Council approves $15,000 trial for July 4 parade safety measures

The Enumclaw City Council on May 26 approved up to $15,000 in trial funding for safety measures at the July 4 parade, after debate over costs, logistics and impacts on downtown parking.

Council member Martinell, raising concerns about parade crowd size this year and public-safety capacity, proposed a $30,000 allocation to the Chamber of Commerce for barriers and staffing for two parades. "The request is for funding of safety of $15,000 per parade, which includes $8,000 to go towards temporary barriers," Martinell explained. Staff and council members discussed rental versus purchase costs, storage and deployment time; parks staff said government contract pricing reduced an initial fence quote by about half.

After extended discussion about staging, parking impacts for downtown businesses, deployment time (three to four days) and how many linear feet of barriers would be required, council member (speaker 3) moved to amend the request to up to $15,000 for the July 4 parade as a trial. The amendment was seconded and approved; the subsequent motion for up to $15,000 for July 4 passed on a recorded margin of 5–1.

City staff warned the council that logistics will be complicated if the route remains closed for deployment; staff said rented barricades typically require crews to stage and deploy equipment and that parade staging the night before (or overnight) can create trade-offs with businesses. Council directed administration, police and the Chamber of Commerce to determine the best combination of barricading and staffing within the approved budget and to return with implementation plans.