The city will host a New Year's Eve celebration this year, creating a new version of an event canceled for the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision drew objections from Tim Bennett, owner of Fun Fliks and Cortland Voice, who bought the rights to host the rights to similar event called First Light.
At Tuesday's city Common Council meeting, the council unanimously approved a New Year's Eve event called Midnight on Main and a new version of a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Courthouse Park called Visions of Christmas.
Mayor Scott Steve said he proposed the events to ensure that it took place and he questioned whether three annual events purchased by Bennett could have taken place. Steve noted other communities have returned to public events in the past year, including those on New Year's Eve.
"All I care about is I want to make sure this event happens," Steve said Thursday. "It is important that it happens downtown. I want to make it a big, fun event."
Bennett in late 2019 won a bidding process by the Cortland Downtown Partnership to host three events — First Light, Chill-A-Bration and Taste of Downtown. Bennett had the First Light event at the end of 2019 and Chill-A-Bration in 2020 but no other events since the pandemic began.
The First Light celebration in 2019 featured a countdown to midnight with a ball dropping from the clocktower building at the corner of Main and Tompkins streets. Following the countdown, fireworks were launched.
At Chill-A-Bration in March 2020 — just days before the coronavirus pandemic forced the economy to shut down for weeks — 350 to 400 people strolled from business to business, sampling different chilis.
The only other bidder for the events contract was the Cortland Standard. Newspaper Publisher Evan Geibel, who is also president of the Cortland Downtown Partnership, declined to comment Thursday on the matter.
Bennett said at Tuesday's meeting he plans to restore all three events. He assured the council Tuesday, before it approved Midnight on Main, that he would host First Light. "This is an event that I have done successfully," he said.
"My opinion is the event should happen, no matter who is involved," Steve said.
Asked Thursday if he would hold his own New Year's event, Bennett would only say: "Stay tuned."
Community health concerns during the pandemic made it difficult to hold events for the past two years, Councilperson Seth Thompson (D-5th Ward) said.Tuesday.
"It was under different protocols at that point in time," Thompson said.
However, downtown businesses were hurting financially and would have benefited if the New Year's event occurred, said Councilperson Thomas Michales (R-8th Ward).
Bennett called the city's planned New Year's Eve event a "copycat" of First Light when he addressed the council near the beginning of the meeting.
"This is not a copycat event to anything" Steve responded later, before the council vote.
"I think we should work with Mr. Bennett in good faith," said Councilperson Kathryn Silliman (D-2nd Ward). "I would feel better if we could work together."
Steve said Bennett has refused to provide him with documentation on the event, which Bennett denied.
