Page 26 of Starfish Cottage
Maddie worked all the next day gathering information on the party idea for the committee meeting. Dex was busy around the house, finishing up the wall, and then he moved to the exterior.
She sat on the back deck, so they really didn’t have a chance to talk. She felt a little awkward about the way Lorelei had peered through the window at them the night before. She didn’t want Dex to get into trouble with his girlfriend, but she also kind of missed talking to him.
The committee met in a small room in the town hall. Metal folding chairs were arranged around a long table. Rose, Lorna Baxter, Belinda Simms, Alice, and Constance were already there when Maddie arrived. She handed a stack of papers to each of them and told them about her ideas. To her relief, everyone seemed excited, especially about the Great Gatsby party.
“We could make it really festive and hang party lights, and I can place giant ferns in the corner of the tent,” Lorna said.
“My cousin plays in a jazz band. I could see if we can book them. I’m sure he’d give us a discount,” Belinda Simms offered.
“I think the owners will let us use the old donut shop for cooking the appetizers, and maybe we could even set up some tables inside,” Alice Cunningham suggested.
“Okay, good. It sounds like the event is a go, then?” Maddie glanced hopefully at Constance, who was seated at the end of the table, her mouth set in a thin line. She hadn’t said a word the entire time, and Maddie was apprehensive about the large blue binder she had in front of her.
“I do think the party is at least something that doesn’t focus totally on drinking.” Constance flipped open the binder. “However, from your diagram on the merchants, events, and layout of the entire thing, I believe there are several bylaw violations.”
Everyone fidgeted in their seats.
“Oh? Which ones? Maybe we can change things to comply,” Maddie said hopefully. She was willing to work with Constance to get the approval, but she couldn’t change the entire theme of the event. Rosone’s fan club was expecting certain things.
Constance started flipping through the book. “Section five, article A states that no obstructions should be placed in front of the town businesses.” She gestured toward the sketches Maddie had made with vendor tents lining the sidewalks to show what the town might look like that day. “You clearly have tents in front of the businesses.”
“Oh, good point.” Maddie supposed the town forefathers might have been on to something with that one. People would want others to see their storefronts and go into the stores.
“Maybe we could put the tents in the grassy common area,” Belinda suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” Rose chimed in. “We’ll set them up so that when people come out of the shops, they see the fronts of the tents. That way they might see a display they want to check out.”
“That will work perfectly.” Maddie tried to adjust her mental picture of the event and looked over at Constance. “Is that it?”
Constance shook her head. “No. Article ten, subset four states that any public event needs to include the correct facilities. I don’t see any accommodations for toileting.”
That was no problem. “I did think about that and have a call in to Johnson’s Porta Potties. I don’t have a quote yet, and I didn’t draw them in because I couldn’t find a good place to put them. But now that we’ve moved the tents to the common area, that solves the problem of where to put them. If we line the tents up facing the shops, we can put the porta potties behind the tents. They’ll be out of sight but easily accessible.”
Constance nodded as if she approved. It was the first time Maddie had actually seen that she might not be determined to shut down the event.
“There you go! See how useful these committees are?” Rose said. “Now that’s settled. Let’s finalize the plans and settle on a date so Maddie can get the advertising rolling.”
“Not so fast.” Constance flipped to another page. “Section twenty-five, article B states liquor cannot be provided unless it is within two hundred feet of a licensed establishment. Now if you put Burt’s moonshine display”—her lips curled in distaste at the word—“out in the common area, that will be a violation. And if you plan to serve cocktails on the pier, another violation. I’m afraid you’re going to have to adjust your plan.”
Constance flipped the notebook shut and sat back in her chair, seeming pleased that she’d thrown a wrench in the works.
“Oh, come on, Connie.” Lorna gestured toward the binder. “Those bylaws are ancient. I think we can make an exception.”
“That sets a very bad precedent. If we make an exception for this, then someone will want to make an exception for something else, and before you know it, we won’t have any laws.”
“She has a point,” Rose said. “We need to change it legally.”
All of Maddie’s hopeful expectations were deflated. “Do we have time for that?”
“Could take months, years even,” Connie said.
Belinda narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t there a mechanism to get around a bylaw temporarily?”
Constance shook her head. “Not that I know of.”
Rose sighed. “Maybe we need to rethink some of this. Burt will be disappointed about his moonshine display, and the party is the thing setting the event apart.”
Constance stood, clutching her binder. “You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Without the party, you violate one bylaw, and with it you violate another. I don’t know what the solution is, but it seems like you have your work cut out for you if you still want to have this event.”
