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- City mulls costs of parades in town
- SUNNYSIDE (8-17-98)---The City Council met briefly tonight to pay $429,000 in bills and proclaim next month as "Literacy Awareness Month."
Few showed up for the meeting, and no citizens apparently had issues to bring up.
Councilman Mike Farmer raised the issue of parades in the city, for which dollars and city staff time are needed.
"We need to talk about parades...we're overrun with parades," he said. He said he didn't favor charging participants, and queried about taking dollars from the city's tourist fund to pay overtime to city police.
The city is liable for traffic mishaps that may occur as folks walk down the street. Accidents can occur if someone goes around temporary barriers set up to protect parade participants.
Councilman Errol Brown asked whether volunteers could be used to man street blockades. If so, he indicated he favored using them. This would relieve the city budget and police officers wouldn't have to work so much overtime.
Councilman Roy Anciso agreed with the volunteer idea, but was concerned about city insurance covering mishaps. Someone asked whether the police could train parade volunteers.
Police Chief Wallace Anderson said the ideas had been brought up before. He indicated if street barriers are manned by trained volunteers empowered by the city, the city is still liable if something goes awry. Trained or not, volunteers aren't cops.
"Some (volunteers) may wander off, or talk to the family," Anderson said.
At the same time, court rulings have said anyone can march to make a public statement, and nothing can be done to stop them from exercising their First Amendment rights, unless a riot starts.
No one suggested starting a riot to relieve the city budget.
- The council set a future date to discuss city parades, and their cost in dollars and manpower for public safety.
- The Council will meet again at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow night to discuss hiring a new city manager, and introduce a candidate publicly.