Council Rejects Events Permit

DAYTON - The Dayton City Council on Monday voted to reject a proposed or­dinance to establish a special events permit for Dayton. The 6-1 decision came after the council heard several public comments in opposi­tion to the measure and after considerable debate among council members. Council­man Dain Nysoe cast the lone dissenting vote on the motion to reject the ordi­nance.

The ordinance was pro­posed by the council's Pub­lic Safety Committee, of which Nysoe is chair. It was a scaled-back version of one the council rejected in early 2013. The current proposal defined more clearly what a special event is, and it ap­plied only to events held on city property.

The three-page permit ap­plication included a check­list of requirements for an event sponsor, an application form and an indemnifica­tion/ hold harmless agree­ment. The checklist included a requirement for a detailed map of the event premises, and the entire application was required to be submitted at least 30 days prior to the event. The ordinance itself was eight pages long and included detailed legal defi­nitions and requirements for event holders.

Bette Lou Crothers, rep­resenting the Dayton Cham­ber of Commerce, told the council she felt the Chamber and the city have always worked well together on events. "What are you trying to fix?" she asked, pointing out that the Chamber has put on many successful events over many years.

Nysoe replied that the permit process was needed to protect the city and tax­payers from potential liabili­ties. It was also necessary, he said, to assist law enforce­ment and local emergency service agencies do their jobs during the event.

Crothers, who is a lo­cal insurance agent and has chaired Dayton's All Wheels Weekend event for 20 years, said the Chamber has insurance for its events and already includes the city as a loss payee. "We work closely with the emergency services for all our events," she added.

Merle Jackson, repre­senting the Dayton Alumni Association, told the coun­cil that the permit process would be an undue hardship for the Association, which has put on the Alumni Pa­rade each July for more than 25 years. The Association does not have insurance for the parade, he said.

"It would cost us around $500 to buy insurance for our 15-minute parade," Jack­son said. "That's $500 that we couldn't use for a schol­arship or to help a group of students take a trip."

Port of Columbia Man­ager Jennie Dickinson said she called a number of small cities in Washington to see what kind of event permits they have, if any. Most have none. "The only city the size of Dayton I could find that has an event permit is Leav­enworth," she said. "And they have 25 major events a year."

Several speakers said the permit process would make the city seem overly bureau­cratic and unfriendly. That argument carried over into council discussions before the vote was taken.

Council member Cathy Berg, who also sits on the Chamber board, said, "This permit makes the city seem very unfriendly and I wor­ry that it will discourage events."

Council member Mike Paris described his job for many years. "I worked in a job for 22 years," he said, "and I loved that job for the first 17. But the last five years, the paperwork and bureaucracy became more important than the people. That's what I see with this ordinance. It makes the paperwork and bureaucracy more important than the people."