The dueling parades of 2022 may be a one-shot deal if the City Council approves new guidelines that were already in the works for public festivities.
At the regular meeting of the city council this Thursday evening, city leaders will consider approving new guidelines for cosponsorship status for special events.
‘It’s going to get more formal, and we are going to ask for more information from them,” said Main Street Manager Jan Harris, who was tasked with drafting the new guidelines. “There is going to be more accountability.”
Last Saturday, citing inclusivity concerns, the city hosted a second Very Merry Holiday parade that welcomed LGBTQ-plus community members. This parade immediately followed Taylor’s Christmas Parade of Lights, sponsored by the Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance, which normally hosts the event. This year, TAMA had changed its guidelines for entry to include only floats with traditional family and biblical values after complaints about a float from Taylor Pride that included individuals dressed in drag the previous year.
Though the two parades were peaceful, Osborne said next year these new guidelines may prevent these kinds of situations from happening in the future.
“Having a sponsorship policy in place would help with situations like this last situation that came up with the parade (last weekend), and any other situations moving forward, and it’s a good thing to have in place,” said Stacey Osborne, the city’s public information officer. “The reason we started creating a co-sponsorship policy is because we have been asked more and more to co-sponsor activities throughout the city … it just makes sense to have a policy in place. Most cities do.”
Currently, a nonprofit organization sometimes seeks co-sponsorship status with the city because they do not have the manpower or infrastructure to run big events.
“It’s easier because we provide a big force,” Harris said. “It relieves it from having to have so many volunteers. If a 501c3 group wants to partner with us, we can help them with their event by closing streets.”
However, helping in this way comes with a cost to the city, especially for a parade, Harris said.
“Because we realize that doing a full-blown parade costs north of $5,000, when you have to figure you are closing a state road, a TXDOT road, having all the police get time and a half, and the public works guys get time and a half, not to mention all the vehicles, it’s an extremely expensive endeavor,” Harris said.
Under the proposed guidelines, to be considered, nonprofit organizations will have to demonstrate that they are tax-exempt, be family friendly, and may not “discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, familial, disability, or veteran status,” among many other requirements, according to the proposed guidelines.
In other business, at the Thursday night meeting, council will also hold a public hearing and introduce a new amendment to the Transportation Master Plan of the Envision Taylor Comprehensive Plan and will receive an update on the City’s preparedness for a winter storm event.
The Taylor City Council regularly meets the second and fourth Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 400 Porter St. in Taylor. Agendas and live broadcasts are available at http://www.taylortx. gov.
