TONIGHT - WHAT DO YOU THINK OR HOPE THE OUTCOME WILL BE? Council sets vote on veto of noise ordinance By ANITA FRITZ Recorder Staff GREENFIELD — Town Council will vote Tuesday night to either override or sustain the mayor’s veto of a noise ordinance the council passed last month. But it appears the council may not have enough votes to override the veto, because at least five councilors have expressed concerns with the ordinance, which has been criticized by several town leaders, including Greenfield’s police chief, who has said it will be difficult to enforce as written. The meeting will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the studio in Greenfield Community Television, 393 Main St. Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh, along with Mayor William Martin, said the ordinance is too broad and too vague. Town Council President Hillary Hoffman, along with several other councilors, penned the ordinance while serving on the Appointments and Ordinances Committee last year. The town has never had a noise ordinance. Instead, its police have operated under a disturbing the peace law. On July 16, the council voted to table the veto vote, because it was split on whether to override or sustain the veto and wanted to do more research on the matter. An override of the mayor’s veto will take a twothirds vote of the full council, or nine “yes” votes. The two newest members, At-large Councilor Isaac Mass and Precinct 5 Councilor Penny Ricketts, have both said they will vote to sustain the veto. Precinct 3 Councilor Brickett Allis and Precinct 4 Councilor Steven Ronhave have said they would do the same. At the council’s last meeting, Mark Maloni, who voted to pass the ordinance the first time around, said he has changed his mind because the ordinance is too vague. He said he’d like to see the council “start over” and write a better one. If those five councilors vote to sustain the mayor’s veto on Tuesday, the ordinance will die until someone revives it. At-large Councilor Patrick Devlin said if the veto is sustained and the ordinance goes back to committee, he would like to see Appointments and Ordinances work closely with police, town inspectors, the mayor and town boards this time to draft a good and enforceable one. One of the reasons some councilors are hesitant to vote to sustain the mayor’s veto is because under the council’s own rules, it would have to wait nine months to bring the ordinance back, or even work on it. But, as At-large Councilor Dalton Athey told councilors, the council can waive its own rules. If the mayor’s veto is sustained and then the council waives its rule of procedure concerning the wait, it could begin working on a new and improved ordinance, but wouldn’t be able to vote on it for nine months. That has led some councilors to ask, “What’s the big hurry?”
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:47:29 +0000
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