Streamlining the Community Event Application Process
Over the last four years, it has been a focus of our community to continue to modernize and adapt our borough practices to meet the growing needs of our community. Specifically, we have embraced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software that allows us to visualize our data and our community is new and different ways. This adaptation has allowed us to become more efficient and more effective with infrastructure management, budget planning, public works, and the interplay between all three.
The next natural integration falls with events, and our ability to better manage our community events schedule between multiple departments based on varying needs.
Currently, our system is not elastic or dynamic. Someone who is looking to host an event in the community that requires either public land or the closure of a roadway will fill out a paper form, which is then reviewed by multiple departments based on their requests for the event. Once all departments have been notified and they have discussed how they can best address the needs of the event, borough council will approve or deny the application. This process is cumbersome and relies heavily on PDF documents sitting in a static online filing system. It hardly shows the scale, depth, or intricacies of putting on a small event (let alone a more complex one).
To remedy this, borough council is entertaining two important changes to our events ordinance.
The first is the creation of an online application system that allows residents to fill out the necessary information online, rather than picking up a form and delivering it in person. Once the form is filled out, all departments that would be impacted by the event would receive notification of the pending request and be able to see how, where, when, and what additional elements might be in play based on the GIS mapping structure and underlying municipal datasets. This reveals a complete picture of how an event may impact the community on any day. Additionally, this system will allow for faster and more coordinated communication between departments to help make the process more seamless and streamlined.
The second change involves potentially changing the type of application that for-profit businesses can apply for. Historically, many businesses apply for “block party permits,” which allow residents to shut down a street with their neighbor’s approval to celebrate a local occurrence (birthday, anniversary, ect). Block parties are supposed to be reserved for events that do not sell any goods and are not geared toward making a profit in any way. The change here would be in execution. For-profit businesses would instead be directed to regular approval of a formalized event in the borough and would need to seek council approval. This would allow for the consideration of recouping costs lost for the management and safety of the event at council’s discretion. This change would not be to discourage events put on by businesses, but to instead make sure that the cost of infrastructure and safety is not being born by taxpayer services without due consideration.
Both changes allow us to become a more streamlined effective local government. Through our GIS system we will be able to understand the full impact a community event will have on our infrastructure and residents while also being able to understand the full scope and cost of an event. By making these changes, residents and businesses will be able to communicate their plans more effectively for events with our departments and our cross-department communication will greatly improve. Altogether, these adjustments will result in a more effective system that will encourage better collaboration between all parties involved and make planning for our busy events schedule more effective.
Events are critical to the community, and we want to encourage an active borough. The best way to do that is to build a better communication system that allows to live, work, and play in smarter fashion.