Some facts: before the Lifelong Learning College began, ALL activities, “enrichment programs,” were free and were conducted by resident volunteers. There were hundreds of them, perhaps even thousands. They took place in the recreation centers or outdoor facilities that were financed by our amenity fees and were for residents only. No fees were paid to the recreation centers for the use of the facilities.
Even at that time, there were occasions when rooms at the recreation facilities were at a premium because of all of the usage. When the Lifelong Learning College began, an agreement was reached that the College could use some of the recreation facilities in exchange for our use of some of the Charter School facilities. Clearly, the former might have reduced the number of rooms that could be used for previous free activities. If a Lifelong Learning College is run by the Village Center Community Development District, all of the classes would be conducted in the recreation centers, unless the Charter School makes some of their facilities available.
Please keep in mind the following when deciding whether to be in favor of a reconstituted Lifelong Learning College or whether all learning programs should stay free for all residents and be limited to residents only:
a) possible loss of some use of recreation facilities for free courses;
b) the costs (hopefully spelled out in very clear detail before the undertaking is started) of recreation department personnel handling the operation, billing of the students, collecting payments, paying instructors, filing tax forms, organizing all of the courses, printing brochures, conforming to all Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and all other expenses that may be required to run such an operation and;
c) how non-residents will be charged for using our facilities — currently a rental fee must be paid for the use of a recreation facility if any participants are not residents.
Marty Rothbard is a resident of the Village of Santiago and a supervisor in Community Development District 2.
