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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-10-ART40-min APPROVED Article 40 ad hoc Committee November 10, 2004, Minutes of Meeting Attendance: Wendy Heiger-Bernays Tom Diaz Jim Sheehy Judy Crocker Jeanne Krieger Jim Wilson Ingrid H. Klimoff Tony Galaitsis (joined meeting in progress) Guests: Molly Crockett, MPH candidate, BU School of Public Health Dave Eagle, President, Arlex Oil Co. John Hanisch, Consultant to Arlex Oil Co. Co-Chair, Wendy Heiger-Bernays, called the meeting to order at about 7:30 p.m. in the Library Meeting Room and distributed several documents: copies of the state law, proposed town by-law, a New York Times article on buses, and information on programs being conducted by the city of Boston. The minutes of the October 7, 2004 meeting were reviewed and approved. Ms. Krieger informed the group that the warrant closes December 28, 2004. We noted the absence of a meeting scheduled in December and decided, after discussion, to meet the morning of December 15, 2004. Ms. Heiger-Bernays agreed to find out from Town Counsel the appropriate place-holder language for the warrant. Ms. Klimoff asked Ms. Heiger-Bernays about the importance and need of reviewing and comparing the relevant laws, state and local. Ms. Heiger-Bernays said we would get to this later. Mr. Díaz made a motion that Ms. Molly Crockett, Ms. Judy Crocker, and Ms. Ingrid Klimoff be asked to propose that part of the report to Town Meeting that recommends a campaign of public education about engine idling. Mr. Wilson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. Klimoff reported on her conversation with Ms. Roth (DEP) about the “checklist” for trucks/buses before they roll. There is no compact checklist but rather a very long and complicated document that she accessed it and reviewed it on the web (a fraction of Part 49 of Code of Federal Regulations). What the document really means, is the driver is responsible for making sure that everything works. APPROVED 1 APPROVED Ms. Krieger reported that earlier that day she talked to Lt. Corr. She thought that he recommended that we have a local by-law as opposed to the state law because the local by-law provides a spectrum of enforcement options, while the state law is either “yes” or “no”; and that with the local law you can eliminate the criminal penalty, and you can have a fine and define how the fine will be administered, so that there is a whole spectrum of enforcement capabilities. Ms. Krieger added that Mr. Corr’s answer was given not from his personal perspective but from the general perspective of enforcement. Mr. Wilson stated he interpreted Lt. Corr’s statements as meaning that we would get the greatest bang for the buck from an educational program and that he thought (Lt. Corr) said that if we had 30 officers they would define “necessary” in 30 different ways. Ms. Klimoff read a message from Lt. Mark Corr describing his views on a potential anti- idling by-law. In his note, Mr. Corr a) generally favored a measured response with a continuum of enforcement choices over criminal penalties for town by-law violations, b) expressed concern that deciding what idling is "unnecessary" is subject to a great deal of subjective reasoning, and c) valued public education over by-law enforcement. Mr. Diaz on one hand agreed with the interpretation that if he (Lt. Corr) wanted to go about it as a law enforcement problem, he might prefer to have a local by-law. On the other hand, Mr. Diaz recollected that Lt. Corr felt you get the most bang for your buck from a program of education. Ms. Klimoff cited as an example of the Police being kind to people the case of “bicycles on sidewalks”; in these cases the Police give warnings instead of ticketing people. Ms. Heiger-Bernays outlined the options that the committee could consider. One was to go with just an educational program, and see how far we get. Another would be to have both an educational program and a by-law, along with guidelines of what is clearly necessary and unnecessary idling. A by-law would provide an indication that the town is truly concerned about and interested in reducing the truly unnecessary idling. Mr. Diaz suggested that Lt. Corr be asked whether the Police would be more rigorous about enforcement if we got the local by-law. Mr. Diaz is not convinced of that himself, because he thought that the Police respond to complaints under the state law. If they’d be more diligent and more rigorous with a local by-law in place then it (a local by-law) would be OK, but he has not heard that. Ms. Krieger said she saw a continuum of actions: An educational program would raise awareness, and offensive idling would be more of an issue to people; increased citizen awareness would probably result to increased citizen complaints and a desire to do something about it. If you don’t have a local by-law, you are not going to be able to take advantage of that increased state of awareness within the community. The police can enforce the state law, which would be a criminal penalty judged at Concord court, but chances are that the Police would not want to do that unless it’s a truly offensive situation. While peer pressure will reduce anti-idling, eventually, for chronic idlers you APPROVED 2 APPROVED may want to take some action through a fine. That’s why it would be important to have a local by-law with what Lt. Corr describes as a moderated approach, where you have the penalty fit the crime. Mr. Díaz stated his concern that legislation has unintended consequences, and expressed reluctance to write a local by-law unless it definitely improves the ability of police and other officials to enforce regulations, especially because for the most part we appear to be planning to replicate the state law except for the penalties. Mr. Díaz said he would ask Lt. Corr about whether a local by-law will improve enforcement. Ms. Heiger-Bernays supported the point that the measured response of a local by-law as opposed to the criminal penalties of the state law will be more effective in reducing idling. Mr. Wilson, stated that, according to Lt. Corr’s September comments, 98% of the people would do the right thing through an education process. Wellesley gets a lot of compliance through the 5-minute signs at the schools. Mr. Wilson expressed concern that laws can be misused after they are written, and can become a tool for vengeful actions by one individual against another. He saw various well intentioned situations that came through the Town Meeting as by-laws, that somehow become twisted [during implementation]. That’s why he would like to explore the education campaign, have the state law for the onerous individual, and leave it at that. Ms. Crockett reported on efforts by the town of Lenox and that they had found that an education campaign was the right first step before trying a local by-law. Another town in Canada has been successful through an education campaign with friendly reminders, and did not find it necessary to adopt a by-law so far. Ms. Heiger-Bernays reported a conversation with the town of Wellesley. She said they are now thinking of adopting a by-law after trying education first. The education campaign by itself is not sufficient in that town and they need something with teeth. -Ms. Crocker indicated that by-law fines go to the Town, while state law fines go to the state. Ms. Krieger replied that by-law fines are not intended to and do not provide any significant income. Ms. Krieger and others believed a local by-law would help impose useful peer pressure on chronic violators. Mr. Díaz asked whether we should consider a by-law at the 2006 Town Meeting so that we have a year in which to conduct an education campaign and study the benefits, and asked Ms. Heiger-Bernays whether the Board of Health has any means of assessing the results of such a program. Ms. Heiger-Bernays said a regime of measurement and assessment would have to be part of the design of such an education campaign. The measurement procedures, which can vary by season, have to be par of the educational program in order to have a credible assessment. There are methods and equipment to APPROVED 3 APPROVED measure emissions but there will be questions about what standard to use for evaluation of results. Ms. Crocker and others said counting the number of cars idling (and number of buses or trucks idling) was probably the most effective way to measure, since air quality detectors could be placed in a location where winds would carry plumes in the wrong direction. Mr. Wilson said the idling issue has become the talk of the business community and that he believes businesses are trying very hard to put new procedures in place. He believes that a further program of public education would be very useful. The committee talked about the relationship of the existing noise by-law and the idea of an additional by-law to address engine idling. Ms. Klimoff said that Mr. Bussgang and others originally intended that the noise by-law be exactly worded as Chapter 90, section 16a, but inadvertently some of the relevant language from the state law had not been carried through into the town anti-noise by-law. The proponents of article 40 to the 2004 Town Meeting thought that the modifications to the local by-law (in article 40) were merely a “housekeeping” task. (Mr. Galaitsis joined the meeting in progress.) Ms. Heiger-Bernays, Mr. Díaz, and others noted that we would need a meeting in December in order to decide on language for the 2005 Town Meeting Warrant. We set the next meeting for 7:30 a.m. on December 15, 2004. Mr. Hanisch presented information from operating manuals for certain engines and transmissions, so the committee could see what is recommended by manufacturers, like Caterpillar and Mack. According to these manuals, some transmissions will not engage until the engine is warmed up. Mr. Hanisch also indicated he had some additional material to present in the next meeting. Mr. Eagle said that on rare occasions, such as severely cold weather, more than 5 minutes of idling are needed. Ms. Heiger-Bernays asked that at the next meeting we review the language of the state law and the existing (noise) by-law. Mr. Díaz said he would ask Lt. Corr about the enforceability differences between a state law and a local by-law. Meeting was adjourned at approximately 9 PM. Thomas R. Díaz APPROVED 4