Red Oak Council votes 4-1 to form hotel/motel tax committee

RED OAK – By a 4-1 vote, Red Oak’s City Council agreed to create a task force that will make recommendations on how to distribute funds generated by the hotel/motel tax.

Applications are currently being accepted for the task force, which will also be charged with raising funds to help promote the passage of the tax, which will be voted on in November.

Council Member Jeanice Lester submitted a written proposal on how the task force would be comprised and what its responsibilities would be.

In that proposal, she suggested the 7-member committee include a representative from: the Council, a fine arts organization, the park and tree board, the Chamber and Industry Association, a local hotel and two at-large community members.

Council Member Fred Pilecki voted against the proposal, stating if the Council designates before the vote how the money will be used, people will be more likely to vote against it.

“We are making a big mistake if we try to say that 10 percent is going to go to the Chamber and 20 percent is going to go here, stuff like that; it gives people arrows to shoot at,” Pilecki said. “[People will say] I don’t want that committee to get that money so I’m voting against it.”

Lester disagreed, saying the public wants a general idea about what they are voting on.

“Thinking back to school bond elections I wouldn’t want to say ‘we are going to build a new school, it is going to cost $10.2 million, trust me, it is going to be good,’” Lester said.  “You have to have some kind of plan.”

Pilecki recalled a Chamber and Industry Association meeting he attended in which he voted against sending a letter to the Council suggesting how the estimated $70,000 would be spent. He said he asked two of the letter’s signers if they didn’t get what they wanted in the letter, would they still support the tax.

“Both of them indicated they would have to consider what the money would go to,” Pilecki said. “To me that is a perfect indication if we designate the money, there is going to be people opposed to it. So I think we really need to get to work and sell this to the community and get it passed. That’s first and foremost.”

Pilecki further stated he supported the idea of having the park and tree board decide how the money should be spent.

Council Member Larry Barnett said there was no point in forming the task force at all if the Council didn’t want to hear their opinions.

“If we believe in appointing a task force, then why are we trying to spoon feed them the information they are going to bring back to the council,” he said. “Part of Jeanice’s plan is soliciting public opinion … and develop a plan on how folks want to see it. If we want to decide what we want to do, we don’t need a task force. Let’s don’t appoint a task force and not empower them with the authority to do what they are supposed to do. Either you do or you don’t.”

Mayor Bill Billings suggested waiting until after the tax passes before garnering public input on how to spend the money.

“Once we get it passed, we have six months to decide how we want it disseminated before we ever see a dime of it,” Billings said. “If we get it passed, we can take our time to have those public meetings like we did with the square, school bond issues, let the public have its input.”

Pilecki made a motion to amend Lester’s proposal to narrow the task force’s scope to just raising money and promoting the tax, but after Billings twice asked for a second and City Clerk Mary Bolton re-read the amendment, it died due to the lack of a second.

The Council then voted 4-1 to approve Lester’s proposal in its entirety.

Applications for the task force are available at City Hall and online at www.redoakiowa.com.

The deadline to submit them is noon Thursday, April 12.