CENTER MUNICIPALITY – Liability experts urged Middle Township to move forward with an ordinance that would keep bounce houses and other inflatable rides off township property, at least for private events.
The City Committee had discussed an ordinance earlier this year, but it was shelved after residents raised questions about the impact. The ordinance was not on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, but it appeared to garner strong support.
“In our position as the Township Committee, we don’t want to be the Grinch, but we are paid to be the adult in the room,” Mayor Tim Donohue said Monday.
He said the governing body has a responsibility to protect the taxpayer.
“This is a very litigious world, and one of our biggest expenses can be lawsuits. That’s just the world we live in,” Donohue said.
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After the meeting, Donohue said he wasn’t sure when a new ordinance might come back before the three-member committee.
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When the ordinance was voted on at an earlier meeting, several parents spoke out against it, saying it harmed children, including those who may not have the opportunity to go to a party with inflatables at a private home.
At a workshop meeting Monday, committee members heard from Jennifer Modica and Michael McLaughlin, risk management consultants with the agency Marsh and McLennan, which advises the Joint Insurance Fund, a group of area municipalities that serve as a self-funded insurance agency.
The JIF also advises communities on security risks and practices. At the workshop meeting, committee members were told it was up to the township to allow the rides on public land, but if there was a lawsuit, the township would not be covered.
This would include the cost of legal fees associated with defending the case.
In addition to inflatable bounce houses, in which children enter an enclosed area and bounce on the inflated cushion, the ordinance would include other inflatable amusements, such as slides and obstacle courses.
Anything a child climbs on would fall within the state’s definition, Modica told the committee.
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When used at a township-sponsored event, he added, an employee of the company providing the ride would have to stay there while it’s open and test it before allowing children access.
Until now, Donohue said, the township has had few rules governing its use. There appears to have been no problem with inflatable rides in Middle Township, but several studies have shown an increasing number of injuries and even fatalities related to inflatable rides. More than 90% of the accidents were related to bounce houses, which are sometimes also described as bouncy castles, moon bounces or by other names.
In some cases, inflated bounce houses that were not properly secured were lifted into the air by high winds. Other incidents saw the ride suddenly deflate, and the children landed on a hard surface. Injuries often occur because participants bump into each other or land poorly.
A report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that there were more than 100,000 injuries related to inflatable rides treated in emergency departments over a 10-year period, with the majority of those involving children.
McLaughlin said the JIF and a larger entity, the Joint Excess Liability Insurance Fund, have a strict exclusion for allowing private amusements or fireworks on municipal property, including bounce houses.
Township Business Administrator Kimberly Osmundsen said the township can require exemptions from event sponsors, but that would not necessarily protect the township from lawsuits.
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“If someone files a lawsuit, and anyone can file a lawsuit against a municipality, the city has to defend the lawsuit,” he said.
“The township has to sponsor the event so there is coverage for the joint insurance fund,” McLaughlin said.
“That would apply to the Harvest Festival,” Donohue said.
After the meeting, he said the township might also consider sponsoring other events with local organizations to allow the inflatables, such as summer events presented by the Progressive Black Initiative at the Martin Luther King Center in Whitesboro, where offered inflatable amusements. in the past.
The ordinance has not yet been passed. Donohue said risk managers will come up with an improved process that will give the township better protection against lawsuits, but he wasn’t sure when.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Osmundsen said at the meeting.
“It’s not a hard decision,” replied committee member Ike Gandy, who indicated it’s just unpopular. “Everything is fine until suddenly it isn’t. We’re going to be the bad guys either way.”
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
bbarlow@pressofac.com
Twitter @jerseynews_bill
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