Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fireworks topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Medical Lake council sends advisory fireworks ban question to November ballot
Summary
The Medical Lake City Council approved a resolution to place a nonbinding advisory question on the November ballot asking whether sale, possession and discharge of consumer fireworks should be prohibited in the city.
The Medical Lake City Council on June 3 approved a resolution asking voters this November whether the sale, possession and discharge of consumer fireworks should be prohibited in the city.
The advisory question is nonbinding, council members said, but the vote will appear in the voters’ pamphlet and may inform future council action. Council passed Resolution 25-7-54 by voice vote; there were no recorded dissents.
Michael Wagner, a Medical Lake resident, urged the council to put a ban on the ballot and described noise and safety impacts, saying, “Since I have moved here ... I’ve taken on a totally different perspective” and that fireworks distress pets and wildlife. Wagner also told the council that, in his view, many of the devices he sees discharged locally are unlawful without a pyrotechnics license.
City staff told the council the question will be placed on the November ballot as an advisory measure and that the city will follow state rules for the voters’ pamphlet and for appointing short “for” and “against” committees. The mayor or mayor’s designee will appoint up to three members to each committee; appointees must be residents of the city, the council was told.
Council members directed staff to solicit committee applicants publicly, bring names back for council approval, and proceed on the timetable necessary to meet November ballot deadlines. The council emphasized the vote is advisory and that any regulatory action after the vote would be the council’s separate decision.
The council also noted the measure’s procedural limits: words for the voters’ pamphlet are restricted by statute and the committees will work with a lawyer to finalize their pamphlet statements.
The advisory question approved by the council reads, in effect, whether the sale, possession and discharge of consumer fireworks should be prohibited in the city of Medical Lake. The council did not adopt any ban at the meeting; the approved action was to place the advisory question on the ballot for public input.
