Don’t regulate events out of existence
Marathon County needs to decide whether or not it wants rural communities to be able to hold events.
The county’s emergency management director, Phillip Rentmeester, is leading a quixotic charge with a county working group to generate more rules and more hoops for event organizers to jump through in order to hold events.
The committee cites the situation in Crandon earlier this summer where a carnival ride breakdown resulted in people being suspended upside down for hours until they could be rescued. The major issue in that particular case, was that Crandon’s fire department does not have an aerial ladder truck with a 100-foot reach nor was there one available in close-by departments. With the current price tag for such a firefighting vehicle in excess of $1 million, it is more than reasonable that departments without a pressing need for such a truck would put their limited budget dollars elsewhere.
Would the county’s code revisions require event organizers to have ladder trucks on carnival sites just because something may happen? Or does the emergency management office simply want to dictate what sorts of rides can be at local fairs and festivals?
Under current county code, any group wishing to hold an event where there could be more than 3,000 people over an eight-hour time period is required to get a license from the county zoning administrator months ahead of time. This would presumably allow them to review plans for things like restrooms, access to drinking water and parking.
When it comes to putting on community events, there needs to be a distinction between large-scale, well-funded events put on by production companies and community events put on by local service clubs and volunteers. Creating additional hoops and regulations which are part of doing business for a paid staff would be insurmountable barriers for the volunteers in a service organization who don’t have the ability to take time off to go and meet with county bureaucratic busybodies begging for permission to hold their community event.
As far as regulating parking and road access, that is something best handled at the local town board level rather than by someone sitting in an office in Wausau. As far as sheriffs being asked to assist with traffic control for special events, perhaps they need a reminder that rural property owners pay taxes too.
Rather than putting up roadblocks to potential community events being held in rural Marathon County, the county needs to be a proactive partner educating community groups about the benefits of having emergency response and other plans in place. The county should focus on educating and helping groups put on events rather than focusing on rules and enforcement.
As the committee moves forward and brings a recommendation later this fall, the county must bring the volunteers and those running events to the table to be part of a solution rather than simply mandating a laundry list of rules that must be followed.
Marathon County needs to change its current course or risk regulating rural community events out of existence.
The Central Wisconsin Publications Editorial Board consists of publisher Kris O’Leary and editor Brian Wilson.
