Public Safety committee: burn barrels illegal, junk-vehicle education planned and police vehicle rotation discussed

At the meeting, Public Safety Committee member Kate reported on topics from the committee’s Sept. 24 meeting, focusing on code enforcement and public-safety operations.

Kate told the council that fire officials discussed how the highest-ranking officer on scene can issue violations and that the police department has a short form they can use to coordinate citations. She said the practice has been to issue citations on a complaint basis but emphasized that the fire department has discretion over issuing citations.

On open burning, Kate stated, “we have discovered during that time they are not — burn barrels are not legal in the City of Hudson,” and noted that the fire department has posted guidance on social media warning residents not to use burn barrels.

Kate said the committee reviewed replacement of a police squad car as part of regular rotation and discussed procurement options to get the best return if the city trades in the outgoing vehicle, noting that upfit costs on the replacement would be lower.

The committee also addressed junk vehicles. Kate said Police Chief Banks will assist residents and that the city plans to begin with rounds of education and warnings to enforce the existing ordinance; committee members agreed that if the ordinance is on the books it should be enforced, otherwise the ordinance will need updating.

Those items were presented as committee recommendations; council took no separate formal vote on the recommendations at this meeting beyond acknowledging the report.