| 7/8/2009 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Committee to draft ordinance allowing golf carts on streets
Peggy Vlerebome
Courier Staff Writer
A City Council committee will work with the city attorney and the police chief to write a proposed ordinance allowing golf carts to be driven on city streets.
Council President Damon Welch appointed council members Darrell Henderson, Rick Berry and Jim Lee to the committee after a council discussion Tuesday night where the consensus appeared to be that Madison should have such an ordinance.
An amendment to a state law went into effect July 1 that says cities can pass an ordinance allowing golf carts on their streets, but otherwise the practice is illegal. If the City Council does not pass an ordinance, city police will be obligated to write tickets, Police Chief John Wallace said.
"I believe the state has put the ball directly in the cities' courts," Wallace said.
Lee brought up the idea of the city's specifically allowing golf carts on its streets.
State law requires drivers of golf carts on streets to be adults who have a driver's license and proof of insurance, and the carts must be marked with a slow-moving-vehicle sign or lights.
An ordinance should have some restrictions, such as prohibiting golf carts from being driven up and down the hills and on some busy streets such as Clifty Drive, council members said. Wallace said golf carts would have to be driven in the same direction as the traffic in the lane they were in.
Until an ordinance is in place, drivers of golf carts on streets are in violation of the state law, as they have been for years. Wallace agreed with Lee that police have ignored enforcing the law for a long time, but won't be able to if an ordinance is not passed. Last fall, the Indiana State Police notified cities that its officers would ticket golf cart drivers. The new state law followed.
"Either we take one stand (by passing an ordinance) or I feel law enforcement is going to have to," Wallace said.
Also at the City Council meeting:
• An ordinance making a four-way stop at Fourth and Walnut streets was introduced. The intersection now is a two-way stop. No action is taken on first reading when a measure is introduced. Votes will be taken at the second and third readings.
• An ordinance allowing barber shops as a conditional use in areas zoned specialty-district was introduced on first reading. Votes will be taken at the second and third readings.
• The contractor has found surprises at all three of the water-line replacement projects that will result in change orders costing more money, city utility director Randy Eggenspiller said. Work crews found two water lines in West First Street where they expected to find one, he said, and on Mulberry Street they found a 4-inch line where a 6-inch line was supposed to be. On Montclair Street in the Dahlem Addition, workers found a 6-inch line when they dug down to replace what they thought would be an old 2-inch line, he said.
• Mike McFadden has been hired as the operator of the city sewage treatment plant. He has 30 years of experience in Rising Sun, Sunman and Florence, Eggenspiller said. He will replace a part-time operator the city shared with North Vernon after being cited by the state last year for problems at the treatment plant.
• Nancy Gruner, executive director of the Madison Main Street Program, told the council that the Madison Main Street Program has been accredited by the Main Street Center, a part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "We're very proud of that," she said. The program met the 10 performances standards needed for accreditation. It's the first time in several years that the Madison Main Street Program has been accredited, she said. She said the program board believes that what made the difference was that last year the board made the financial commitment to hire a professional staff, and named Main Street store owner Gruner to the part-time position.
• Building inspector Mike Hoffman told the council that he is working on more than 100 nuisance ordinance violations and gets more than 20 calls a week about violations such as unkempt yards and clutter. "I'm working on a backlog that I inherited" from the previous administration, Hoffman said.
He said four run-down houses and buildings are nearing demolition as a result of enforcement.
• Period street lighting will be ready to turn on next week west of Mill Street, Eggenspiller said. The lights are like lights already in place east of Mill, he said.
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