MARS — A proposed event policy drew the ire of Mars Borough residents, who showed up in force for a contentious meeting on Monday night, May 19, to express their frustration.

However, borough council ultimately opted to move forward with forming an advisory committee to consult with the borough on adoption of any event policy, rather than move forward with any sort of actual policy at this time.

The meeting drew an unusually heavy turnout due in large part to the cancellation of the popular Rumble car show, which has been known to attract hundreds of motor enthusiasts to the borough.

John Podolak, co-organizer of the car show, announced the cancellation due to uncertainty over a new event policy the borough has talked about enacting since March. An early copy of the draft policy was posted to a Facebook page called “Ask Mars Councilman,” run by borough Councilperson Brad Price.

Much criticism was levied at council by Podolak and other residents over a section of the draft policy which effectively requires the organizers of non-borough-run events to form a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization to assume responsibility.

During the meeting, borough council Chairman G. Michael Fleming insisted that the 501(c)3 requirement was necessary for the borough to cover itself in the event of unforeseen events.

“Most responsible, established, active 501(c)3s are considered a separate entity with their own separate insurance coverages,” Fleming said. “That entity provides a layer of liability protection away from the borough. Beyond that, it takes the whole question of fiduciary responsibility away from the borough.”

Fleming added that, from the borough’s perspective, an event policy was necessary to be written in ink sooner rather than later, as some events were drawing attendances over a thousand — once unheard-of for Mars.

“These thousand-person deals have changed it for us, and we have to come to terms with the raw cost and the effort to secure it properly from a liability standpoint,” Fleming said. “If you have 100, 150 people, there's a much lower chance that something might happen than if you have 2,500.”

However, Podolak says that the 501(c)3 requirement would make it highly impractical, if not impossible, for non-borough-run events, such as the Rumble, to be held in Mars. This is especially true for the Rumble, which is a free event.

“For us to file a nonprofit, it would take probably a year to two years,” Podolak said. “There’s no money being made to even file for a nonprofit.”

Dina Russo, owner of the art gallery Masterpiece Creations, who recently moved to the borough, said that the proposed event policy had her concerned about any events that she would hold in the future and the possibility of her making any money off them.

“As we know, art galleries have events and they have art openings,” Russo said. “Am I allowed to sell painting during an event? Am I allowed to make money at an event? Am I allowed to have people come to my art openings? This is really concerning as a new business owner.”

In the end, Mars decided to adopt the idea of borough Mayor Gregg Hartung to create the advisory committee. The committee would consist of two council members, two members of the business community and two taxpaying residents.

The full complement of this committee was unknown as of press time, but Podolak said he would try to be one of the members.

“I think the new committee that is being formed now is the right thing to do,” Podolak said.

Late in the meeting, Podolak mentioned that there may be a slight possibility of the Spooktacular event being revived for 2025. However, both he and Smith nixed the idea of the Rumble Car Show coming back, as they did not have enough time to restart it in time for this July if they wanted to.Potential Mars event policy draws crowd