Organizers ask borough to license college parking lot after insurer won’t underwrite new assault coverage

Organizers of the Low Show told the Committee of the Whole on Thursday they need Pottstown Borough to license a Montgomery County Community College parking lot for event parking because the college now requires an insurance rider — sexual‑abuse and molestation coverage — that event insurers will not underwrite for an open, unstaffed parking lot.

Jamie, a show organizer, said the lot has been used for Low Show parking in past years and that event liability insurance naming the college was arranged previously. This year the college’s contract added a rider the organizer’s broker could not find on the market. The organizer and the borough’s insurance agent, Weidner Insurance, reported they queried multiple underwriters and were unable to secure the requested rider for an open lot.

Borough staff and legal counsel explained a potential workaround: if the borough formally licenses the lot and makes it available as a borough‑sponsored location for the event, the county college’s general liability policy that covers municipal uses of its facilities would apply and the borough would be covered under the college’s policy for that use. Staff said the borough would require the organizer to sign a hold‑harmless/indemnity agreement for the event.

College policy changes and a recent administrative reorganization were cited by a former college employee who appeared and described how previously separate facilities and parking‑lot permissions were consolidated; that consolidation, she said, has led to the current requirement and the impasse. A borough risk‑management speaker with experience in insurance and event risk assessment told council that to obtain the college’s requested rider the organizer would effectively need to insure its entire event operations to the same standard, which would be expensive and impractical.

Council members listed the item for formal consideration on Monday’s council agenda to allow time for staff to draft a licensing agreement and indemnity form. Staff said licensing the lot for the event would not require an increase to borough insurance but would require the organizer to execute a hold‑harmless agreement and to incorporate the parking lot into the organizer’s event policy naming the borough as an additional insured.

No vote was taken at this meeting. Organizers and borough staff said they will pursue a licensing route and return to council with draft paperwork on Monday.