Adams County board enacts ATV/UTV route rule after adding ban on open intoxicants

The Adams County Board of Supervisors on an ordinance updating ATV and UTV access to county roads and route-designation policies, and added a local ban on open intoxicants for operators and passengers.

The board voted to add language to section 347.3(d) prohibiting “any operator or passenger of an ATV or a UTV [from] hav[ing] an open intoxicant within their immediate possession, subject to a $100 fine,” an amendment that passed 17–2 with one abstention. The final ordinance enacted afterwards passed 14–5 with one abstention.

Supporters, including two public speakers and county staff who helped draft the rewrite, said the ordinance was intended to expand safe access and give the highway department and highway committee tools to close or detour routes when construction, maintenance or safety required it. “This was designed to open the roads and then systematically if roads had to be closed, it would be done according to a certain protocol,” said Steve McIntosh, a Quincy resident who told the board the draft provides flexibility for the highway department to analyze safety and coordinate with ATV/UTV associations.

Public and supervisor respondents pressed for safety and enforcement details. Supervisor McLaughlin described prior committee and referendum history and said he opposed letting a five‑member highway committee make a final decision without full board review: “I did not believe that 5 out of 20 board supervisors ought to make that decision.” Several supervisors raised concerns about speed, enforcement and penalties.

Sheriff John York and Deputy McFarland answered enforcement questions, saying existing statutes and DNR citations provide tools but that some enforcement—for example speed differentials between ATVs/UTVs and faster motor traffic—is handled by citing reckless or careless operation rather than a separate posted ATV speed statute. Deputy McFarland reviewed common DNR citations cited by enforcement: a required safety certification and nonregistration citations start around $232; seat belt citations for equipped UTVs start near $162.70.

Opponents and some supervisors argued the county should treat ATVs and UTVs like motor vehicles once they are driven on paved roads, citing disparities in penalties and record consequences compared with cars. Others questioned curfew hours and language that restricts operation between midnight and 5 a.m., and a motion to strike the curfew, a licensing exception and a cruising prohibition failed for lack of a second.

The ordinance text gives the highway department authority to designate and close routes, and supervisors pressed for clarity on whether closures would require full-board approval. A motion proposing that the road commissioner obtain board approval for closures failed for lack of a second.

The board’s vote enacts the updated vehicle‑altering ordinance recommended by the county highway commission, with the added local prohibition on open intoxicants and the $100 fine included in the county code as amended.

The county attorney and staff said the county could later amend penalties or add more specific local language if supervisors want stiffer fines or other enforcement mechanisms; supervisors also noted state legislation addressing open intoxicants has been considered at the state level but not passed, and counties have adopted different approaches.