Palmer council votes to ban sky lanterns

PALMER — City clerk Norma Alley brought up the issue of the council’s scheduled May meeting coinciding with Palmer High School’s graduation. City Councilman Brad Hanson will attend the graduation of his daughter, but the rest of the board will be in attendance, establishing a quorum required to vote.

“I love the fact that we have it here in Palmer,” said Deputy Mayor Linda Combs of the graduation.

Councilman Richard Best made a motion asking Mayor Edna DeVries issue a proclamation in support of the Palmer Pioneer Home, which had been under consideration for budget cuts by the state legislature. The motion passed unanimously.

The board adopted a new Title 15 of the Palmer Municipal Code that deals with buildings and and construction to the updated 2015 version. The council had questions over carbon monoxide detectors for fuel burning tanks such as furnaces and water heaters, and questioned Palmer building inspector David Meneses. Meneses clarified the question about the location of the carbon monoxide detectors on the floor of each tank, and sorted out the questions over the vague language that the board believed left inspections up to the inspector’s discretion, bringing up the very small amount of cases that leave the inspector approving a structure as to the ‘spirit’ of the code rather than specific language within the code itself, and the appeal process if there is disagreement.

“Every house in Palmer has to meet this code. It’s one more public safety item that we’ve got on the books protects our insurance rating for the citizens,” said Wallace.

Following a unanimous vote to approve the updated code, DeVries noted that votes should be cast with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote, as opposed to the ‘yea’ or ‘nay’. Many council members continued to cast ‘yea’ votes through the duration of the meeting, whether by error or by choice.

The Council amended the municipal code to ban the use of sky lanterns within city limits, citing the many fire dangers. A fueling station, the Palmer municipal airport, and trees are all close in proximity to any point in within the Palmer city limits. Sky lanterns end up as unwanted trash, and burned down a spruce tree recently, as councilman Best recalled. After lengthy discussion, the motion passed with Councilman Best opposed.

“I’m in favor of them happening, but when you’re talking about a public safety issue you have to take out the emotion of why people are doing it,” said Best.

The City plans to use the $5,000 awarded to the city by the Keep America Beautiful foundation to finish the Shane Woods Memorial trail. Palmer was the only recipient of the award in the state.

The Council approved the acceptance of funds for the bike rack design contest, where citizens will creatively design bike racks to specifications and the winner’s design will be placed throughout Palmer and in front of businesses.

“Building these bike racks is going to draw more bikers out, draw more attention to the issue and connect these trails across our major thoroughfares,” said Councilman David Fuller.

City Manager David Wallace detailed the beginning of the spring cleanup throughout Palmer. The street sweeper went out for test runs Monday and Tuesday, and will soon make its way throughout the city to clean up the leftover gravel from the winter.

“It’s a tremendous impact, everything looks so much cleaner than before,” said Combs of the city wide cleanup days, scheduled May 12 and 13 downtown.

Palmer also saw the arrival of a new garbage truck.

“We have two trucks and third for parts. Our second truck is from the eighties, so we’ll retire one of them, and this will go into service. It’ll last 15 years. Residents have paid for it through solid waste fees. It’s not an increase, we budgeted this for years over time.Function wise just as efficient, technology hasn’t changed much in garbage pick up,” said Wallace.

Department of Public Works solid waste operator Dave Sutton has been driving the old trucks during his 10 years on the job, and was excited to see the arrival of the new vehicle. The truck has not been put on the road, as insurance and registration has yet to go through, but should be out collecting garbage next week.

“The way it’s designed, it’ll be more efficient in collecting trash. It’s been over two years in the process just getting the specifics of what kind of truck would best fit our needs in the City of Palmer. Getting this truck here to serve the residents is a real blessing,” said Sutton.

The City Council will meet again on April 25 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.