Society Hill council unites behind ‘public-events’ plan
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Four months after Mayor Tommy Bradshaw decided that Society Hill needed to regulate public events on town property, a unified Town Council last week OK’d a plan to do that.
With a unanimous 5-0 vote, council on Sept. 24 gave final approval to an ordinance requiring any individual or group planning a festival on town property to fill out a five-page application, be issued a permit and put up $1 million worth of liability insurance.
Bradshaw had argued for months that without such a plan, the town of 560 people risked disaster if someone got hurt during an event on town property and if the group sponsoring the event didn’t have insurance. “One lawsuit could wipe us out,” the mayor warned at a Sept. 18 work session.
That work session was crucial to getting the plan approved. A previous vote had ended with council deadlocked 2-2. But during that work session, Bradshaw turned one of the “no” votes into a “yes” and also gained the support of a councilwoman who did not vote earlier.
The remaining “no” vote, Michelle Steen, supported the ordinance on the final vote last week.
Council’s new unity on the issue seemed to relax residents who attended the meeting. No one had objections or questions when council sought “comments or concerns” on the ordinance.
“To me, it’s a no-brainer,” one resident told council.
“If y’all are all in agreement, then we don’t need to say anything,” one woman in the audience said.
“It was hard sitting here, watching y’all disagree,” another woman told council.
Council member Carolyn Oliver, who earlier had voted against the plan, said she still has “reservations.” She said she had opposed the ordinance on behalf of people who couldn’t afford to meet some of the plan’s requirements, such as the insurance provision.
The $1 million insurance mandate might sound impossible for a small group, but “it’s not that bad,” said Bradshaw. The application form directs event organizers to a company that offers “low-cost” insurance for these types of one-shot events; some have said the insurance the town requires might cost as little as a few hundred dollars.
Bradshaw began pushing for the ordinance after a Memorial Day weekend festival, organized by a local community group, was held in the parking lot of Society Hill Town Hall. A fire truck was part of the entertainment for kids, and firefighters helped children shoot water into the air. Town officials didn’t know the event was being planned and the organizers had no insurance.
The group that organized that event — For the Community, By the Community – has been frustrated by Town Council’s new ordinance. On the group’s Facebook page, organizers wrote Sept. 1 that they had not been able to host community gatherings on town property “for a couple of months now.”
“However,” the group wrote, “we are still planning and working behind the scenes to find ways to continue.
“Our mission is to bring the community together as a whole. We feel family is what makes a town and want to see our community become knitted together as a family. We want life back in our town and feel it starts by providing monthly family-friendly events. If you want to know what you can do, it’s simple — talk to your mayor and council; let them know what you want your town to be.”