Genoans seek exemption from festival ordinance

A rewrite of Douglas County's festival permit was missing one important point, Genoans decided Tuesday.

Members of the town board approved a resolution asking commissioners to exempt the unincorporated towns from the ordinance.

As written the ordinance would affect how Genoa obtains permission to put on its annual Candy Dance fundraiser, which is responsible for more than 70 percent of the town's annual budget.

The rewritten ordinance exempts assemblies at any permanent place of worship, stadium, athletic field arena, auditorium, coliseum or other permanently established location, athletic events sponsored by schools colleges, professional sports teams or organized amateur athletic associations or Douglas County Parks & Recreation events.

Since the unincorporated towns are advisory to the county, the Genoa Town Board voted 5-0 to seek the inclusion of the towns under the list of exemptions.

Town Manager Sheryl Gonzales said there were other issues with the ordinance that would be solved if the town was exempt, such as having to get the state to provide a plan for traffic control or getting health permits to go with food vendors, when the permit is submitted to the county. Typically, the town seeks approval of the Candy Dance permit in February, long before it knows which food vendors will be participating.

County commissioners were scheduled to hear the first reading of the ordinance at their regular meeting in Stateline on Thursday.