Motorists on Indianola city streets could soon see the addition of motorized utility side-by-sides and golf carts in the adjacent lanes.
In a 4-1 vote Monday night, the Indianola Board of Aldermen agreed to have Attorney Kim Merchant investigate the possibility of establishing an ordinance that would allow the slow-moving vehicles to legally travel on city thoroughfares. Currently it is illegal for UTVs and ATVs to be operated on city streets.
Alderman Gary Fratesi voted no and sided with Police Chief Edrick Hall who stated that in his opinion there should be no such ordinance.
“I just want us to tread carefully as we try to change the pattern for the city and what that's going to open up,” Hall said.
The item was placed on the agenda by Alderman Darrell Simpson who mentioned a situation where children were riding through residents’ yards on four-wheelers and cutting ruts.
He stated that the police were called out but alluded to no action being taken.
He also referenced elderly men who were riding side-by-sides and golf carts on city streets and picking up trash and noted that the police gave them citations. Hall stated that he was aware of the situation that Simpson mentioned and called it one isolated incident.
Simpson said, "And I'm not talking bad about the police, don't get me wrong, they're trying to do their job, but we need to have something in place for these people who are driving these street-legal vehicles and probably doing a public service and we're trying to hinder them from doing a public service."
Merchant then said that even if they are doing a public service, until the city gets clarity and enacts an ordinance they're going to have to do it on something other than golf carts.
"Unfortunately, it needs to be clarified that they have not been authorized to use those vehicles, until which time that a proclamation has been granted to us by the Legislature number one, and number two, we implement ordinances that regulate what that looks like,” she said.
Simpson asked if buying a tag would make the vehicle legal and Merchant said that it would not.
Fratesi raised the issue of motorcycles and asked why they were deemed street legal when golf carts and side-by-sides were not, and Merchant explained that motorcycles were specifically spelled out in the statues.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal cautioned that the decision to have Merchant investigate the possibility was not a determination to establish an ordinance, but simply to have Merchant obtain the information about setting up the ordinance since there was some question about whether or not it would require state legislative approval.
Merchant asked the city lawmakers to allow her time to hear back from some of the attorneys that she had contacted from the coast because she would not want to implement an ordinance and then later find out that it required legislative approval.
Merchant said. “I've got to call in to find out what the process is because every municipality that I can see who had a similar ordinance went through the legislature." She said the ordinances were adopted through either a House or Senate bill and all of the cities that she saw that had applied for ordinances were all in the Gulf Coast area. “So, my question is do we have to get approval from the legislative level to then implement the ordinance?" she said.
Merchant indicated that all of the ordinances she was able to locate basically read the same and although they allowed the vehicles on city streets, they restricted the use of the side-by-sides and golf carts on highways and interstates even though some ordinances allowed the vehicles permission to cross the main thoroughfares.
“So, I think what happens is that you have to get approval on the legislative level and then we decide all of those other little issues like, how much is the registration and things of that nature, how we're going to enforce it if someone violates the ordinance (and) what would be the fine," Merchant said.
Merchant said another thing to consider was that if they decide to move forward with the ordinance who would they get to present it to the state legislators. She then noted that the legislature is done taking bills for this year, so it may be a much longer process than expected and would have to wait until the legislature reconvenes in January. Simpson asked, “What can we do now?
Merchant admitted that not much can be done at the present. "But what I did do is I drafted what I saw based on those other house bills that had been done just to give people an idea of what it could look like,” she said.
Rosenthal re-emphasized, "Again, this is in no way making a four-wheeler legal, they are all-terrain vehicles that cannot be made street legal." He stated that if the lawmakers decided to pursue an ordinance, he would like for it to contain clear language that prohibits ATVs and four-wheelers on city streets.
Although Hall said emphatically he was against it, he conceded, "Whatever you guys decide, we will enforce it," he said.
In other business,
At the request of Alderman Sam Brock , the lawmakers discussed creating a unified pay-scale for city employees, but no action was taken.
Brock wanted to establish a criterion so that all new employees are hired at a pre-determined rate and not have the pay determined haphazardly by the department heads. “We need to have a pay-scale for everybody (so) we won't be guessing what nobody is going to be paid,” Brock said.
Rosenthal said that currently the policy is that no one starts at less than $8.50 an hour after probation and then their skills and certifications are considered. He noted that the department heads only make recommendations and that it is the aldermen who determine what is actually paid.
Brock also raised a question about 911 emergency plans and as a result, the aldermen tasked Rosenthal, Hall and Fire Chief Orlando Battle with getting together with Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood to get more information on when he plans to install the Computer-Aided Dispatch system. Battle said not having a system in place to accurately document call-out time is hindering his ability to get grants.
“The three of us will meet with the sheriff and coordinate on what we can do to improve their record keeping of the calls that are coming in,” Rosenthal said.
At the request of Attorney Merchant, the aldermen approved voiding two tax sales: one for Thomas Hall/Guaranty Bank for 2017 tax year; and one for Steven Farmer/Planters Bank for 2016 tax year. Rosenthal said the notices were sent out to the individual taxpayers, but were not sent to the banks and that resulted in sale of the properties.
They also approved payment requests for 2018, 2019 and 2020 airport improvement projects and a pay request to David Smith Construction on the downtown streetscape
