Town staff advocates for tightening up special event process

“Let’s not sterilize everything…”

As the number of special events grows in Crested Butte, the town staff sometimes feels squeezed by a range of organizers and increasing pressure by the town insurance company to mitigate risk.

So the staff came to the Crested Butte Town Council last month with a proposal to solidify the process of handling special events in town.
“We want the events to be successful for everyone,” explained Todd Crossett, town manager. “We look for ways to make them work. We want to mitigate risk to people and infrastructure, property and the town.
“We understand that, as opposed to many towns that are risk-averse, Crested Butte is risk-tolerant,” he continued. “We like to do sketchy things. It’s a way of life here, from chainless bike races to birthday parties for cats.”
But Crossett said things have changed over the years and the one-size-fits-all procedures don’t work any longer. There are differences between the Big Air on Elk event and the Rubber Duckie Race, he noted.
Crossett and the town clerk’s office want to make expectations very clear to event organizers. “We need them to keep to the plan and the schedule and especially to keep key safety measures in place,” he said. “We want organizers to hit key milestones and timelines and cut down on the last-minute crises.”
The staff suggested that events put up a performance deposit with their applications, the idea being that if an organizer meets the agreement, the money is refunded. If the agreement is not met, the money is kept by the town.
“We don’t want the money,” emphasized Crossett. “We want the event to come off but this might help keep them invested.”
“It would hold them more accountable,” added Kathy Napoli, deputy town clerk at the time. “It’s a way to get things done in a timely manner. If they can’t follow the timelines, they might lose some of the deposit.”
No specific figure for the deposit was discussed but the staff suggested it could be scaled to the riskiness of the event.
“We don’t ever want to cancel an event. That looks bad for everyone,” said Crossett. “But we’ve had situations when the required insurance certificate or fire plan wasn’t given to us until the morning of the event. Their deposit would be the primary stick to get the organizers to keep to a timeline.”
Napoli said she recently developed a special event checklist that will now go out with each application.
Chief marshal Tom Martin said the more formal procedures would be a good thing. “We all love the events and want them. But there are times we ask an organizer where something is, such as volunteers to help facilitate the event, and they just aren’t there. I’m in support of this structure. We need some accountability and a financial burden could be a big motivation to them. But we’re open to any suggestions.”
“Other ideas are to increase the insurance requirement for higher-risk events and have those high-risk events come to the council for approval,” said Crossett. “We could lower insurance for low-risk events and approve them administratively.”
Councilperson Chris Ladoulis asked if the staff had discussed the insurance question with the town’s carrier, CIRSA. The staff had not. “We know they expect us to make the best reasonable effort to mitigate risk,” Crossett said.
“These procedures can allow us to keep the funky events but we have to recognize the era of increased liability,” said Councilperson Glenn Michel.
“Some organizations don’t have money to put up a deposit,” said Councilperson Ladoulis. “How do we handle that? Look at something like the Mardi Gras parade. It can put a hardship on people.”
“That’s where the scaling would come in,” responded Crossett.
Huckstep suggested using carrots instead of sticks. He suggested that if an organizer ran a successful event one year, he or she shouldn’t have to start over the next year with a new application. He also suggested that if everything came in on time and went off smoothly, the town perhaps could award such organizers with a small stipend.
Town clerk Shelley Jansen said the department does work with organizers and has done things like waived late fees.
“We just want the organizers to better understand the process,” added Napoli. “We don’t want to have to track them down for a fire plan or insurance 24 hours before an event.”
Huckstep suggested the town organize a packet of information and be proactive with the contact. He suggested sending out material to repeat organizers months before an event takes place.
In a straw poll of the council, the majority was against the performance deposit idea. They asked the staff to investigate the ramifications of lowering insurance for low-risk events and increasing it for higher-risk events.
Councilperson Shaun Matusewicz was hesitant about any changes. “This strike me a lot like the gun issue,” he said. “We’re spending a lot of time on something that isn’t a real problem and hasn’t happened yet. I want to be cautious of sterilizing too much. It’s the culture of the place. Vinotok, for example, is a marquee event and it is part of the staff’s job to make these types of events happen.”
“We’re trying to find ways to make sure we’re not in a position where we have to say no,” said Crossett. “We’re trying to make it clearer for everyone.”