GALT, CA (MPG) - The Galt City Council agreed to postpone a discussion on potentially changing city parade routes to give staff more time to come up with new alternative options. 

Interim City Manager Chris Erias pulled the Tuesday, April 1 agenda item, which would have been presented by Parks and Recreation Director Armando Solis, to give the city more time to determine future options to be considered. 

The City Council adopted a resolution in September 2016 approving parade routes for four different parades: Independence Day Celebration, Lighting of the Night, and the Galt High School and Liberty Ranch High School homecoming parades. 

During the construction of C Street, however, the city created a temporary parade route for the 2024 Independence Day and Lighting of the Night. The route was west on Caroline Avenue; onto E Street; north on Fifth Street; west on B Street; south on Fourth Street; east on E Street; before continuing onto Carolina Avenue and south on Chabolla Avenue. 

But according to city documents following the completion of the C Street Enhancement Project, city staff identified potential concerns with the currently approved Old Town parade route, most notably for larger floats attempting to make a left-hand turn onto C Street from Civic Drive due to the new median. New bike lanes and medians will also impact the line of sight for the parade from Civic Drive to Sixth Street. Overall, the width of the lane is narrower, causing potential issues. 

Vice-Mayor Paul Sandhu, who was overseeing the meeting in the absence of Mayor Shawn Farmer, agreed and asked for a list of alternative routes for the council to consider. The Council is slated to discuss the item at its next meeting on April 15. 

In other business, the Council voted to amend an ordinance on the minimum insurance policy required by special event organizers to protect against personal injury and property damage arising from the coverage. 

Special event organizers are required to provide proof of public general liability insurance if they plan to host events approved by the city. 

According to city documents, it was determined that the $1 million commercial general liability requirement in the ordinance no longer met the requirements set by the City of Galt’s Joint Powers Association. 

The council approved an amendment that changed the language from $1 million, to the recommended limits set by the Northern California Cities Self Insurance Fund Joint Pooling Authority, which change on a more frequent basis. 

The change allows the city to avoid having to amend the ordinance at future dates if the insurance requirements change again.