Police Chief Bryan Denton presented the McMinnville Board of Mayor and Aldermen with a list of fun run guidelines at the board’s recent Safety Committee meeting.
Denton has been concerned with the safety of participants at these events and has been working to come up with safe routes through the downtown area which would require the minimum amount of police supervision. Denton noted this could save money for both the city and run organizers.
Denton said he talked with Tennessee Municipal League Risk Management representatives and several other municipalities across the state, Cookeville in particular, about how they handled these kinds of events.
“With what I took from them, and some Internet research, I put together what I think is something that will work,” Denton said, noting that according to TML the race organizers would be responsible for their own insurance.
“TML can cover our interests but they can’t cover the interests of others,” Denton said, noting he addressed that in the guidelines. “I also request we have a requirement that organizers have participants sign a waiver with the city listed in the waiver.”
Even though Denton has expressed reservations about night races, he did include guidelines for these runs, which includes reflective gear.
“One concern that TML had with night runs is that folks have reflective material on,” Denton said. “They said do not accept excuses for that not happening. I really don’t know how to enforce that, but I talked to a couple of organizers of night races and they said they’ve bought some reflective material to do that.”
The main section of the guidelines stated the procedures, rules and costs necessary to schedule running events, which are:
• Contact the police department for an initial meeting to discuss the fun run/ walk, and choose a course that best suits the needs of the event. The police department will then forward the request to the Safety Committee for discussion, then to the full board for approval.
The city has identified four courses (C-1 through C-4) that are acceptable, along with the potential cost to the event organizer. Courses other than the four identified will need to be submitted three months prior to the event for liability analysis and to figure the probable cost to the organizer. The city charges $50 per hour (minimum 2 hours) for each police officer required. The four courses identified were chosen with minimal cost to the organizer in mind.
Recommended start times for races are from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends or national holidays. If night races are approved, they should start 30 minutes after dusk and only on courses C-3 and C-4. Each run will be led by a marked police department car.
There was a list of nine guidelines altogether which addressed issues with volunteers, sign-in sheets, insurance, placement of race warning signs and traffic cones and written race instructions and also listed a set of eight rules for volunteers.
All the aldermen had expressed their support of these events at the meeting where Denton addressed his concerns, but agreed there should be set guidelines.
Denton said he could make any changes to the guidelines the board deemed necessary, but Alderman Clair Cochran said she was impressed with the results of Denton’s work as it stood.
“I think this is excellent,” Cothran said. “This is exactly what I was hoping to see so that you don’t have to spend your time trying to manage others. We want them to manage themselves when they come to the table with this type of request and you can put your stamp of approval on it. This is excellent.”
Alderman Jimmy Haley agreed it was a good idea to come up with the guidelines.
“We don’t have to keep revisiting it every time, going over the same things over and over,” Haley said. “To me it makes it more clear. It’s standard, so there’s no questions.”
A motion was made to approve the guidelines and it passed unanimously.
A copy of the guidelines, along with maps of the routes, are available at McMinnville Police Department.