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Chapter Twelve
It was shortly after lunch the next day when people started arriving at Derek’s house for their planning meeting. Pete and Steve arrived together. Samara, Linda, and Bob all came in soon after. Carrying a tote bag, Kylie was last. They all sat around Derek’s kitchen table with note pads and coffee mugs, as she unpacked her file, laptop, and the copy of the bylaws.
“We all know why we’re here.” He gave them a brief nod. “We’ve got to present a permit application to the council tomorrow night. If they deny it, all the hard work and planning we’ve put into the fair for next weekend will be wasted, and we’ll be back at square one in trying to educate the community. By then it will be too late for anyone to put pressure on the council members before construction approvals go through. In short, if these permits are denied, we’ve all but lost this fight.”
“No pressure there.” Bob whistled and leaned back in his chair.
“Now you’ve all met Kylie at this point, and she’s been reading through the bylaws, so I’ll let her take it from here.”
Wide-eyed, Kylie looked up at him. Maybe he should’ve given her a warning that she’d be presenting to the group. But she quickly buried her reaction and jumped into the work.
“Like Derek said, I’ve been through the bylaws, and there are three potential problems for us. One, the site of the event needs to be cleared by the fire department for fireworks. We don’t really have time for that, so I suggest we scrap the fireworks idea. We haven’t bought them yet, so we aren’t out on anything.” Nods came from around the table.
“Great.” She made a note on her open laptop. “That actually helps with our second issue—noise bylaws. We can’t have any loud noise past 9 PM. Between the bands, and speeches, and the general noise of activities it means we’d have to clear out by 8:30 to avoid penalties.”
“We were hoping to keep the bands going until ten,” Pete said.
“I know.” She frowned. “We can also apply to extend noise hours for the event, but I’m concerned we might be pushing our luck, and there would be an additional application.”
Samara spoke up, “I don’t think an earlier end time would make much difference to the families with young kids or to the retirees.”
“I suppose the others might not want to stay late anyway, since we won’t have a liquor license,” Steve said.
“We definitely do not have the time or funds for a liquor license.” Derek twirled a pen in his fingers. “Kylie, do you think it will impact what we are trying to do?”
“Actually,” she said slowly, “I was thinking about it, and because we want as many people there as possible to hear your speech, I think we should shorten the time of the fair. If it’s an all-day thing, people will come and go, but if it’s only say three to seven—”
“Then people will plan to stay the whole time,” Pete said.
“Exactly. And we’ll still have plenty of time for everyone to do all the activities, and we’ll have supper traffic for the barbeque.”
Nods from around the table told Derek she had made a good case for the shorter event.
“What’s the last problem, Kylie?” he asked.
“The timeline.” She slumped a bit in her chair. “Event permit applications are supposed to be submitted two weeks prior to any council meeting to allow the council members time to read over the applications before voting on it. We will essentially be ambushing them with this application, and they can deny it outright based on that alone.”
“But would they really?” Linda asked.
“Bette McDonald would.” Pete huffed.
“Well two of the five council members won’t be ambushed.” Steve pointed at Derek and Pete. “They’re already on board. We just have to sway one other member, right?”
“Right,” said Derek. “The one thing on our side is that they will have to make a decision on the spot, and Bette won’t have a chance to get to them.”
“I suggest we come up with a really compelling argument for why this fair is good for the town and why it needs to happen next weekend.” Kylie sat up straighter. “And we should have reasons that don’t have anything to do with the water treatment plant.”
Everyone sat quietly for a moment, and Derek could see the wheels turning as everyone tried to come up with an idea.
“Well, it’s good for my business,” Steve said. “I’ll make money at the fair, and it’s good advertising for the Burger Hut.”
“Yes. Great.” Kylie typed onto her laptop. “That’s actually a good argument for Audrey’s horseback riding lessons as well.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she chewed her lip.
Derek couldn’t help but notice how pink and lovely her lips were. Watching her put so much concentration into this project made a flutter appear in his stomach. There was no way they would be this close to their goal without her.
“What about all of our student volunteers who are helping with set up and take down?” Samara asked. “Those high school kids need their volunteer hours to graduate, so we’re providing an opportunity.”
“Oh, right!” She tapped away.
