The Meridian City Council is expected to vote next Tuesday on new security protocols for downtown events after city officials presented the new guidelines in a work session Tuesday.

 

Community Development Director Craig Hitt said his department, which is involved in all downtown events, along with Meridian Police, Fire and Public Safety, as well as local stakeholders, have been meeting since October to craft the new guidelines to keep people safe. The policy will help both the city and event organizers know what safety measures are needed and who is responsible for providing them.

 

The move, he said, comes after some incidents last year, as well as the New Year’s Eve terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, highlighted the need to prepare for the worst.

 

“We had a couple situations last year that concerned us and we all saw the event that took place, or incident that took place in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve, I think it was, ” he said.

 

Cultural Affairs Director Terrance Davis said Meridian is seeing more and more events added to the calendar, and established events are seeing crowd sizes swell. While that is an overwhelmingly positive trend for the city, it necessitates officials reevaluate security and make changes where needed, he said.

 

“It’s about safety and a successful event,” he said.

 

Under the new policy, events will be required to provide security inside the venue, ranging from four security personnel to 12 depending on how many people are in attendance. Metal detectors to screen attendees will be available to events of all sizes but mandatory for events with 1,000 people and up.

 

Davis said private security is needed for inside the venues as Meridian Police Department cannot be expected to cover both its regular policing duties and large downtown festivities. Should police get called away, he said, there needs to be enough security present to handle issues if they arise.

 

“We’re saying if you have 500 people in that space, and you only have two security persons, that’s not a good ratio,” he said.

 

Cooper Huff, a member of Arts and Community Events Society, which puts on Full Moon on Fifth and Meridian Mardi Gras, said his organization is concerned about the additional cost the new regulations will place on event organizers. The extra spending on security could mean cutting in other areas or stopping events all together, he said.

 

Councilwoman Romande Walker said Meridian’s downtown scene is growing, and addressing security concerns is a part of that growth. The safety of city residents and visitors, however, must come first, she said.

 

“We are growing and we need to be secure,” she said. “We need to secure this before anything happens.”

 

Councilman Dwayne Davis said he fully supports efforts to improve public safety, but he also has concerns about the impact additional security costs could have. He suggested the council put off voting on the issue at its next meeting to further discuss the issue and explore what secondary effects it may have.

 

Hitt said the city’s proposal will not have the impact Huff said, and while he acknowledged ACES’s worries, other event organizers have not come forward with similar concerns. By far, he said, those involved in putting on events have communicated their support for the policy going forward.