Inside City Hall: Change is in the air

An adage attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus is “The only constant is change” and that’s what is on my mind as I type this article.

At our last City Council meeting, we heard of a few things that are going to create some changes. One is the letter of intent to retire next April from yours truly. Since that will be covered more in the months to come, we won’t dwell on that today.

Then we had a promotion within the Police Department as Officer Austin Peterson has now become Sergeant Austin Peterson. Congrats to him as he settles into his new duties.

What I really want to talk about today in regard to the title, “Change is in the Air,” relates to impending changes to our current fireworks ordinance and, yes, those things that go “bang” in the air. After many discussions and examination of issues related to allowing fireworks to be shot off legally on the evening of July 3 from 7 to 11 p.m. and on July 4 from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., the City Council has directed staff to begin the drafting of a revised ordinance banning most fireworks from being shot off within city limits. The exceptions will be some of the novelty items such as sparklers, smoke balls, snaps, etc. Gone will be firecrackers, rockets and, of course, those mortar-type shells.

The concerns listed from residents and Council members are legitimate and difficult to argue with. They include residents that have varying levels of PTSD related to their military service to the country. Also listed are the large number of pets that are traumatized by the constant barrage of explosions that do rattle the windows of nearby houses. Then there’s the concern about the risk of fires, injuries and even deaths when things do not go as planned. The last item I’ll list is the amount of resulting debris that ends up in people’s yards, many of whom fired off not a single ladyfinger.

Once the ordinance is crafted, passed and becomes the law of the land within Brandon, what can you expect from the Brandon Police Department? Simply put, I anticipate a zero-tolerance rule will be the order of the day. It’s been my experience after working in this field for over 40 years that verbal and written warnings have little impact on decreasing violations. However, a citation with a $100 fine tends to grab people’s attention and will spread through social media faster than a lit string of Black Cats can get to that 500th firecracker.

Will we be able to get 100 percent compliance? Realistically, probably not. Our hope is that through education and stringent enforcement, we will see a significant reduction in the noise going forward.