Daily Sitka Sentinel

Fireworks Hot Topic At Assembly Session

By BRIELLE SCHAEFFER
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The proposals before the Assembly Tuesday night were about fireworks, but the public response was explosive.
    The Assembly was considering an ordinance that would allow private fireworks displays around New Year’s and the Fourth of July. Another measure under consideration would simply increase penalties for all fireworks offenses.
    No one came forward to speak in favor of fireworks being allowed, but a number testified strongly against. In the end, that proposal was not put to a vote.
    The other ordinance, which would keep the city’s fireworks ban but add penalties, failed on 2-3 vote.
    Mayor Matt Hunter and Kevin Knox voted in favor and Aaron Bean, Aaron Swanson and Tristan Guevin dissented. Bob Potrzuski and Steve Eisenbeisz were absent.
    The ordinance will be up for reconsideration at the Aug. 8 meeting.
    Hunter and Swanson sponsored the two ordinances.
    Both proposals had the same penalty schedule, $50 for a first offense to $100 for a second and $200 for a third. At present no penalties are specified for fireworks offenses.
    “We received a lot of correspondence from people on very loud fireworks,” Hunter said. “Currently fireworks are banned 365 days per year, 24 hours a day and there’s no way to enforce it.”
    He said his intention was to provide two different options on fireworks for discussion and then move forward with one of them.  The city Police and Fire Commission recommended the ordinance that continues the ban with increased penalties, Hunter said.
    “I’m really stuck here by allowing law-abiding responsible citizens to be allowed to light off fireworks on the Fourth of July and New Year’s and the fact that we have a couple individuals in town who are ruining it for everybody,” he said. “Do we let a few bad apples destroy it for everybody? Maybe that’s the responsible thing to do.”
    The sale and use of fireworks are prohibited in Sitka. Displays for public enjoyment, like the one Petro Marine sponsors for the Fourth of July, are allowed by permit only.
    The ordinance on private fireworks would set a New Year’s  “window” of 4 p.m. Dec. 31 to 1 a.m. Jan. 1. For the Independence Day holiday there would be two periods, 4 p.m. July 3 to 1 a.m. July 4, and  4 p.m. July 4 to 1 a.m. July 5.
    Residents who testified said giving fireworks fans an outlet would make the existing problems worse.
    “Every night this week I’ve been woken up by fireworks,” said Lorraine Elstad. “I am totally for a 365-day ban of the fireworks.”
    “This year fireworks started in my neighborhood on June 24 with seal bombs and happened daily to July 16 and intermittently since then,”  Kathleen McCrossin told the Assembly. The explosions really upset her dog, and she has to drug it to get any peace, she said.
    Gerald Gangle, who worked with search and rescue for 20 years, said he has seen fireworks cause property damage and significant injuries.
    Police Chief Jeff Ankerfelt told the Assembly it’s difficult for officers to respond to reports of fireworks in a timely manner. Offenders will set one off at a time and then wait to evade officers, he said.
    The current ordinance has no defined terms for enforcement or penalties, Ankerfelt explained, but police will emphasize problem solving and investigating.
    “I’m committed to making sure we can do everything that we can to respond in a timely manner,” he said. “We can do better in our enforcement.”
    Bean was in favor of allowing fireworks on a few days of the year.
    “Perhaps it would alleviate some of the times when it’s happening and we wouldn’t like it to,” he said. “Perhaps you’ve been experiencing the fireworks for the past two weeks because that’s how long it’s taking them to light off the fireworks in their possession.”
    He thought allowing fireworks during certain times might lessen the burden of the police department.
    But Knox took issue with the fact that the ordinance would allow fireworks certain days but continue to prohibit sales.
    “In my mind how do we justify saying, ‘it’s OK to light them off but you can’t sell them?’” he said.
    Guevin, who initially supported the ordinance banning fireworks and then voted against it, asked for it to be brought back at the Assembly’s next meeting.

    Investment management
    The Assembly passed an ordinance on first reading revising the city code to establish guidelines for external investment management.
    During the past two years the financial advising firm Alaska Permanent Capital Management managed the city’s investment funds although the city code does not explicitly allow the use of outside managers.
    “The current Municipal Investment Policy ... does not address external investment of funds,” Interim City Manager Phil Messina said in a memo. “As external investment is not specifically prohibited (it is simply not addressed), the previous approvals by the Assembly do not violate the Sitka General Code.”
    Bean wanted to make sure that procurement codes were followed in deciding to use Alaska Permanent Capital Management.
    City Finance Director Jay Sweeney said the city had requested proposals in the past, resulting in the contract going to APC.
    The investment committee recommended all funds be managed by Alaska Permanent Capital Management, Hunter said.
 
Other Business
    On other agenda items, the Assembly:
    – approved an ordinance on second and final reading covering “defense and indemnification of city officers and employees” against claims and lawsuits “resulting from good faith efforts to perform their official duties and responsibilities.”
    – approved a supplemental budget ordinance on final reading to adjust the FY 2018 operating budget by re-appropriating unspent funds from FY 2017 that included a $156,192 reimbursement to Sitka Community Hospital for capital projects
    – approved an ordinance on final reading appropriating $10,000 from the visitor enhancement fund to pay for a downtown shuttle bus pilot project operated by Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
    – reappointed Darrell Windsor to a three-year term on the Sitka Planning Commission.
    – heard public comment from Mariyln Coruzzi on weighing effective medical care over financial strategies for Sitka Community Hospital.
    – passed a resolution supporting Sitka’s application to host the Alaska Municipal League summer meeting in 2018.
    – honored the U.S. Coast Guard with a citation recognizing Aug. 4 as U.S. Coast Guard Day nationwide and thanking Sitka-based personnel.