Council discussed Freedom Barks and food trucks at this week’s meeting.
At this week’s meeting, township council discussed a request from the Freedom Barks organization to consider covering its liability insurance costs.
Township manager Kathy Burger said multiple members have left the group due to lack of insurance because of the fear if someone gets injured on Freedom Barks premises, they could try to sue members of the organization.
Mayor Chuck Watson said they do not pay for liability insurance for other organizations in town, using the Medford Business Association as an example, therefore they should not be required to cover the costs for Freedom Barks.
Deputy Mayor Brad Denn proposed an idea to possibly have the nonprofit group join the Neighborhood Services Advisory Committee as a board or sub-board to them, covering them under their liability insurance, as a way to potentially get around paying the $7,000 per year policy.
If that were to happen, Freedom Barks would be required to abide by regulations set by the township.
Multiple members of the council, along with Burger, agreed they don’t feel Freedom Barks has liability and they should look into director and operations insurance instead, as that option is substantially cheaper.
Burger said she will speak to the group and report back with what it chooses to do.
The next topic of discussion was food trucks, with the next event being held on Main Street on Dec. 20 starting at 6 p.m.
There will not be food truck events held during January and February, however, the council agreed to have them start back up on the third Thursday of March as a way to kick off the spring season.
They discussed their “rain or shine” policy for food truck events, considering the addition of a rain date in case of very inclement weather.
The current ordinance allows food trucks to be on Main Street twice a month, but they may have to amend the ordinance to reflect any potential rain dates, given the language of the ordinance states the events are rain or shine.
Councilman Frank Czekay suggested they bring food trucks to Main Street twice a month starting in April, lasting throughout the warmer months.
Burger said she will review the ordinance in regard to that and a rain date. The discussion will continue at the next meeting.
In other news:
- Updated World War II and Korean War Monument designs have been presented to the council. They all agreed the updated designs are more consistent with the old designs and will move on to the next step of the process.
The next regular meeting will be held on Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Public Safety Building located at 91 Union St. at 7 p.m.
