Firework ban allowed

MATTAWA - Residents of Mattawa may not be able to discharge fireworks in Mattawa next, or any year, after the Mattawa City Council passed an ordinance to allow prohibition at its meeting of July 2.

A ban could not be imposed this year because state law requires a city to have its ordinance in place one year before a ban can be imposed, City Clerk Robin Newcomb said.

The ban ordinance was one of five ordinances passed by the Council. One affects yard sales, one concerns door-to-door sales, one deals with special events, and the fourth places a new restriction on business licenses.

Ordinance 15-559, chapter 8.24, is the one that allows the fireworks ban. It gives the Grant County Fire Dept. No. 8 chief, or his designee, the authority to ban fireworks any time the weather warrants a ban.

"It's for extreme weather conditions," District 8 Chief Dave Patterson said.

This Fourth of July would have been such a year, Patterson added. but the ordinance was not in place.

On the other hand, it seems as if the people of Mattawa knew it was not a good year for fireworks. Patterson said hardly any were discharged.

"There were no problems," he said

The Council passed ordinance 15-564 (business licenses) with amended chapter 5.04. Mostly it was a cleanup of language.

However, this amendment gathered door-to-door solicitors under the definition of stationary vendors. They will be required to carry a $1 million liability insurance policy.

The new ordinance also makes it so that all new businesses are temporary until they show proof of a county health permit. They will be allowed to operate for 30 days until they have it. The ordinance also gave the Council the power to place restrictions on stationary vendors.

Ordinance 15-566, chapter 5.28, regarding special events, is brand new. It sets in writing the application process and rules for using public property for an event such as the upcoming Comm"Unity" Days.

"They are the same rules we've been using all along, but we didn't have them written in an ordinance," Newcomb said.

Ordinance 15-567, new chapter 5.32, regarding yard sales, also spells out the rules for yard sales on public and private property. It limits yard sales to five a year per applicant and sets yard sale hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It also deals with the signage allowed and other aspects of running a yard sale.