CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Approve the 2019 Special Events calendar and designate the calendar as closed
body
DEPARTMENT: City Clerk’s Office
SUBMITTED BY: Pam Gallahue, PhD, Director-City Clerk
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The Special Events calendar is a tool to assist in the planning and preparation of the many annual events. The 2019 calendar was compiled based on applications received from event organizers as well as a new Special Events Team scoring criteria. As in previous years, staff is requesting the City Council grant preliminary approval for the dates and events listed. This will allow sponsors and organizers to proceed with planning. City staff will begin scheduling logistics meetings in January to review routes, staffing levels, traffic control plans, and gather stakeholder input. The City Council will have the opportunity to review specific details for individual events at regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year.
DISCUSSION:
The Special Events Team
This is a multi-departmental (Clerk’s Office, Police, Fire, Public Works, Naper Settlement, TED), multi-jurisdictional (Edward Hospital, Park District, DNA) group that evaluates applications, recommends the following year’s calendar, meets throughout the year with organizers to plan event logistics, and provides resources before, during, and after the event day(s).
New Event Impact Scoring Criteria
In 2018, members of the Special Events Team performed a comprehensive review of how events are evaluated and categorized. The Team decided to eliminate the “major” and “minor” event designations as they are no longer relevant to the departments.
Instead, the group created department specific criteria for each event and assigned a “impact score” based on the information provided in the application and previous experience with the event. Scores ranged from zero to four by department and included, but was not limited to, such criteria as staffing levels required, expected attendance, parking impact, number of days of event, footprint of event (including road closures), inspections, mutual aid potential, type of entertainment, community impact, and whether or not liquor is served.
The department scores were weighted and then divided by the aggregate score. Those events receiving a score of zero or one for either department or community impact were dropped from the calendar. This does not mean that the event will not occur, but rather, because no City resources are necessary, the events will be managed administratively by the City Clerk’s Office and not require significant permitting and review by the full Special Events Team.
This methodology has already proven beneficial. The scores, combined with this summer’s downtown event/parking analytics study, gave the Team objective data to request that a 2019 event be moved to another date in order to avoid a negative impact on staff resources and parking demand. The scoring data also allowed the Team to recommend that two new events be added to the calendar.
New Events for 2019
A co-ed 10K is being recommended for Sunday, June 9. This run replaces the Women’s Sprint Triathlon and received a lower score of 1.31 due to its reduced footprint, no longer needing Park District resources, and shorter duration.
The second new event is the Festa Italiana on August 2-4 at Naper Settlement. This event is similar to Naper Nights, however received a higher score of 1.46 due to longer duration, number of inspections, and being a first-time event with a liquor license.
Approval of the 2019 Special Events Calendar
The calendar includes 41 events (or a total of 80 event days) from February through December that require City services and/or the closure of streets. The fewer than 20 events held primarily on sidewalks, not requiring excessive permitting or City staff are not listed and will be coordinated administratively by the City Clerk’s Office.
In addition to approving the attached draft 2019 calendar, the Team is requesting the calendar be closed to all events that would receive an aggregate score higher than one based on the evaluation criteria.
Once the calendar is closed, the Special Events Coordinator will add event requests to a wait list for 2020. Events on the list will be reviewed in fall of 2019. If an approved event is canceled prior to the fall of 2019, the Special Events Team will attempt to accommodate an event from the wait list.
If an organizer does not wish to be placed on the waiting list, they will be directed to petition the City Council at a regularly scheduled meeting and an agenda item will be prepared for review with a recommendation from the Special Events Team.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A