HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-10-ART40-min
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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