The Williams City Council introduced a new ordinance in January that could cut down on the near constant barrage of fireworks, but concerns over making property owners financially responsible for criminal activity that occurs on their property is yet to be decided.
Williams officials said with ongoing complaints from the community about the near constant firing of illegal fireworks, which is often mistaken for gunshots, they wanted a law on the books that would give local law police more power to issue citations when they can’t catch a specific individual with a match in their hand.
“Efforts to effectively regulate this activity are difficult for many reasons, including limited enforcement options, inability to identify the actual user or possessor of fireworks – particularly in large group settings – and insufficient penalties,” said City Attorney Ann Siprelle.
California law has prohibitions against selling and using specific fireworks where there is likelihood that they could cause injury or fire, but Williams officials are thinking of joining the growing number of cities that have approved “social host liability ordinances” that are intended to hold persons in control of a property accountable for illegal fireworks, whether they are the homeowner or the tenant.
Under the ordinance, Williams residents could face misdemeanor charges and fines up to $1,000 if law enforcement pinpoints the origin of fireworks coming from their property, without specifically citing the individual responsible for lighting the devices.
“We have to do something,” said Mayor Roberto Mendoza. “There’s people that keep – all the time the same people – that keep firing fireworks. If you go to them, they say ‘no, it was my neighbor.’ We need to put a stop to it. If they want to do it, they need to know they are going to get shut down.”
The new ordinance, as introduced, has specific provisions regarding possessing, storing, selling, or using fireworks or any ignitable device that produce audible, visual, mechanical, or therma effects.
The ordinance also requires permits for public pyrotechnic displays, and also restricts the use of legal “Safe and Sane” fireworks to specific times.
However, questions did arise at the Jan. 19 meeting about whether property owners can or should bear the financial responsibility for unpaid fines.
City Councilman Sajit Singh and another Williams landlord expressed concern over language in the ordinance that would allow the city to place a lien against the property for uncollected “administrative” fines.
“The property owner is not the one doing the damage, so it’s unjust, in my opinion,” Singh said.
When City Administrator Frank Kennedy suggested that owner responsibility for fireworks would be no different than owner responsibility for water/sewer bills, property owner Kent Boes said the two issues were not the same because firework fines were criminal citations that a landlord could not handle proactively.
“I pay the water bill and bake it into the rent. That is really easy to handle,” Boes said. “With this, if one of my renters decides they want to fire off illegal fireworks, I’m on the hook for that? That’s not OK.”
When Kennedy suggested the city could consider notifying property owners when firework citations were issued, Williams Police Chief Jim Saso raised concern about carving out different procedures for different crimes.
Saso said if the city notified property owners a misdemeanor fireworks violation, which occurred on their property and resulted in a penalty, then the city should notify the property owner when other crimes occured on their property that resulted in a penalty, which, ultimately, would be too onerous for the department.
“All of a sudden there is a lot of additional work every time we go to somebody’s home that’s rented and a crime has been committed,” Saso said.
The City Council voted 5-0 to introduce the ordinance as written, but Kennedy said he would do additional research regarding the property lien before the second reading on Feb. 16. ■