What are the main cost issues with students requesting an alternate date for Mifflin?
We have costs for running the party on April 30 and on May 7. Based on the agreements we have with the police union what we were anticipating for May 7 was about $40,000 regular time and then about $40,000 for police overtime, for a cost of about $80,000 to run the party. For the 30th, the costs are different. For regular time, the costs are about $13,000, but the overtime is going to run about $83,000 for a total cost of about $96,000. The problem is we're more or less locked into most of this $40,000 regular police cost on May 7 because of a memorandum of understanding we signed with [the police] back in December.
Why is the cost a concern?
Anything that we do that exasperates the budget situation is a concern. In addition because we're Madison, the situation gets magnified. When [legislators] start talking, 'Geez, they're going to spend another $86,000 on this party,' you can just imagine what we're going to hear.
Are there any other concerns surrounding the date?
I think its been a little unfortunate there's this perception among the student body that this is a conspiracy, the whole date controversy. I want to assure each of you personally that this was just a tremendous oversight and we are going to make sure this doesn't happen in future years.
How will the city and police react to a potential party on April 30?
We have to find a way to deal with this issue. We're going to keep working with the students, and we're going to make sure everybody's safe. No matter what happens we're not going to allow a situation like [Halloween 2002.]
Will punishments be harsher April 30?
Nothing has been set in stone. There's still a lot of conversation that needs to happen.
One thing that they will do whether it's the 30th or the 7th is enforce certain laws. We have a glass ban for a reason. Open intoxicants-until there's thousands of people-I'm sure they could write tickets for that. We're planning on having the arrest process stationed in the basement of the City County Building [210 Martin Luther King Blvd.] like we did last year. At this point they're planning on doing it for the 30th and the 7th.
How will noise ordinances be enforced?
We're trying to have some accommodations since May 7 is the study date and Mifflin residents said they don't want to listen to bands until 8 p.m.
What will be done so this situation does not happen in the future?
We're going to check our calendars.
