Society Hill council deadlocks on plan to regulate public events
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
An 11th-hour backlash against Society Hill’s plan to regulate public events on town property led Town Council into a deadlock as members tried to take a final vote on the ordinance last week.
Council deadlocked 2-2 (with one member absent), meaning that the plan will stay on the agenda until it’s passed or killed, Mayor Tommy Bradshaw said. And in the meantime, he said, no group can hold a public event on town property until the issue is resolved.
Voting in favor of the plan during council’s Aug. 13 meeting were Bradshaw and council member Tammy Gandy. Voting against it were council members Michelle Steen and Carolyn Oliver. One member, Deborah Harrell, left the meeting before the vote, but earlier during the session, she indicated she had serious problems with the ordinance, and said, “We’re at an impasse right now.”
A clearly frustrated Bradshaw warned council several times that the town of 560 people could face “chaos” unless council takes steps to protect the town from legal liability stemming from events like festivals that are held on town property.
Bradshaw says the town must issue permits for such events and require the sponsoring group to take out $1 million in insurance in case of accidents. (The applications direct groups to a company offering “low-cost” insurance designed for such events.)
Council’s initial vote on the plan July 9 was uneventful; the plan got an initial OK by a 3-0 vote, with two council members absent. But last week, with the full council in session, a backlash against the ordinance boiled up, with objections and questions coming from both council and an unusually big turnout of citizens.
Harrell, before leaving the meeting, questioned the need for $1 million in liability insurance. Others in the audience argued that the plan’s requirements would crush most groups’ hopes for offering a little fun because they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, deal with the paperwork and fees.
“It’s shutting down these smaller entities,” said Melissa Burch, whose group sponsors a major town event, the annual A Taste of Society Hill. After dealing with insurance and other costs, Burch said, small organizations would be “in the hole” financially.
The debate over regulating public events on town property began after a local group sponsored a festival during Memorial Day weekend. The event was held in the parking lot outside Society Hill Town Hall. The county fire department sent over a fire truck as entertainment for kids, and firefighters helped children hold hoses to shoot water into the air.
But the community group putting on the festival didn’t have insurance. Town officials didn’t know the event was happening. Bradshaw said an accident and a lawsuit could have doomed the town, and he has pushed to regulate public events on town property since then.
“The town government is not here to be an entertainment production company,” Bradshaw told council last month. “ … We have to look out for the town’s best interests.”
But at last week’s meeting, council member Steen said she saw nothing wrong with the Memorial Day weekend festival. She said it did no harm. Bradshaw told her it put the town in major legal danger.
Before council voted on the ordinance last week, Bradshaw discussed another issue tied to local festivals.
He said the town normally devotes significant resources to helping put on A Taste of Society Hill and the town’s other signature event, the Catfish Festival. Bradshaw said most people already think the town itself holds the Catfish Festival. Since the town shouldn’t use government funds to aid privately sponsored events, Bradshaw said, he suggested that the town take charge of those events or officially partner with the groups sponsoring them.
