Travis County Commissioners Court
December 12, 2006
Item 3
3. Consider and take appropriate action regarding the prohibition of the sale or use of restricted fireworks in the unincorporated area of Travis County.
>> pete baldwin again. The state law says that if the county finds parts or all of the county in drought conditions, they must by December 15th pass an order prohibiting the sale of restricted fireworks, which are the bottle rockets, missiles with fins. The Commissioners or fire chiefs have all looked at that, said, look, we are in a drought condition, under a burn ban, we have got dry fuel out there from the freezes, we feel like that's a prudent thing to protect the safety of it. The forest service, chief meteorologist assured me that parts of our county are well above the threshold for declaring drought. Not all of the county. But parts of it. Whether the court makes the finding of part or all of the county then you have the authority to place this order in lays.
>> this is not on firework, this is specifically sky rockets with sticks and missiles with fins.
>> yes, sir.
>> he would like to note that we do have someone in the audience that may want to address this, if you would like.
>> please come forward. Anybody else here on this item? If so come forward. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> judge, thank you very much and commissions, I want to tell you that --
>> state your name, please.
>> yes, I'm sorry, I'm chester Davis, I own american firework, also the president of the Texas pyrotechnic association throughout the state of Texas.
>> thank you.
>> I appreciate very much the Commissioners, the judge and commissions follow pete's recommendation. We are, I have monitored this for the last six months. We are about 615, the threshold is about 500. 500. I have absolutely no problem with that. What I would like to ask you is that I certainly want to, if the weather conditions hold out or the -- what we are told is 60% chance of rain on the 19th, we open on the 20th. When the Commissioners meet again, I would like to be allowed to speak again at that point if the threshold situation changes and we get significant rain and we can make a change. Because one of the things that happens to us is that the county Commissioners and the judges and some other counties, I will say that Travis County is by far the leader in the -- in the 254 counties. But sometimes they forget about us after they make their decision, we get a little bit of rainfall, things change and then they don't want to come back and they don't want to make the change that helps us sell some fireworks. So I would appreciate the fact that we could do that. Second of all, I would, judge and Commissioners, tell you that -- that peat and his staff do a -- pete and his staff do a tremendous job. I want to tell you that you have an acting fire marshal right now in Travis County, which for the first time in a very, very, very long time we have finally got someone who is responsive and professional on both sides of the field. He plays defense and offense very well. He communicates with us. He does his job. And that's brad -- I have called him brad ever since I have known him. I want to tell you the industry standpoint and people who build things in Travis County, the direction that the county has gone with brad is absolutely the best, I appreciate that very much from the court. Totally.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all very much.
>> pete, what -- what about the enforcement arm of this -- of what we are dealing with today? I mean, there are still going to be persons that violate what we are trying to accomplish here. That's to -- to -- the prohibition of these type of fireworks. My concern is what is the enforcement arm? This has really been a lot of efforts in trying to ensure that enforcement leg of this is doing what they are supposed to do and really -- did can you tell me the approach.
>> first and foremost, we try to work with the industry, give them the lead time. These two particular items are not stopped in the stands. However, if there are counties adjacent to us that don't follow or don't pass an order, then there are people that can bring them into the county. Firing those are prohibited, I'm going to turn to jim, is that not a class c?
>> that's class c misdemeanor. It would be treated just like any other violation of outdoor burning. Our fire marshals and our sheriff's office, our constables are all capable of -- of enforcing that.
>> Commissioner, if I could, I will tell you that -- that 100%, we will do our very, very best to make sure that they are not available to the public. Two issues, though. Williamson county doesn't have a fire marshal. So it's kind of a problem for us when -- when's much as we try to control this ourselves, when they try to go right on the county line, you know, there's an issue of they have nobody there to do anything. I have asked them, I have begged them to get a fire marshal. But at this point they have not. As well as hays county, it's on the agenda this morning, but it's not on the agenda. So I mean it could be an agenda ten. I was going to decide whether I go to my home or here but it's not. I will tell you that the industry is going to take care of 90% of the problem itself. Commissioner.
>> that's a promise.
>> all right. December 15 is the deadline to impose the ban. Are we free to lift it any time afterwards.
>> actually the wording of the statute, I will turn to jim for the exact wording, but it's my understanding that the wording on it is this order is in effect until drought conditions no longer exist. To make it -- is that correct?
>> according to the statute, judge, an order that's issued pursuant to this statue expires with the forest service determines that drought conditions no longer exist in Travis County. So it doesn't technically it's -- it does not require any action by this court to lift its order. Now, traditionally the court has taken action to -- to lift an order that's -- that's been enacted by the court. Just to make sure that there's no confusion out there in the public about whether or not the order is still in place or has been lifted or that drought conditions no longer exist. But --
>> who would determine whether the drought conditions exist?
>> Texas forest service. We checked with them quite frequently.
>> you do the same, I take it.
>> move approval of staff recommendation, move that we authorize the county judge to sign on behalf of the Commissioners court.
>> discussion.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. We will have it on the agenda next week just in case we need it.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, December 13, 2006 10:35 AM