Approval seems near for Society Hill’s ‘public-events’ plan
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Despite a deadlocked vote last month, Society Hill’s plan for regulating public events on town property seems headed for Town Council’s approval this week.
Council was to take up the issue again Sept. 24, and Mayor Tommy Bradshaw was hopeful that another vote would not end up in another tie.
Town Council held a work session on the plan last Wednesday, and by the end of the discussion, Bradshaw seemed to have satisfied the objections of a councilwoman who voted against the changes Aug. 13, and he appeared to have picked up the support of another councilwoman who did not vote last time.
Asked after the work session if he thought the ordinance would win final approval when council met this week, Bradshaw said: “It appears that way. … I would think so.”
Only three of the five Town Council members attended the work session last week – Bradshaw, Carolyn Oliver and Deborah Harrell. Council members Michelle Steen and Tammy Gandy were not present. When council last voted on this issue, there were two votes for the plan (Bradshaw and Gandy) and two against it (Steen and Oliver). Harrell left before the vote.
Based on the discussion during the work session, it appeared there now are four “yes” votes, one more than the ordinance needs to pass.
A festival organized by a community group over the Memorial Day weekend launched Bradshaw’s determination to develop an ordinance that would regulate public events on town property. The festival took place in the parking lot outside Society Hill Town Hall, and it included a fire truck, with firefighters helping children hold hoses to shoot water into the air.
Town officials didn’t know about the festival in advance, and the organizers didn’t have liability insurance. An accident would have put the town government in legal danger, and even one lawsuit could have been a disaster for the town of 560 people, Bradshaw said.
The ordinance would require individuals or groups planning festivals on town property to fill out an application, be issued a permit and put up $1 million worth of liability insurance. (The $1 million figure isn’t nearly as daunting as it sounds, officials said; specialized companies offer insurance for small events for a few hundred dollars or less.)
But the five-page application, the $1 million figure and a requirement that vendors buy a $25 permit brought complaints that it was all too much, that the ordinance would discourage anyone from wanting to put on a small festival.
Council member Oliver said she had been getting phone calls from residents worried about the plan.
Oliver asked if the “intimidating” application could be shortened or if events drawing fewer than 50 people could be exempted. “Let people come have a party and enjoy themselves,” she said.
Bradshaw argued that the legal risk is the same no matter the crowd size: “It doesn’t take but one accident. … One lawsuit could wipe us out. … If we got sued, we might win the lawsuit, but we might pay $20,000 or $25,000 in legal fees.”
And Charlie Barrineau, an adviser from the Municipal Association of South Carolina who attended the work session, said the application couldn’t be shortened and still cover what it had to cover. “There’s just so many things you need to deal with,” he said.
