Guadalupe council approves city flyers urging residents not to use illegal fireworks, authorizes two-step outreach

The Guadalupe City Council on Feb. 11 authorized public-safety staff to prepare and distribute city-produced materials discouraging purchase and use of illegal fireworks, approving both a March utility-bill mailing and a separate amendment to the standard fireworks insert and website links.

Deborah Sykes, a community advocate who designed a flyer urging residents not to use illegal fireworks, addressed the council and asked that her flyer be included in the city's utility bill mailing in March 2025. City staff and the city attorney advised the council that inserting third-party materials into the city's utility bill would convert the bill into a public forum and obligate the city to accept other constitutionally permitted messages; the city attorney therefore recommended against using the city's utility bill to distribute an organization's flyer.

Staff suggested alternatives: public-safety staff could create a new city-endorsed flyer that incorporates the advocacy points (without third-party identification) and include it in the March utility-bill mailing; staff could also revise the existing fireworks insert that already goes out with bills; and the council could add an external link on the city website if consistent with an external-linking policy. The chief of public safety and staff noted the department had previously produced a flyer and that printing and insertion would be handled from public-safety resources.

Council members discussed timing (March insertion to reach residents before purchases, and an additional reminder closer to July 4), cost and content. Staff provided a printing estimate in the meeting record and finance staff noted the expense was modest; the staff report indicated printing and insertion costs and that any printing expense would come from existing public-safety resources and be treated as cost-recovery for departmental activities.

Council member motioned, and a second followed, to authorize both options: (a) direct public-safety staff to create a city flyer for utility-bill insertion in March 2025 (designed to discourage the purchase and use of illegal fireworks) and (b) direct public-safety staff to amend the information on the existing illegal-fireworks insert used in utility-bill mailings; the motion passed on a unanimous voice vote recorded as "all ayes." Council also authorized staff to consider an external link consistent with city policy.

City staff and the city attorney emphasized that the council could adopt the underlying message as a city communication (without third-party branding) and use the utility bill and website to reach residents; the city will finalize content and timing and return to council if significant budget or policy questions arise.