Midland City Council members will discuss at their March 26 meeting if the 13 special events currently listed on the city’s insurance policy should remain and whether others should be added to the list.

“The list could change. They will decide if they want to make any amendments to that list and add any events as city-sponsored events,” said Sara Higgins, the city’s public information officer.

Events currently included on the city’s insurance policy are the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, National Night Out, Run from the Cops, Star-Spangled Salute, Toys for Tots, the city’s Christmas parade, Make-A-Wish’s Race for Wishes, Show of Support Parade, Juneteenth Celebration, 4th of July Children’s Sidewalk Parade, Miracle on Tyler Street and the Lee and Midland high school homecoming parades.

Higgins said the council members will discuss why these events are included and whether the city should sponsor them.

A new city ordinance regarding special events and parades went into effect March 1. It requires all groups wishing to host an event, even those listed on the city’s insurance plan, to have comprehensive general liability insurance covering up to $2 million per occurrence for their event. In addition, the group must submit their application at least 30 days in advance of the event.

At this time, each entity holding a special event, regardless if they’re listed on the city’s special events policy, needs to have individual insurance for their organization, Higgins said.

“Just because you’re city-sponsored doesn’t mean you don’t need your own insurance,” Higgins said. “All it means is we’re waiving application fees and possibly providing a city facility free of charge. …You need to go in front of City Council to become city-sponsored and to waive the need for insurance.”

A template of the certificate of insurance that an entity needs to provide when applying for a special event is kept at the city attorney’s office at City Hall, Higgins said.

Groups wishing to obtain city sponsorship — in the form of waived fees — or hoping the council will grant a waiver of insurance requirements are encouraged to begin the application process more than 30 days in advance to ensure it is completed correctly, Higgins said.

“If you start the application early, we can be flexible and walk you through the process,” Higgins said. “We’ve had people turn in applications very, very close to the event in the past and we want to give both parties time to work together to open that line of communication so things will work smoothly.”

The 30-day requirement is meant to ensure groups wishing to go before the City Council can be placed on the appropriate agenda in a timely manner, Higgins said.

To date, no group that has applied for a permit has been denied, Higgins said.

“Change is hard and people are having to realize that what they’re doing now might not be the same as last year as far as planning and scheduling,” Higgins said. “The one thing that we ask is that applicants get started in the process earlier than they’re used to.”

To streamline this process and make it easier for applicants to understand, Higgins said the city is developing a “Cliff Notes version of everything that’s under this ordinance” that will be available online next week. It is meant to provide more guidance to potential applicants for special events.

Special event applications are available in the city manager’s office on the third floor of City Hall.