Name:

							                          Original Question: Special Events Policies March 31, 2003
We need examples of "special events" policies. The City of Spokane is trying to determine which community
events the City should be paying for, subsidizing, and not paying for at all. Things like Bloomsday, Hoopfest,
Lilac parade etc. are easy but some of the other events are a little grayer. How do you determine which events
to subsidize?

We have direct access to most city codes. What we don't have is a collection of policies on how cities
determine which events they will co-sponsor and how much of a contribution (monetary or services) will be
made in the interest of promoting the city, increasing tourism or other reasons for being involved. Do any of
you have such policies that you can share?


Name: Lori Hogan                                          Email lhogan@ci.kent.wa.us:
Agency: City of Kent Parks, Recreation and Community      Telephone: (253) 856-5050
Services Dept.
Comments: We don't really have a policy that addresses this issue. We typically handle requests on an
individual basis and usually take a pretty hard line... "NO"... explaining appropriate uses of public funds etc.
We have offered advice and guidance to various organizers but they are charged for facilities and maintenance
time.

Name: Eric C. Swansen                                    Email:
Agency: City of Shoreline - City Manager's Office        Telephone: 206-546-1700
Comments: Fee waivers are a slippery slope. We've opened the door slightly when it comes to right-of-way
permits and park use only. We still make sure there is adequate traffic control, notification to the neighborhood
and insurance. They still need to complete a permit application. We process about 30 such fee waiver requests
each year. Since most happen on an annual basis, we find it easy to "nudge" the promoters before the last
minute to make sure we have adequate time to review the permit application.

Our ordinance specifies which groups by name. In general, these are state funded educational institutions,
members of the City's Council of Neighborhoods, and cultural groups the City provides ongoing operational
funding to (Museum, Arts Council, etc.). My experience is that this waiver function needs to rest high in the
organization, so that line staff do not give these away to everyone who makes a request.

Having folks go to neighborhood associations for "official sanctioning" has been very popular. Our Council
loves it, the neighborhoods get a say and can help publicize the event, and our standard terms and conditions
still apply. Our office of neighborhoods have worked to get insurance for all the neighborhood associations,
which covers such events, creating an added incentive to people wanting to close a street for an event to work
with the neighborhood. The insurance is kept on file in the permit office, so all the neighborhood association
needs to do is make a call or write a letter of "sanctioning".

WCIA does offer third party insurance, should anyone need it. In general, these are folks that don't get fee
waivers as they are more private in nature.

We do encourage people to not close a street if possible. That is why we offer the ability to use shelters and
other park facilities on a fee waiver basis.

Name: Robert Kelly                                     Email:
Agency: City of Kennewick                              Telephone: 509-585-4200
Comments: Kennewick does not have a formal policy per se for determining when the City might be a partner
in a community based event. Council tends to deal with issues on an ad hoc basis. Over the years, we have
tended to become somewhat less involved largely for budgetary reasons. Currently, we do earmark a small
portion of the lodging tax for support of events that have the potential to attract visitors from outside the
community. I am attaching the policy and forms we use.
The only event we are currently providing sponsorship funds to on an on-going basis is the annual First Night
Celebration. It is held in our downtown area, which has been a target for revitalization for the past 7 years. We
partner with a local non-profit that does all the organizing, planning, volunteer recruitment, etc.. Council views
our support of this event as one of our contributions to the revitalization effort. Our annual support is $7500.
We used to partner with the Chamber of Commerce on a 4th of July celebration in our largest city park, but no
longer financially contribute to that other than making the park available and providing some in-kind services in
preparing for the event.

We are currently also funding activities of a Centennial Committee the City formed to help celebrate the city's
pending centennial in 2004. We have committed $20,000 to that effort thus far and I would expect that
financial commitment will grow over time as more activities are planned and executed

Name: Candice Bock                                      Email: CBock@ci.lakewood.wa.us
Agency: City of Lakewood                                Telephone: 253-589-2489
Comments: The City of Lakewood has a citizen City Events Committee that makes recommendations about
funding for community events. The City Council budgeted $5,000 for events for 2003 and the Committee
makes the recommendations about how to spend that funding. About $2,000 of the budget is spent on the
City’s annual Holiday Tree Lighting the remainder is provided to other events. The Events Committee uses the
attached guidelines and application to review requests.

Name: Cathie Butler                                       Email: cbutler@ci.olympia.wa.us
Agency: City of Olympia                                   Telephone: 360-753-8361
Comments: Our practice has been to accommodate community events, which does have implications for
services such as crowd and traffic control, litter pick up, street cleaning, etc. depending on where the event is
held. The $$ amount of in-kind support we provide for community events annually is in the $50,000-$70,000
range. The only direct cash support we provide is for those events that we have Lodging Tax funded contracts
with for event promotion, such as Procession of Species.
Terry Rodgers: I am not aware of written polices that guide the City of Olympia in determining subsidizing
community events. Cathie Butler oversees the coordination of city services that are needed for events such as
Lakefair, the Marathon etc that impact streets specifically in the downtown. She may have policies in place on
what we subsidize and what we don't. I believe there is money in the annual budget under Cathie’s control
where our time is charged against for our involvement at Percival Landing during the major events.

Special Events that are sponsored by the Parks Arts and Recreation Department like Arts Walk, Ethnic
Celebration, Celebrate Olympia etc do have City $ support in the annual Department operating budget. The
level of support for these programs can be evaluated each year by the City Council.

Name: Duane Cole, City Manager                           Email: DCole@ci.walla-walla.wa.us]
Agency: City of Walla Walla                              Telephone: (509) 527-4522
Comments: A vexing issue! We have struggled with this for a number of years and the financial crisis has
brought it to resolution. Our approach was to establish a list of all special events that received City
contributions. This list was then evaluated based on a simple matrix. The information is provided in the
attached reports. The report attached is still in DRAFT since staff and Council wanted to determine how the
process would perform over the past year. It has been successful. We plan to finalize it in May.

The City now limits free sponsorship to: Fourth of July - Pioneer Park, Race Unity Day, and the Sweet Onion
Festival as community special events. We also provide limited services to the Balloon Stampede and the
County Fair, but these are primarily located on the Fair grounds so other than some moving of temporary stands
and borrowing some equipment, out participation is limited.

If additional information is needed, contact Jim Dumont, Parks and Recreation Director (509) 527-4527.

Name: Carol Hamilton                                      Email:
Agency: City of Centralia                                 Telephone: 360.330.7674
Comments: Centralia does not have a formal policy funding special events so I don't have a document to send
you.

We have a committee that reviews requests for Hotel/Motel money and makes recommendations to City
Manager/City Council.

Name: Randy Lewis                                      Email:
Agency: City of Westport                               Telephone: 360-268-0131
Comments: We have a past practice, but no formal written policy. The City doesn't pay for any of the events.
We subsidize some of the events by allowing them to use our property, close streets (with the approval of
adjacent businesses), put out extra trash cans and make extra trash pick ups, etc. without charging the event
sponsor.

Name: Tony Piasecki, City Manager                          Email:
Agency: City of Des Moines                                 Telephone: 206-878-4595
Comments: Des Moines is going through the exact same exercise right now. We have a draft, very generic,
ordinance in front of our Council for discussion tonight. Some of the criteria that Council may use to determine
when an event must pay for the city's cost of support include: time (in number of days); number of people the
organizers anticipate will attend; whether or not an admission fee is charged; events that are put on as "profit-
making" endeavors; and events allowing concessions such as food, drinks, and merchandise sales. The
ordinance may or may not (depending on how the Council votes) have a section that allows the Council to
declare that an event has a "public benefit" and therefore doesn't have to reimburse the city its cost to support it.

At this point, we don't have a true policy, other than "large events" were brought to the Council for approval
and the issue of full reimbursement wasn't pursued aggressively. Now, both issues are on the table. I'll let you
know where our Council goes and please keep me up-to-date with your research on the behalf of Spokane.
Thanks.