Council members will consider three options:
• Putting a measure on the November ballot asking voters to decide the issue – a binding vote.
• Asking voters on the ballot for their opinion, then deciding the issue themselves – an advisory vote.
• Holding a public hearing, then deciding the issue themselves.
Councilwoman Jeannine Roe raised the issue, but she was absent Tuesday night, so Mayor Doug Mah brought up the topic at the council’s meeting. He cites “environmental hazards, litter problems, noise and nuisance complaints and health and safety issues” in a letter from Roe and him to the rest of the council.
Mah proposed putting an advisory measure on the November ballot, then having the council make a decision based on the results. The council would need to act by Aug. 16 to get the issue on the ballot.
Most council members indicated Tuesday they would favor some kind of a ban but disagreed on whether the council should put it to a public vote or act outright after a public hearing.
“I was feeling passionate about it about 9 o’clock on the Fourth of July,” said Councilwoman Rhenda Strub.
She questioned whether the council could act, instead of putting it to a public vote. Mah said he favored the vote because fireworks are “steeped in tradition” and something people “feel strongly about.”
City Manager Steve Hall said it would cost between $3,000 and $7,000 to put the matter on the ballot. Councilman Steve Langer said he favored an advisory vote.
Rogers said though she is “happy either way,” she thinks the council could vote on the issue and save the ballot money. She suggested designating open spaces where people could fire off fireworks, but she favors a ban.
“My cat ran away for a bit, and I was absolutely worried sick on the Fourth of July,” she said. The pet didn’t return until 5 a.m., she added.
Councilman Craig Ottavelli said he favors a binding or advisory vote. But Strub said that if the voters have their say on it, it should be binding.
Mah voted against a fireworks ban in 2007 but said he’d had a change of heart after this past holiday, when fireworks destroyed rows of trees on Hoffman Road at Montrose Court and cut power to much of southeast Olympia.
In an interview, Olympia Fire Chief Larry Dibble said that was the most serious fireworks-related incident in the city this year.
“We believe it to be fireworks,” he said. “It was no other cause.”
He said there were no emergency medical calls related to fireworks this year, and that there has been only one year in the past 11 when that has been an issue.
“I think people are probably just tired of the noise and the mess that’s left the next day,” he said.
Dibble said that, personally, he would rather not have fireworks fired off in Olympia.
He said legal fireworks sold here probably wouldn’t have started the council’s latest discussion. It’s the fireworks that are legal for sale on Indian reservations that people are using here, he said.
Lacey voters passed an advisory vote in 2005 to ban fireworks starting in 2007, and the Lacey City Council later voted in the ban. Olympia already bans fireworks for most of the year, but not from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. July 3-4.
The Olympia City Council in 2007 voted 4-3 to defeat a fireworks ban after the ordinance’s key supporter, then-Councilwoman Laura Ware, changed her mind after five speakers voiced opposition.
They said killing fireworks would end a community tradition and hurt nonprofits and families that run fireworks stands.
Ware said then that the public testimony convinced her that the ban was unnecessary, that the most concerning fireworks already are illegal.
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869
mbatcheldor@theolympian.com
