Council works on community events

The City of Sisters is trying to figure out how to help community events in a fair and equitable manner.

At Thursday's workshop the city council worked to come up with clear policies and guidelines that could be fairly applied for special-event fee waivers. They also worked on the city's ordinance.

All the councilors clearly expressed their support for special events that are "good for the community." Subsidizing or waiving city use fees and allowing special noise ordinance exceptions are one way the city can actively participate in supporting these community events.

Fee waivers were the first issue addressed.

In the last year there have been 55 city-permitted events in Sisters; 20 had their fees waived. The city collected $7,232 in special-event fees and waived $3,120 in fees. This is in contrast to 2007 when the city collected $8,216 in fees and waived $150 in fees.

"It is part of the city being partners with the events," said councilor Pat Thompson, "To the Girl Scouts $30 is $30, to the city $30 doesn't even get a line entry in the budget. When this fee is processed, write it up at full charge, and then write it off as a special event."

This is the method of tracking fees that the city is using today.

The city has been using the number of people attending the event as a means of setting fees. However, it became clear that certain types of events require a lot more out-of-pocket city expenditure than other types of events. For example, a barbecue at the Village Green with 75 people doesn't require nearly as many city services (trash, restroom cleaning, traffic control) as does a Christmas parade or Farmers Market in Barclay Park.

Beyond determining a fair method for setting a city use fee, the challenge comes in defining what is a "community event" worthy of a fee waiver. Simply waiving the fees for an event sponsored by a nonprofit group is not clear enough.

What about nonprofit entities putting on events that include commercial retail booths? On city property? On private property? When does the city's $100-per-day transient vendor fee apply and when should it be waived? Does the fee cover all of a multi-day or every-week event, or should a use fee be charged for each occurrence of the event?

What about private events on city property, with commercial booths, that donate partial proceeds to charity, or events that conduct silent auctions for charity as part of their event? Should their city fees be waived?

The council deferred a decision on use-fee issues to a later date only to be faced with a similar issue when it came to clarifying exceptions to the city's long-standing 10 p.m. noise curfew for amplified music.

An episode with the Sisters Folk Festival (SFF) this fall brought the issue to a head. The SFF had gotten an exemption from the city to run certain venues late on specific SFF dates during the festival. The sheriff's department "didn't get the memo," declined to accept the written letter "permit," and applying county ordinance, shut down the late-night venues.

The challenge in crafting exceptions to the noise ordinance came back to the same issue as fee waivers noted above. The council supports and wants to contribute to community events and to honor the rights of private business owners, while still protecting the rights of local residents affected by the noise.

Should the city allow exceptions to the noise ordinance for special "community events" on city property? What if the "community event" venue is on private property? What about existing commercial entities that would like to get exemptions to the noise ordinance to run special events with amplified music after 10 p.m.? What if the commercial entities want an exception every weekend during the summer?

On this issue the council agreed to let the existing ordinance governing amplified music restrictions after 10 p.m. stand. They signaled tentative approval of ordinance language that would leave it to the city manager's discretion to issue special permits to allow amplified music after 10 p.m. It was agreed that no amplified music "audible outside the business" would be allowed after midnight.

Councilor-elect Brad Boyd said, "Citizens don't care where the noise is coming from. If you are upset about the noise, you are upset about the noise." The implication being that it doesn't matter to the person complaining if the noise is coming from public or private property or is part of a special community event or is coming from a commercial venue.

It remained to the city manager to coordinate with local law enforcement to make sure that the city, the event, and the sheriff were all in agreement about what was and was not allowed.