From now on, anyone wishing to conduct a special event in Oxford Village is required to submit an application for review and council approval, plus pay a fee.

Last week, council voted 3-2 to adopt a special event procedure and application process with implementation “effective immediately.”

Voting in favor of it were council members Erik Dolan, Dave Bailey and Joe Frost.

“I like the idea of a formal process,” Bailey said.

“I think it’s common practice, and I think it’s good practice, to have an application on file,” Dolan said.

Voting against it were village President Sue Bossardet and Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth.

“Part of me has a real problem with this and I just haven’t overcome that problem,” Helmuth said. “Something about this seems wrong.”

The village defines special events as fairs; concerts; carnivals; festivals; activities taking place on a sidewalk or street, in a park or in some other village-owned open space; fun runs; bike or foot races; parades; walk-a-thons; events open to the public that utilize temporary structures such as tents and/or trailers; and events open to the public that request “special consideration” regarding the municipality’s noise, outdoor dining or other ordinance requirements.

A fully completed application for any of the aforementioned activities must be submitted to the village, along with a $50 nonrefundable review fee, “at least 60 days prior to the proposed scheduled event.”

Applications will be reviewed and commented on by various department managers, such as the village police chief and DPW superintendent, and sent to council for consideration and possible approval.

Village Manager Joseph Madore told council “the more you get on paper” regarding what to expect at a special event, the “less surprises” arise. He said “you can’t account for everything,” but having things “spelled out and approved” beforehand leads to “less questions” later.

“It’s good to have some paperwork,” said Bailey, just in case, for example, “the event is a total disaster and people are injured.”

For liability reasons, he said the village “should have something on paper” that shows the municipality reviewed things prior to the event, so “anything bad that happened is not our fault.”

“If you have no paperwork at all, you’re operating very vulnerably,” Bailey said. “We’ve got to have something.”

Bailey noted having an application process also helps the village should an individual or group propose holding a controversial event.

“(It) allows us to step back and deal with it (in) an objective way without making any value judgements,” he said.

Dolan sees adopting the special event procedure and application process as “one step” toward transforming the village into “a more consistent, professional organization.”

He said applying “the same standards” to each and every event “consistently” and “regularly” helps “alleviate” issues concerning both planning and liability.

The issue that generated the most debate was the possibility of the village recouping the costs it incurs for special events, such overtime wages for DPW workers, the need for additional police officers or the use of village resources.

Ultimately, council, as part of its approved motion, decided to set the cost recovery issue aside until next year. But there was plenty of discussion leading up to that.

Village attorney Bob Davis believes if the municipality does decide to recover its costs, it should be done in a manner that’s “consistent across the board.” He said there should be “no discretion,” no instances where one entity is charged, while another is not.

“I would be in favor of you addressing these costs in a consistent manner (for) all applicants,” he said.

Although the issue is up to council to decide, Davis stated he favors cost recovery.

“I tend to believe you should recover all of your costs,” he said. “I think you have somewhat of an obligation.”

Dolan was in favor of cost recovery as well.

“Oxford’s small. We like to think that we can run things differently, but in this time (of budgetary constraints), I just don’t know that we can foot the bill for everybody all the time,” he said.

Bossardet also favored the idea, but she was unsure as to how much special event organizers should be asked to pay.

“I just think that we need to recover some of those costs,” she said. “At what level? I don’t have an idea.”

Bossardet suggested that perhaps a percentage of the total cost incurred by the village could be charged.

But Dolan questioned how that percentage would be determined.

“How do we just pick a number out of the air and say this seems reasonable?” he said.

Frost suggested that maybe there could be some flexibility where for-profit organizations are assessed cost recovery charges, but nonprofits groups are not.

He also noted there might be times when the village could waive cost recovery charges if the municipality becomes a sponsor or partner for an event. But there must be a trade-off where the village gains something in return such as increased visibility via public relations efforts, he said.

“There are some community-based events that make sense to support,” Frost said. “There are others that are for-profit and it doesn’t make sense to use taxpayer money to support for-profit entities like that.”

Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who attended the meeting as a village resident, chimed in with his view that no distinction should be made between for-profits and nonprofits.

“I think we should collect from everyone,” he said. “There’s nonprofits I don’t want to contribute to.”

“Everyone should pay, whether you’re for-profit or nonprofit. Be consistent . . . I don’t care who it is. They should pay their way,” Dunn said.

Dunn later noted the problem with giving nonprofits “a break” when it comes to fees is deciding where to draw the line. For example, he asked if they should be given water and sewer services for “free.” He noted even churches still have to pay utility bills.

“There’s costs associated with having a nonprofit,” Dunn said.

But Bossardet expressed concern over how cost recovery charges could impact events like the annual Christmas parade, put on by the Oxford Chamber of Commerce, which “virtually doesn’t have any money.”

Dunn suggested in that case, the chamber “should find” donors to cover those costs. To him, the taxpayers should not be expected to fund these events, especially if they’re members of a different religion or culture that doesn’t celebrate certain holidays.

“I might not agree with Christmas . . . How dare you take my money and give it out,” he said.

Bossardet said she understands Dunn’s point of view and half of her feels the same way.

“Please feel like you should take care of everyone and not be giving our money away to whoever,” Dunn replied. “I don’t care if they’re nonprofit or what.”

Helmuth believes there are some events which the village has a “responsibility” to the community to ensure happen every year, even though they are not sponsored or organized by the municipality.

One of those events, in her view, is the Christmas parade. “It’s a downtown. You’ve got to have a Christmas parade,” she said. “That’s our job. We can’t charge people for everything that the world requires. It’s a Christmas parade, we live in a village, we have to have a Christmas parade. I think it’s probably a law somewhere. Check it.”

Another one is the Memorial Day Parade organized by American Legion Post 108.

“What are we going to do when the Legion doesn’t come up with $300 (for cost recovery charges)? We’re not going to have a Memorial Day parade?” she said.

Since the wages and salaries of public employees are already paid by taxpayers, Frost wondered “where is that line” when it comes to charging for their time?

Fire Chief Pete Scholz explained that when he, for example, reviews a developer’s site plan, he charges for his time because that’s going “above and beyond” the “normal scope” of his daily work, which typically involves “a million other things” that he’s supposed to be doing in order to help maintain the community.

He noted that whenever fire personnel are needed for special events in the village, the department has to pay a minimum of $15-to-$18 per hour to cover the cost of paid-on-call members, yet it gets “zero” in return.

“Every event that goes on, I’m paying my people,” Scholz said. “I don’t get any reimbursement from the village or from the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) for doing it.”

Scholz told council he would like to be included in any further discussion regarding potential cost recovery charges.

“Before you set costs or decide to do anything, we need to talk,” he said.