The County Commission voted unanimously during their Aug. 27 meeting to adopt rules for county open space property.

The rules aren’t intended to apply to rental facilities such as Montana Expo Park and during the meeting, commissioners pointed out that an exception was also needed for Black Eagle Park.

The courthouse lawn is the most frequently used open space where the rules would apply.

The adopted rules, verbatim, are as follows:

• “All equipment and supplies needed for the event shall be provided by the user. Refuse shall be disposed of in the appropriate containers and/or removed from the property no later than the time use has ceased;
• Any heavy objects such as trailers, equipment, animals, cooking equipment, garbage containers, ice chests, coolers, tents, etc. shall not be placed on the grass. Such items may be placed on the cemented areas only. The county reserves the right to review placement of all items on lawns and sidewalks to insure the adequate safety of the users and the public and to insure the best protection of the lawn, shrubs, trees, sidewalk, etc.;
• Any damage to flowers, shrubs, sidewalks, trees, or any other county property in the may be itemized by the county and charged to the user within one week of the event;
• No alcoholic beverages are allowed;
• No user of the county public open space property shall obstruct or otherwise render vehicular or pedestrian traffic impassable, not shall such users obstruct or render the free ingress or egress to public places impassable;
• The county shall not provide electrical power or other utilities. All power cords, lights and accessories shall be provided by the user;
• No user of county public open space property shall be obstruct, impair of hinder the performance of governmental functions. Cascade County’s operations (including routine maintenance, landscaping, etc.) and its workforce have precedence over third parts use of county property. Accordingly, the user shall ensure, at all times, that Cascade County’s operations and those persons performing such operations are not unreasonably disrupted or interfered with.”

During the Aug. 27 County Commission meeting, Carey Ann Haight, chief of the civil division of the county attorney’s office said that if there’s a conflict between county operations and an event, county operations take precedence.

But the county has no desire to establish a permitting system for use of open space, said Commissioner Joe Briggs.

Commissioner Jane Weber said that for the most part, people call 24-48 hours in advance if they’re planning to use the courthouse lawn and there are several long standing annual events that coordinate with the county.

Jenn Rowell

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