Isanti City to create a city‑approved events calendar; staff to draft partnership policy for Illuminate Isanti

Isanti City Council discussed adding a dedicated, city‑approved events calendar to the municipal website and asked city staff to draft a policy that would allow partnership posts — including a one‑year partnership for Illuminate Isanti — while limiting staff time spent vetting noncity events.

Council members and staff said confusion about where events are posted prompted the discussion. City staff described the current practice as posting only official city events because of staff time required to screen and approve outside requests and noted the incoming website redesign will make calendar management easier.

The council emphasized a lightweight approach to calendar entries. One council member recommended listing only the event title and date (for example, “BMX qualifying race”) so the calendar alerts residents without turning the city into an advertiser. City staff said they will draft a policy to add city‑approved special events to the website calendar and return it to the council for approval.

Resident Rebecca Waller urged the council to adopt a central calendar, saying, “I agree with councilman Heeman. I think that just having an event on the actual calendar would be helpful,” and described an occasion when she could not find information about a community run at Bluebird Park on the city calendar.

Council members also discussed continuing to allow community‑run pages (such as chamber or community Facebook groups) to host broader event listings while the official calendar remains curated for city‑approved activities. Staff noted that if the city agrees to a partnership with a volunteer group such as Illuminate Isanti, the agreement should require partners to supply graphics and allow the city to filter content for profanity or other inappropriate material.

Council members and staff said the city currently shares chamber posts when businesses are chamber members, and that ribbon‑cutting posts and new‑business announcements can be shared when staff time allows. The council asked staff to include a link to the chamber or community pages near the city calendar so residents can find additional local events with fewer clicks.

City staff estimated that adding approved events to the calendar would not be time‑intensive under the planned website redesign, which is scheduled for rollout this fall and will include improved calendar features. The council asked staff to return next month with a draft policy that implements the city‑approved calendar and defines the partnership approach for events such as Illuminate Isanti.

Less critical details: no formal motion on the calendar was adopted at the meeting; the staff commitment was presented as a direction to draft a policy and bring it back to a future council meeting for consideration.