Centerville cancels Christmas parade

Centerville Mayor and Council met for its October work session on Tuesday, during which time, it was decided by a split vote of four to one, that the city would cancel this year’s Christmas parade. The move to pull this year’s event was a difficult one for mayor and council, but one that was ultimately deemed necessary.

During her presentation of the subject matter, Director of Marketing Kate Hogan shared that the event committee had met last week to address events in the changing culture of COVID-19. “During the discussion we talked diligently about the 2020 Lighted Christmas Parade, and it is the event committee’s suggestion to mayor and council to cancel this year’s Christmas parade out of an abundance of caution for our staff and for our residents and visitors who know and love this event.”

Hogan pointed out that it would be extremely difficult to keep five to 10 thousand people off the streets when throwing candy, let alone trying to social distance them or enforce the wearing of masks.

During the discussion that followed, council considered holding off on the decision until the November meeting, however it was explained by Hogan that there were vendor deadlines as well as preparation time to consider as well.

“We chose October to address these issues just because there have been significant questions, and this is kind of the end all be all time that we can make the decision to have it or not to have it, to give our staff a month—maybe a little bit more—to be able to execute an event of this magnitude.” She also mentioned that she and Director of Operations Mike Brumfield had spoken with a couple of vendors, and those vendors had made it known that they would not be participating this year, even if the city moved forward with the event. “They’re already staggering their employees,” Hogan explained, “and to have a float in our parade, they have to have all of their employees together.”

To that, Councilman Justin Wright replied, “So, we’re not only worried about being able to socially distance the people that attend the parade, we’re also concerned that we may not have the participation.”

“Yes, sir,” Hogan confirmed. “At this point and time, the events committee has suggested to cancel this parade; we’re just looking for mayor and council’s [approval].”

“I would point out that the governor’s executive order still doesn’t permit gatherings of more than 50 people,” City Attorney Rebecca Tydings reminded.

Before calling for the vote, Mayor John Harley said, “This is a city-wide decision, and it’s one that we all hate. I was here when we had our very first Christmas parade, and it’s gotten bigger and better every year and has been enjoyed by a lot more people every year. It’s an absolutely wonderful event, and it breaks my heart to say that we will have to cancel it.”

The final decision was a split one with Councilman Cameron Andrews voting against the cancellation of the parade. It was noted that Perry had already canceled its Christmas parade and the expectation was that Rigby’s would do the same.

Another item of discussion was the Trellis Walk Reconstruction. City Accountant Carol Harrison informed mayor and council that two quotes were received; one for the full deck reclamation and the other to remove and replace subgrade with GAB and repave. She stated that they full deck reclamation, with the estimated amount of $133,627 was the one that was being considered.

“I understand that there’s been a lot of conversation that this road is in dire need of this reclamation,” Harrison said. “I do want to point out that Director of Operations Brumfield did want me to emphasize that this is an estimate and we’re not really going to know the true cost until the project is bid. He also stated that this may or may not fix the actual problem, or it may fix it for five, 10 or 15 years.”

After some discussion, it was clarified that storm water funding could not be used due to the fact that the problem in question, according to Attorney Tydings, is “not a storm water issue, but an underground water issue.” Council agreed to approve to move forward with the bid and to revisit the funding source, if necessary.

As the meeting drew near an end, Chief Ricky Harlowe (who has been serving in the capacity of interim chief at Centerville Police Department since the announcement of Chief Chuck Hadden’s medical leave) offered a status update on CPD. As a part of it, Harlowe said, “We’re looking at starting the command staff and rebuilding it now—whether it be a captain or a lieutenant or what have you. I’m currently talking with the chief sheriff and the chief deputy of the sheriff’s office and seeing what avenue will be best to take on this.” Harlowe also stated, “I’d like to thank mayor and council for entrusting me in building this command staff and trying to help you, and I’ll certainly do what I can to pull this together. You have a solid department. You have a lot of good officers that are over there that are dedicated.”

Before adjourning Tuesday’s meeting, November’s work session was rescheduled due to its regular date falling on November 3, which is Election Day. It was unanimously agreed upon that Centerville City Council’s next work session will be held on Thursday, November 5 and that it be scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. rather than the normal time of 7:00 p.m.

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