The City of Mossyrock is considering raising rental fees for those looking to use both the Mossyrock Community Center or Klickitat Prairie Park for events, the Mossyrock City Council announced during its regular monthly meeting in April.
Several other ordinances were also on the agenda for the meeting, including amending Mossyrock’s dog license and public records requests ordinances, and consideration of a draft ordinance concerning RVs and mobile homes.
Mayor Randall Sasser explained the amended dog license ordinance was not ready to be brought forward yet and tabled it for next month’s regular council meeting.
“Hopefully, we’ll have the fee schedule completed by (next month), because that ties in with the dog ordinance,” Sasser said.
The other two business items were also tabled until the Mossyrock City Council’s next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, May 21, at 6 p.m. inside the community center.
For the one pertaining to public record requests, the ordinance would establish a new chapter in the city code aligned with state law requirements for public records requests, along with designating a city employee to handle the requests.
The RV ordinance amendments concern establishing guidelines as to where RVs and mobile homes can be located on properties and how long someone can live inside one on the property — along with prohibiting renting or subletting an RV.
They were tabled at the request of Mossyrock City Councilor Shannon Mcarron, who asked for more time to review the ordinance documents.
The move to table the items comes while the City of Mossyrock continues the search for a new councilor to take the place of the late Beatrice Minnear.
Minnear, who was two years into her second term, died at the age of 81 on March 22.
At April’s council meeting on Wednesday, April 16, Sasser stated that, so far, the city had received one application from a resident seeking appointment to serve in Minnear’s old council seat.
According to state law, the city has 90 days — or until June 20 — to choose Minnear’s replacement following the date of her death. If unable to find an appointee, members of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners are required to appoint someone qualified to fill the vacancy.
Mossyrock staff are still accepting letters of intent from any Mossyrock resident who has lived in the community for at least one year and is a registered voter interested in being appointed to Minnear’s old seat.
The letters will be reviewed by the remaining councilors and Sasser, who will then hold a public interview process before selecting an appointee to serve out the remainder of Minnear’s term.
Minnear’s old seat isn’t the only vacant position Mossyrock city staff are looking to fill, as Mossyrock Planning Commission Chair Marcia Manley announced she is looking to fill two empty seats on the planning commission during the meeting.
“We could have four additional (planning commission members) if we wanted to, but preferably at least two more,” Manley said.
Planning commission members do not have to physically live within Mossyrock city limits, but can live anywhere in the 98564 ZIP code area. Interested applicants can submit a letter of interest at Mossyrock City Hall.
During the April meeting, discussion was still held on the proposed changes to the city’s fee schedule.
The last time city staff had revised its fee schedule was 2015. Because of this, Sasser recently asked staff to conduct a cost-analysis of the community center’s usage.
In 2024, the Mossyrock Community Center was rented out 155 times, generating $4,885 in revenue.
“But then, we have the PUD (Lewis County Public Utilities District) charges out of them. PUD, $1,217.61. The sewer and water was $1,300,” Sasser said. “For cleaning it every time, it takes about two hours, and that's about $46 to clean it every time.”
Additional maintenance and expenses for the community center totalled around $2,200.
“So expenses versus revenue, we’re in the hole $370,” Sasser added.
It was proposed to raise the community center’s rental fee from $150 to $200 a day for commercial purposes.
However, Sasser wanted to keep use of the community center for memorial services free.
Some other increases were proposed in the fee schedule including raising a vendor permit from $20 to $25 and to begin charging $25 a day for use of Klickitat Prairie Park’s amphitheater and covered picnic area. The event rental charge for the park remained at $500 a day.
“A couple of years ago we had a couple of weddings that they used (the amphitheater) for and we didn’t charge them for it,” Sasser said.
No official motion was made on the proposed fee schedule as Sasser was asking for input from his fellow councilors to see if they wanted to change anything else on it.
The City of Mossyrock’s current fee schedule is available on the city’s website at https://tinyurl.com/3mcwpkw8.
The Mossyrock City Council meets on the third Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. inside the Mossyrock Community Center, located at 219 E. State St. in Mossyrock.
For more information on the council and its duties, visit the City of Mossyrock’s website at https://www.cityofmossyrock.com/city-hall/.
