LAKEPORT ? More than 50 people watched Tuesday night as the Lakeport City Council narrowly passed a ban on the sale and use of “safe and sane” fireworks inside city limits.
The vote was 3-2, with council members Jim Irwin and Suzanne Lyons dissenting. Despite the fact that nearly every seat in the room was full, only Clear Lake High School Booster Club President Tom Jordan spoke against the ban. His non-profit and three others applied to sell fireworks earlier this year and were denied.
The four non-profits have banded together with the support of TNT Fireworks to allow Lakeport voters to decide the issue. Jordan told the council that volunteers had gathered 693 signatures on a petition to put the issue to a vote, almost double the number of signatures needed to warrant a special election. The petition was filed with the City of Lakeport last week.
“Clearly the voters appeared to not concur with your decision on May 5, when you introduced this ordinance to ban,” Jordan said.
Jordan said the city had three options: adopt the ordinance the non-profits included in the initiative petition within 10 days, order an election, or request a study that would have to be addressed within 30 days at a regular city council meeting.
“The bottom line is the city council must act no later than Tuesday, August 4, 2009, to place the measure on the November 3, 2009 ballot,” Jordan said.
If the city doesn”t act by then, Jordan said he believed there were enough signatures to warrant a special election that would have to be held in December.
City Clerk Janel Chapman said she had an appointment at the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office on Monday to begin a two-day process of verifying the signatures on the petition. She said approximately 100 of the signatures appeared to be invalid.
Answering Lyons” question, Chapman estimated an election would cost the city $3,000.
“The people who sign petitions don”t always vote in favor of what the petitions do,” Councilman Robert Rumfelt said. “They”re certainly willing to sign a petition to allow it to come before the voters, but they may not necessarily agree with what the petitioners are asking.”
Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Ken Wells spoke in favor of the ban, reiterating the importance of addressing the possibility that the fireworks could start a fire in the area”s dry climate.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
