The Perry City Council approved the first reading Monday of an amended fireworks ordinance, but the motion to waive the second and move to the third reading was voted down, leaving the council with plans to revisit the matter at its June 4 meeting.[wpedon id=”82220″ align=”center”]
If approved, the new rules would extend the time permitted for the in-town detonation of fireworks from one day to 10 and reduce the fine for violating the ordinance from $500 to $250.
Perry Police Department Chief Eric Vaughn told the council how the fireworks issue came before the public safety committee, which recommended the changes. Vaughn sits on the committee along with council members Barb Wolling and Dr. Randy McCaulley.
“After that first fireworks season, we wanted to get together and review that code we had passed,” Vaughn said. “So Barb Wolling and Dr. McCaulley and I got together and had a discussion about some of these issues that we’re seeing, with the code and with the enforcement problem that we’ve seen. So that’s how we came to these recommendations.”
Staking out her position early on, Perry City Council member Vicki Klein said she preferred to see a complete ban on fireworks within the city limits.
“I think it’s very, very dangerous,” she said. “I’m just totally against the fireworks.”
Klein said last year’s one-day fireworks rule was roundly ignored in her neighborhood.
“I don’t think anybody has any respect for anybody’s boundaries,” she said. “I live in an area where last year it was continuous fireworks. Even though we had it just for the one day — I think if was July Fourth — they were going off the week before and the week after. I had them flying over our house.”
Wolling said she shared Klein’s concerns and also came to the public safety committee with the same general attitude toward fireworks as Klein.
“My initial reaction when we met was to say, ‘Let’s get fireworks out of Perry,'” Wolling said. “And I think through our discussion I came to see basically the state legislature gave us a time bomb with the fuse going, and now we have to defuse it. And whatever we do, it’s not going to make everybody happy, for sure. Let’s try this: Get the information (about the amended ordinance) out in the water bills. Make people as aware as we possibly can, and start fining people as we fine infractions. See how it goes.”
Vaughn explained the public safety committee’s rationale for extending the open season for fireworks.
“We thought that by expanding the dates that more people would come into compliance so it might become a little less of an issue,” he said. “Our hope was that after that initial year, the usage in the town would diminish a little bit, too.”
Klein did not appear to be persuaded by Wolling’s appeal or Vaughn’s rationale.
“It was a one-day thing last year,” Klein said. “Nobody abided by it. We had them going off before, after. It doesn’t matter what we put in an ordinance. They’re going to do what they want to do. They’re not going to go by the times. They didn’t. I just have a concern over the safety and the danger.”
Council member Chuck Schott seemed inclined to agree with Klein.
“It scares the bejesus out of me to think what we might have in 10 days of trial period,” Schott said. “That’s what really bothers me.”
Everyone agreed that some people detonated fireworks in Perry even when the explosives were illegal. Wolling argued that fireworks will be a fact of Fourth of July in Perry in any case, and an extended season for them might make for a calmer atmosphere.
“Though I’m opposed to having fireworks in Perry, personally,” she said, “we are going to have fireworks in Perry anyway. And I would kind of like to give this an opportunity to see if the bloom is off the rose, so to speak, in regards to fireworks, whether people will be so chaotic about it this year as what they were last year since it’s not brand new.”
Council member Dean Berkland offered a compromise schedule for fireworks usage, saying four days instead of 10 would be long enough.
“Why don’t we allow the first, second, third and Fourth of July and forget the rest,” Berkland said, “and fine everybody before and after that? That gives us four days to blow up as many firecrackers as you want.”
Berkland’s proposal met with general approval from the other council members, and the first reading of the amended ordinance passed by a vote of four to one, with Klein standing firm in opposition.
The reduction in the fine for violations was also part of the amended ordinance approved by the council, but they rejected the safety committee’s recommendation to eliminate the zone of prohibition around hospitals and school.
“Since we met, I’ve really had second thoughts about removing the restriction of within 200 feet of a hospital or senior care facility,” said McCaulley. “I think we should leave that alone.”
The council agreed and retained the restricted zone. McCaulley then moved to suspend the council’s rules, waive the second reading and proceed to the third reading. Berkland seconded the motion, and he, McCaulley and Wolling voted yes, with Klein and Schott voting no.
The motion failed.
With his no vote, Schott showed himself a past master of the niceties of Perry’s parliamentary procedure. He knew that a motion to suspend the rules cannot be approved by a simple majority of three to two but requires a supermajority of four to one.
By withholding his support, Schott said he hoped to foster further discussion of the issue, and he strongly encouraged Perry residents to make their opinions known to the council before the next meeting.
“I’m going to urge the citizens to look up my number,” he said. “I’m in the book. Call me, and tell me what you think about all this situation. I urge you to call everybody. Citizens out there, let us know what you think, what you want us to do.”
Schott said the council’s policy perplexities and the police department’s enforcement challenges would be solved if Perry’s firecracker-loving patriots would simply obey the law.
“We urge our citizens to be responsible,” he said. “They’re the ones that are going to take this away from themselves if they don’t obey some rules and be conscientious of their neighbors and the safety of the people that are outside and thoughful. All they have to do is be thoughtful, and the whole problem would go away. We’d let them do it. But when they just make fools out of us and fools out of the rules, what are we supposed to do?”
With the fuse on the time bomb still burning, Mayor John Andorf closed the meeting on a hopeful note.
“Maybe it will be better this year,” Andorf said. “I don’t know, but I kind of agree. We’ll probably have problems no matter what the ordinance says, to be frank. I hope we can have some really good enforcement. I know it’s difficult to catch people, but that’s what you have to do.”
Residents may contact their city leaders by using the following information:
- Mayor John Andorf at 515-465-5803 or john.andorf@perryia.org
- First Ward City Council member Dean Berkland at dean.berkland@perryia.org
- Second Ward City Council member Dr. Randy McCaulley at randy.mccaulley@perryia.org
- Third Ward City Council member Barb Wolling at barb.wolling@perryia.org
- At Large City Council member Chuck Schott at chuck.schott@perryia.org
- At Large City Council member Vicki Klein at vicki.klein@perryia.org
The Perry City Council meets the first and third Mondays of each month at 6 p.m. in the Clarion Room of the Security Bank Building, 1102 Willis Ave. in Perry. The next meeting is Monday, June 6.
