Ostego County decided to “indefinitely suspend” the hosting of the annual Otsego Lake Splash-In at Otsego Lake County Park in Gaylord, Michigan, where the event has been held for over 40 years.
Local outlet WPBN/WGTU reported that a letter was sent to event organizers earlier this week explaining the county’s decision, citing legal liabilities and financial burdens associated with the event. The choice to discontinue hosting the splash-in was made by the Otsego County Parks and Recreation Commission at a meeting on August 11. In the letter, the commission says they would consider continuing to host the event, but would require a minimum of $5 million liability insurance coverage plan and a $100,000 fee to use the lake.
“This liability coverage plan and fee would be to cover the Parks and Recreation department staff time, Otsego County police and emergency staff time for planning and staffing the event, plus liability and safety risks that Otsego County would be taking on by hosting the event,” the letter states.
Since its inception, the fly-in event has been organized by the Rhodes family, who previously worked closely with the park administrators. The family currently has a pavilion named after them at the park.
Family member Sarah Rhodes told the news outlet that prior to receiving the letter in the mail notifying them of the decision, her family had received no prior notification that a meeting concerning the event was even on the docket.
Of the six members present at the meeting, five voted yes to move forward with the event’s suspension.
Hopefully, SPA - Seaplane Pilots Assoc. gets involved with this as the county seems very evasive in explaining their logic.
What triggered the ghost meeting to impose sudden new insurance and financial fee requirements? Why did the Parks board require several weeks to pump out a letter cutting the event off with incredibly short notice? Surely the Parks board knew that the seaplane event required months of planning and financial investments for up front preparations.
Another triumph for the predatory tort bar.
Too many government bodies use flash-mob meetings to enact policies they know will be unpopular. When they don’t announce, don’t engage in dialog, and don’t explain, they are imposing their will. A good government official at least tries to engage constructively with his/her constituents.
The Green New Deal commies don’t want gasoline engine airplanes on their lake, fishermen don’t want them there, or maybe democrats who hate everything. Who knows.
Too many forget the 2011 event in Reno at the air races there where Galloping Ghost became a ballistic missle into a crowd. While Reno and the airport had at least-50 million in liability coverage. there are most likely still a lot of claims from that which have not settled. The next year, their insurance cost nearly tripled and the city had to go to a lot of businesses in town to belly up to help pay the premium. All it takes is one catastrophe to bankrupt an entire town. The litigators are still licking their chops.
All lakes in the State of Michigan are owned by the State. The State of Michigan owns Otsego Lake, Otsego County does not own the lake. Therefore Otsego County has no jurisdiction preventing seaplane ops on Otsego Lake. The lake is not closed to seaplane operations. Otsego County can prevent the Splash-In event from taking place at the County owned campground on the lake (not a very pleasant campground anyway). But it can not prevent the event from happening on Otsego Lake. The State Of Michigan owns a State Park on the south end of the lake (a very nice campground). Many of the Splash-In participants already stay at the State Park.