By Amanda Raymond
amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Even before hearing comments from the public, the Salisbury City Council decided a committee should review controversial changes proposed for the city’s special event ordinance.

The council held a public hearing on the proposal Tuesday.

At an earlier council meeting, Salisbury Police Chief Jerry Stokes presented the rewritten policy, which included expanded and more detailed definitions of demonstrations, picket lines or picketing, community events, general events, neighborhood events, organized activities, parades, festivals and other special events.

The 18-page application in the proposal included new fees and application deadlines. The deadlines span from 30 days to 120 days for different events and the fee is $150 for most events. The current application fee is $25 for all events.

Also included are late application fees and extra charges depending on the needs of the event, such as charges for police security and street barricades and cones.

No application fees or late fees are associated with demonstrations or picket lines, and spontaneous demonstrations that last less than 24 hours were added to the list of exceptions to the ordinance.

Stokes said the reason for the changes was to give staff more time to plan for the events and arrange schedules so that officers do not end up working for no compensation.

Stokes said there are times when officers have to be called in to work security for an event when they would usually be off.

“One of the things I really think has led us to desire to talk about this change is staff,” Stokes said. “…The short notice for staff is quite a bit of drain on them.”

Stokes later said the fees could allow events to work similar to secondary employment for the officers and guarantee they are paid for their work.

Stokes suggested that more events like 5K races be held at Salisbury Community Park so that there would be no need to block streets.

Council member Kenny Hardin asked the chief if anyone outside of the staff members helped draft the proposal. Stokes said no outside people were brought in to help. The process started before he became chief of police.

Mayor Pro Tem Maggie Blackwell asked how much the police department was spending on overtime costs and how the proposed changes would pay for those costs.

“…If we’re going to increase these people’s fees two, three, four hundred percent, my question is, what are we spending on events now and how does that compare to what we’re going to bring in with these increased fees?” she asked.

Stokes said he did not have the exact numbers, but he would get that information.

City Manager Lane Bailey said he would often hear complaints from officers about having to work during the weekends that they would normally have off.

“The dollar amount, in the scheme of things, is minimal,” Bailey said. “… It’s more of an emotional drain on the police officers for some of these events.”

He said the proposed changes are to encourage citizens to hold events at city venues that require less manpower from the police department, provide compensation for officers who cover those events and limit events to ensure the department’s resources aren’t spread too thin.

Hardin said it sounded like the proposed changes were limiting events for the emotional well-being of officers. He said businesses and the downtown area may suffer in the future.

“I don’t want to discourage people from coming and wanting to have events here for the sake of taking care of emotional needs and I want to understand that that’s not what I’m hearing from you,” he said.

Council member David Post later said that while the amount of money lost is minimal, the events do make an economic impact on the city.

Stokes said he wanted the city to have events, but staff needs to be able support those events.

After a question from Post, Stokes said the deadline schedule for the events could be negotiated.

Both Blackwell and Hardin said they were having a hard time accepting the reasons for the changes to the ordinance.

Hardin said anything can happen to derail the event planning process in 120 days. He also said the department should concentrate more on building up the resources needed to support the events.

“The constant seems to be that we need more officers, which goes into a budget thing, but if you’re making the constant fatigue, what if something happens at day 115? Then that throws that all out of the window,” he said.

Post questioned whether compensation would even solve the fatigue issue.

“Does money make you less tired?” he asked.

Council member Brian Miller said that the document was a starting point and it is possible to rework it so that the outcome is reasonable for everyone.

Mayor Karen Alexander ended up appointing Miller and Post to the council committee.

During the public hearing, six community members spoke against the proposed changes as they currently are written. Most said that changes are probably needed, but the current proposal’s fees and deadlines seemed too extreme.

“… It’s not a big organization that’s planning some of these events, it’s small people,” Sue McHugh said. She also mentioned that she did not understand why some things like barricades and cones called for extra fees.

“…I just want to make sure that we’re not making it punitive for people to have events,” she said.

After the meeting, Tamara Sheffield said event organizers should not have to worry about officer fatigue.

“We should spend more time hiring more officers,” she said.

She and others who spoke during the public hearing said they would be glad to participate in the committee.

The public is invited to attend the committee meetings. The dates and times of the meetings will be announced when they are scheduled.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.