Council allocates up to $15,000 on trial for July 4 parade safety measures

Enumclaw — The City Council on May 26 approved an amended motion to appropriate up to $15,000 on a trial basis for additional traffic and safety measures at the July 4 parade after staff and chamber representatives described mounting public-safety and logistical concerns for large events.

Councilmember Martineau introduced a request stemming from a meeting with police, event planning staff, city shops and the chamber that asked for funding to rent barricades and hire additional staffing for parade route crowd control. Martineau said the request was not intended to shift responsibility onto the police department but rather to fund event-production safety infrastructure.

Staff and council discussed quotes and logistics: staff said initial government-contract pricing for aluminum barricades reduced earlier rental quotes; barricade rental was discussed in the range of roughly $8,000 for a portion of the route, and an initial 4,000 linear-foot estimate for full-route deployment was discussed as an example. Staff noted renting initially would let the city assess requirements before committing to purchase and highlighted storage, deployment and overtime staffing implications.

After discussion of alternative lower-cost configurations (targeted barricades at key intersections with increased stewarding), a councilmember moved to amend the original motion to appropriate up to $15,000 for the July 4 parade on a trial basis to be implemented by administration, police and the chamber. The amendment was seconded and adopted, and the main motion as amended passed with an indicated count of 5 to 1 in favor.

Council directed administration to work with the chamber and police to determine how best to spend the funds for the trial and to report back after the event to inform December and future plans.