Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 2.A
Meeting Date: July 9, 2025
From: Ryan Hunt, Communications & Events Manager
Title: Special Events Safety Procedures Presentation
RECOMMENDATION:
This is for presentation purposes only.
BACKGROUND:
With increasing threats in today's environment, it is important to ensure the city is updating our special events safety procedures as circumstances evolve. This includes reviewing incidents from other jurisdictions and learning from best practices across the industry. This presentation directly supports Strategic Plan Action E-14: Renew and improve our event safety planning, protocols and standards: streets, garage, amphitheater, parks and others.
This presentation represents a collaborative effort between third-party event organizers, the Cathedral City Police Department, Public Works Department, and the Communications & Events Department. The city currently holds safety logistics meetings approximately 30 days prior to each event to discuss layout, safety and security concerns, and coordinate response protocols. These meetings also include Facilities, Cathedral City Fire, and IT departments.
Additionally, the city conducts pre-event walkthroughs with Public Works and third-party event organizers to ensure all safety measures are properly implemented.
DISCUSSION:
In May 2025, the city sent Adam Chastain, Events & Recreation Coordinator, to attend specialized training in San Diego through the Special Event Safety Alliance (https://www.specialeventsafety.com/). This 2.5-day course is designed to provide law enforcement, private security, city and county officials, fire marshals, risk managers, civilian special event managers and others who manage events with the information, skills and tools necessary to provide a safe environment, reduce liability and guide individual and group behaviors at events.
Participants learn how to conduct thorough research, how to plan to avoid potential problems, and how to implement security and traffic plans to ensure a safe and secure event.
The primary focus of the course covers festivals, parades, carnivals, runs/marathons, sporting events, concerts, movie productions, demonstrations, conventions, religious, and commercial events.
The city currently employs comprehensive safety measures for special events, including detailed operational plans coordinated between the Police Department, Public Works Department, and Communications & Events staff. These plans include perimeter security measures such as water-filled Jersey barriers, Type-2 barricades with "Road Closed" signage, temporary chain link fencing, and strategic vehicle positioning to defend against both intentional and unintended vehicle-borne threats.
Current safety protocols also include incident command structures, designated staging areas for mutual aid response, private security coordination, and detailed communication plans utilizing dedicated radio frequencies for event operations.
Moving forward, the City plans to work on improving coordination for smaller scale closures and ensuring consistency across all events. Examples of this need include the temporary closure coordination for events such as the Palm Springs International Film Festival activities in front of the Mary Pickford Theatre in Downtown Cathedral City and the annual Rainbow Crossing paint party in front of the bell tower, which is conducted ahead of Cathedral City LGBT+ Days each year, where the Police Department and Public Works stepped up to enhance security and safety of the participants and the closure around them. Standardized procedures would enhance both safety and operational efficiency for these types of events.
The Communications & Events Department will have the Events & Recreation Coordinator develop a comprehensive event safety checklist that will be incorporated beginning with the fall events season. This checklist will serve as the universal guide for safety procedures for all Communications & Events staff, ensuring consistent application of safety protocols across all events regardless of size or scope.
These safety expectations will also be shared with Desert Recreation District as part of the new partnership that began on July 1, 2025. Additionally, the City's logistics meetings will extend to any event, no matter the scale, that could present safety and security concerns.
FISCAL IMPACT:
All safety expenditures come out of the event budgets approved by the City Council as part of the Communications & Events budget.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
E-14 – Renew and improve our event safety planning, protocols and standards: streets, garage, amphitheater, parks and others.
ATTACHMENTS:
None