting.

Reimagining Gable’s

The city is hoping to help the Altoona Blair County Development Corp. begin that organization’s redevelopment of its recently acquired Gable’s building by providing rental space in the downtown Transportation Center to two Gable’s tenants.

There were several tenants in the Gable’s building when ABCD acquired the structure, and they’ve all found alternate locations except for a disc jockey operation and the offices of a charity, according to McGuire.

There should be enough currently empty space in the Transportation Center to accommodate those two businesses, he said.

ABCD wants to begin its redevelopment effort by clearing out the building, shutting off the utilities and draining the pipes, McGuire said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.