A Chatham-Kent councillor wants to make hosting events on municipal properties a little easier.
Ward 2 Councillor Trevor Thompson will bring forward a motion Monday night that requests municipal staff review the process for getting a special event permit in Chatham-Kent.
He said the problem lies in the fact that currently, once alcohol is involved in an event on municipal property -- whether a private family gathering of 10 people or a public event with 10,000 people -- it is considered a "special event" that has to get approval from several channels including police and fire.
"As soon as it involves alcohol of any sort, you're going through all the exact things that a massive event would go through, that a RetroFest would go through," Thompson explained. "Your anniversary party just turned into, as far as the municipality's concerned, a RetroFest calibre event and that doesn't make any sense to me."
Currently, applications to rent municipal halls or rooms must be turned in six in advanced. Thompson said he believes this makes an unfair situation for smaller private gatherings who then decide they want to serve liquor thus turning their get together into a "special event." If they miss the six-week deadline, they are then subject to a $150 late application fee.
"If you're a great big organization running it, that's honestly not that big a deal, its a slap on the wrist," said Thompson. "But, if you're just a family, trying to hold a small family event, $150 just because you wanted to serve alcohol... is too far to go for me. It's too much of a burden."
Thompson said he got wind of some concerns after a resident put in an application to rent a municipal room for a 40th-anniversary celebration for her daughter.
"She decided they'd like to serve just table wine with dinner, no open bar, no liquor sales, just a bottle of wine at the table," he explained. "That's when it triggered the permit and that's when it triggered the $150 fee."
He said soon after he heard a similar issue from some Erieau residents who wanted to rent a municipal space to hold a celebration of life ceremony for their father who recently passed away and hold a toast in his honour. However, they were uncomfortable with paying the $150 fee.
"That's what you end up with eventually when you don't think things through or you don't consider every contingency," said Thompson. "That leaves a bad taste in everybody's mouth. The residents don't believe the municipality is working for them, it hurts our brand, our reputation for something so small, so simple."
Thompson said the municipality gets a large number of special event permits on an annual basis. He said if his motion passes, it's not so much about changing the dollar amount for the fee as it is about re-working and re-examining what exactly a special occasion is defined as in Chatham-Kent.
"If it's a smaller event really all it is, is making sure that all your paperwork's in order, you've got the liquor license, and you're ready to go," he said. "There needs to be a better practice of handing off these smaller events to just the individuals that need to see it and sign off it versus going through the complete approval process that a larger event would go through."
Thompson's motion also adds that as the provincial government begins to loosen regulations around public alcohol consumption, administration should review any other concerns relating to special event permits.