Polson scraps cell phone ordinance

POLSON — Ordinance 660, prohibiting the use of handheld electronic communication devices while operating a motor vehicle within city limits and providing a civil penalty, died last week after the motion to accept its first reading failed to earn a second, last Wednesday night.

A well-attended public hearing preceded the vote. While a number of community members spoke against the adoption of the ordinance, not a single person spoke in favor of it.

Montana Senator Carmine Mowbray encouraged education over regulation, citing a similar bill, Senate Bill 251, which the legislature killed last year.

“Naturally, we’re all concerned about safety,” she said. “I voted against it because there are already laws on the books prohibiting the careless operation of a motor vehicle.”

Mowbray added, the law is difficult to enforce, and places a burden on our peace officers. Drivers wishing to evade detection will use their devices more covertly and will become even more distracted.

“Snacks, beverages, radios and passengers in motor vehicles are other potential causes for distraction,” she said. “Might the next logical legal pressure be to ban those?”

Polson business owner Johna Morrison cited Lake County’s 2010 traffic data, which reported one of the 306 total accidents was attributed to cell phone use.

“Where’s our trigger for introducing this ordinance?” she asked the commissioners before sharing another statistic.

According to Morrison’s research, since Missoula’s adoption of a cell phone ordinance, police have issued 16 tickets compared to 56 tickets for riding a bicycle without a headlight.

“Let’s not waste everyone’s time and our taxpayers’ money,” she concluded.

Polson Police Chief Wade Nash ended the comment period. He opened by sharing with the council that Tribal Police Chief Craig Couture said he would not support the ordinance the way it is written, although he would be interested in supporting a text messaging ban on city streets.

“I think it would have to be re-written to fit our jurisdiction,” Nash said. “To me, we have the laws in place, but we have to educate the public and move forward that way.”

•••

In other Polson city commission news, Chief Nash reported a recent string of burglaries in the city. While such news can be unnerving to residents, the results have actually been positive and Polson should be proud of its boys in blue who apprehended a suspect for each of the three crimes.

“All three suspects were apprehended and taken into custody,” he said. “They are facing felony charges; two were juveniles, one was a passerby from Washington state who busted out a front window of the Pizza Hut.”

There were two employees in the restaurant at the time who alerted authorities to the break-in. When they arrived on scene, the suspect was still hard at work inside the building, attempting to break into the till.

Downtown vandalism is another problem that police, along with Main Street business owners, are attempting to curb in Polson.

“People are walking down Main Street, grabbing tree branches and doing damage,” Nash said. “If you see someone doing damage to the trees, please call authorities and alert them to the problem as it’s happening.”

Finally, the chief asked locals and birding aficionados who are visiting town to use caution when viewing the town’s popular winter guests, the snowy owls.

In an effort to accommodate the tourists to the Mission View Drive area on the south end of Polson Hill, Nash said the city has opened up a parking area on Skyview and encourages people to use it, not park along the street in front of homes, and certainly don’t trespass on private property to get a closer look.

“Visitors for snowy owls need to be courteous of the residents,” he said. “There have been several incidents where people are getting into heated arguments and there’s been one incident where the homeowner will press criminal charges.”

When viewing the owls, people should keep a respectable distance to the animals. Photographers must resist the urge to walk closer to the birds for a better photograph, and if a bird is flushed, that means it felt threatened.

“They are beautiful birds and everybody deserves an opportunity to look at them,” Nash said. “Continue to enjoy the birds, but be respectful of the people that reside in the area.”

•••

City manager Todd Crossett spoke to several ongoing issues. First, he reported that four homes have qualified for an impact fee refund as a result of the city council’s recent rollercoaster discussion about specific language in the city’s impact fee ordinance.

“We have done some pretty exhausting research on where that stands,” he said. “We’re making sure that we have a handle on it and then we will refund about $25,000 in total.”

The refund will go to the builder, who pays the fees when applying for preliminary plat approval.

“We’re looking at the best way to fix any language that needs to be fixed,” Crossett said of the ordinance.

Moving onto more positive news, Crossett filled the commissioners in on several projects making headway in recent months. Various members of the community are diligently striving to bring a film festival, an ice-skating rink and Polson’s first annual triathlon to town. While the film festival committee is aiming for the year 2013 and the ice rink discussion is still in the research phase, a date of Aug. 18 has already been set for Polson’s very own Olympic distance triathlon.

The event is being championed by Polson resident and former professional triathlete Matt Seeley and offers racers an “unforgettable venue with lake, mountains and expansive valley vistas” as well as an enthusiastic Main Street finish line to look forward to.

The city has been working closely with Seeley to facilitate a course that is both exciting to spectate and logistically manageable for race staff.

“For many years, the Montana multi-sport community has anticipated the ultimate regional triathlon event in Polson. This year, the dream becomes reality,” Seeley said. “We hope to attract a large field with a nice mix of nervous beginners, endorphin-loving enthusiasts and serious competitors.”

The timing of the event should work out nicely for Mission Valley Aquatics supporters as well. By August, the hope is that the pool will be far enough along that a pre-race packet pick-up can take place in the pool’s lobby, giving out-of-towners and locals alike a chance to check out the facility.

“The Envision Polson project is working on a number of year-round options to engage tourism and give residents a better quality of life,” Crossett said, transitioning into another hot topic right now — the Orton Family Foundation’s Community Heart and Soul grant.

•••

On Monday, Crossett was fresh off a multi-day conference hosted by the Orton Foundation in Chicago. The trip was an opportunity for the local people involved with the Orton grant to see first-hand what other communities have done with the award.

“What we saw was that those communities really drove the project,” Crossett said. “While some towns had local government intricately involved in the process, others kept things at a more grassroots level. It looked very different, depending on the community.”

The big question, he said, is how do we connect to what people really want?

“It’s about connecting all these different groups so that there is an awareness and synergy,” Crossett said. “We’re still figuring out what that is going to look like, but when we’re done, we’ll have this body of knowledge to help shape our priorities. So we can say, “Here’s what’s most important.”

Despite the local chatter hinting to negative implications of the grant and its connections to the United Nations’ Agenda 21, Crossett said he felt the foundation is going to be a great support.

“Some of the things that had been done were really good and the towns had been really successful at bringing diversity and really engaging people in the community,” he said.