Tumby Bay District Council has overturned a decision to no longer cover the cost of on-site traffic management at events.
The council recently planned to redistribute much of the costs back to the community groups that hosted events, however after discussions in the past few weeks, elected members moved to cover the costs for the rest of the fiscal year.
The decision to not cover costs was initially communicated to community event organisers in October after concerns about public safety for the executive team, insurers, and work health and safety obligations were raised.
Deputy mayor Julie Elliot said she and councillor Trevor Smith were not approached by any community groups when they brought the idea to the council this month to continue to fund the traffic management costs through to June 2024.
“To do it [make the changes] midway through a budget…it just seemed to be the right thing to do by the community groups,” she said.
“Next year we’ll have a new budget so the council can go from there.”
A council report showed the recommendation was intended to give certainty to the community for the remainder of the current financial year relating to traffic management costs, where they were required to be incurred.
Approval delegation for traffic management costs at further events for the financial year will go to the council chief executive officer Rebecca Hayes.
Event traffic management costs being covered in the current financial year include the Tumby Bay Christmas Parade ($1316), Under the Pines ($1415) and Colour Tumby Fun Run ($458).
Under the Pines event chairperson Leticia Masters said the committee was relieved the council had decided to cover the cost of on-site traffic management for this and other events in the district.
She said the earlier decision would have exhausted community sponsorship and threatened the capacity of future events such as the Port Neill market.
“We would like to sincerely thank Marcia Octoman, community and economic development officer, for her work on this matter and we look forward to working with the council to ensure our event remains safe and successful for years to come,” Ms Masters said.
“Just six short weeks until our unique, family friendly and free twilight market is held in Port Neill, we can’t wait to see you all there.”
Ms Hayes said the council could potentially purchase traffic management signs and cones to minimise costs for organisations holding events 2024-25.
“This does not remove the requirement for organisers to have a traffic management plan and persons holding the requisite traffic management qualifications at the event to oversee traffic management,” she said.
“Use of the signs by contractors, where the event organiser chooses to use a contractor, will be at the discretion of the contractor themselves.”
Ms Hayes stated it had become clear that, notwithstanding conversations prior to the official email going to event organisers, there was a misapprehension to the council’s intent.
“This has created angst amongst our community and for our elected members, for which I apologise,” she said.
“Only in the last two weeks we saw the traffic barriers breached at the Port Adelaide Enfield Christmas Pageant. Given the number of people in the area at the time it was a matter of luck that no one was injured.
“In Port Adelaide Enfield’s instance, a traffic management plan was in place, external traffic management contractors and SAPOL in attendance – this is an important reminder to us all, that with all the best levels of management in place accidents can occur.”
Ms Hayes said the likelihood of an accident occurring increased were adequate precautions were not in place.
“Public safety is paramount, the safe enjoyment of our community events by everyone is my goal, which I have no doubt is a goal I share with event organisers and participants alike.”
Recommendations by the council moving forward included that prior to adopting the 2024-25 budget there is to be preparation of a policy for elected members to consider encompassing community events and traffic management requirements.
