It's on the future.

You can that is your that is your uh ancillary roles.

That is my ancillary role.

I mean, I played one of the TV.

See Alex's so he's gonna have two officers.

Uh we may be not five minutes early or late.

It's my dad's attitude.

Okay, it is six o'clock, so I'm gonna call this meeting to order.

This is a special business meeting of the Syracuse City Council.

In a special business meeting, we will begin with an invocation, which I will deliver and then Abe, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance after that?

I would our Father in Heaven.

We are grateful to come together as a city council to uh debate the issues of the city and find a process forward that uh we hope will serve all of our citizens well.

We're grateful for the many blessings and bounty that we have in this city.

We're grateful for the prosperity of the community.

We're grateful for the blessings of moisture when we can get it, and we're grateful for the blessings of uh a great city to live in and um the prosperity that we enjoy.

At this time, we pray for thy spirit to be with us that we will be able to debate respectfully and discuss the issue at hand and come to a conclusion that we can all accept.

And I say these things humbly in the name of thy son Jesus to Christ, amen.

I pledge ladies to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which one nation under God in this law with team and justice for all, ladies and gentlemen.

The special meeting has been called to deal with the governor's announcement that it has changed the fireworks situation for the year.

I want to be clear about what we're going to do here tonight for starters.

We will have public comment.

Public comment, it's not an opportunity to filibuster, so it will be limited to three minutes, and hopefully you can collect your thoughts within those three minutes.

Public comment is not a debate, meaning we're not here to answer questions back and forth.

You can share your thoughts freely and they will be considered in this meeting.

You may or may not hear an answer when we debate the issue here at the table, but it is the boundaries of the state law that we don't turn public comment into some kind of forum or debate.

So I just want to be sure that everybody understands that.

Um, before we begin public comment, I'm gonna read off a couple of carefully researched factual points because there's been a lot of misinformation out there about what is actual part of the governor's order, what's not, what's within our purview, what's not.

You may or may not agree with what I read off, but since Thursday's announcement, we've spent a lot of time, including the city attorney trying to get down to what is correct and factual.

So what I read off will be the points that we will be uh working from.

Uh, there's certainly going to be strong opinions on both sides.

I've heard from a lot of people who have called me directly and told me they have very passionate points on one side or the other.

It is very important in this room that we are respectful in the way that we approach each other.

The only way that we can allow everyone to freely speak is if we are direct and not uh we can't show big emotion, there will be no applause.

If you decide that this is gonna be some kind of pep rally, you'll be asked to leave.

Because we want people on the other side of the issue to also feel like they can share their opinion.

You don't have to agree with it.

We just have to give equal opportunity for people to share their thoughts.

The decision that will be made later, we want everyone to feel like they had an opportunity to be considered.

So it the respect issue is very important.

Um so I'm just gonna go through a couple of things that have been some misconceptions.

You may already agree with these points, but I wrote them down so that we at least begin from a common uh perspective.

The first one is fireworks are currently legal, illegally sold throughout the state.

That hasn't changed.

Uh the purchase of fireworks has not been affected by the governor's order or the current state law, and we have a city as a city have not been given the authority to change the sale of fireworks.

So that is not in our purview.

Uh the discharge of public fireworks throughout or without a professional permit, would not be legal until July 2nd.

So no action, and the fact that we have not yet taken an action has not affected anybody's ability to do fireworks or not.

So that's not been affected because I've had some people concerned.

Uh three professionally licensed fireworks are not affected by the governor's order.

So those who have permits and those who have set up professional shows, that's not affected, and the city does not have the power to change that.

So that is not something we're given charge of.

So that's not going to be a part of our discussion.

Number four, the governor's order does not allow cities to change the days of just discharge.

Um it does imply through the state forester's order that the uh in banning the entire state.

So this is a little unclear, but it was pretty clearly represented in some of the meetings that were held after the governor's order on what this does give and what this doesn't give.

It is interpreted as law that the governor only has the power to suspend state law.

State law does not give cities the ability to change the dates of discharge.

So while I've heard some cities say they're considering that, uh the legal interpretation we have is that that's not within our power.

And so they may be corrected if they if they do change that, but so the dates of discharge is not on the table for as far as I understand it.

Number five, current state law, though being suspended by the executive order of the governor, requires cities to provide historic data of wild fire problem areas in order to consider banning fireworks.

The governor's order does supersede that requirement, but it is important to note that no area in our city has ever actually qualified for that ban.

So, like it or not, if the governor hadn't acted, we would not have that power.

We would certainly be under the law of the state legislature that says historically we do not have a danger area.

So that is fact.

Um historically, we have not had fires every year caused by plate, or historically we have had fires caused every year, but it is the most common issue is because people spent hot or still lit remains in their garbage cans.

We have not had historical uh fires that have spread other than that.

We almost have one every year.

Somebody puts in the garbage can a spent shell, it's still hot, it lights their garbage on fire.

That's just your responsibility, and that wouldn't change if we banned fireworks or not.

So we just need to know the historical data.

Syracuse has a wild lands fire crew that is trained to fight wildland fires, but that is because in our service area, we also serve Antelope Island.

So that's that crew is on staff.

So we do have a crew, they have always been on alert uh on firework discharge nights.

That's a part of our standard operating procedure.

Number eight, um, most of the open lands and wild areas are outside of the city limits, meaning they're in the county lands.

So fireworks remain prohibited in all of the county lands, no matter what Syracuse chooses to do.

So out on these fringe areas that are big wild areas, that doesn't change.

I can't, I have no authority there.

So just want to be clear.

Um, number nine, Syracuse uh grew as a historic farming community, and as such, we have many farm fields still inner meshed with part of our city.

Farm fields would still be considered high risk and high impact areas.

We have to be respectful and understand that is a real threat that exists, whether we have drought or not.

Number 10, the governor's order is limited, it may extend or be amended, but as of tonight, the only the extent of the governor's order is only for us to lift the band through July 5th.

So what happens after this, we'll probably hear from the governor again.

I just want to be clear that as our authority tonight only deals with up until July 5th, where his current order extends.

So I want to be clear about that.

Um I have the governor's order here.

Uh, we're not gonna go through it point by point, but understand that our goal here tonight is to make a wise decision that is best for our city and our circumstances.

You may have another opinion, and that's okay.

You can are we have not made a decision in the end, it is up to myself and the fire chief to agree on a decision, but I'm called this meeting because our form of government is a city council with five city council members.

I want to hear all their opinions.

I have done a lot of data gathering, but I really do care about what they will support as well.

So no decision has been made so far.

We have multiple options that are allowable, and we will talk about those after we hear from you.

So again, I'm gonna open up public comment at this point.

You have up to three minutes.

We will carry a timer because I need to keep this meeting to a point where we can go home by midnight.

So you'll have up to three minutes to please make your point.

And again, I urge you to be courteous and understand that there will be other people in the room who have a different opinion.

We are not making them feel like they're unwelcome.

Every opinion is welcome to be part of the discussion.

We will then make a discussion after that.

I hope that's clear to everybody.

So I'm gonna open discussion with the public comments that were sent to us by email for people who couldn't attend.

And Cassie, would you read those?

Yes, this first uh public comment says, Dear Mayor Mann and members of the city council, thank you for holding this special meeting and carefully considering Syracuse City's response to the statewide fireworks ban.

I appreciate the difficult position the city is in as it balances public safety, agricultural interests, local traditions, and the economic impact of fireworks spenders.

While Syracuse has historically experienced relatively few wildfire incidents related to fireworks, our community still contains significant agricultural land and open spaces that are especially vulnerable during the current drought conditions.

I believe protecting homes, crops, and public safety should remain the city's highest priority.

I support a cautious approach that allows fireworks only in areas sufficiently separated from open fields and other combustible areas.

The suggested approach of maintaining a buffer around open spaces appears to provide a reasonable balance between safety and allowing residents to celebrate independence day traditions.

If the city elects to allow fireworks in designated areas, I encourage the city to provide clear maps and robust public communication so residents understand exactly where fireworks are permitted and to continue emphasizing proper disposal of spent fireworks.

Thank you for your service and your thoughtful consideration of the issue.

And that's from Eric Willison.

And then the second one says, Dear City Council members, I would like to say for the record that I am against allowing personal fireworks this 4th of July weekend.

As a family, we shoot off fireworks every July 4th and 24th, and even sometimes on New Year's.

And I was looking forward to celebrating our 250th birthday with more fireworks.

But there are just too many fires right now, and it is not worth it.

We have already lost some firefighters.

We need to not risk any more lives.

Thank you for listening to my opinion.

And that's from Mary Dean.

Okay.

Both very respectful comments.

I will now open it to the floor.

If you would like to make a comment, raise your hand.

I'll call on people.

You get one turn, you don't get to keep coming back.

But uh, I will take comments up to three minutes from as many of you as would like before we begin our discussion.

Who'd like to start?

Go ahead.

And I have to ask everybody, you have to for the record state your name and address.

That's required by state law first.

Yeah.

My name is Sharon Watson.

I'm at 1765 West 2770 South Syracuse, Utah.

RC Willie.

Um, I I've lived here for over 20 years.

I've had kids go through the high school system.

I'm a very prominent person in the community, I'm not just somebody who's coming in.

And uh I am involved in fireworks, so I I've been have been involved since my parents started this 40 some years ago, and uh we've been celebrating every every year since uh I I feel like common sense approach is what we should really be looking at, which I feel is this the tone here feeling that you know we we protect the areas as an email said that are high burn farms, you know, props.

I totally support that.

But I you know, in the other email, uh, there's fires in central Utah.

The Syracuse is not located in central Utah.

And I think that taking the statistics that you brought up into consideration historically, we aren't a high fire issue or area.

Um, taking that in consideration, I think is common sense.

Uh, I think the freedom and agency is another thing, you know.

We we have uh our our biggest thing that we have is in the in the US is our agency and our freedom.

And if you choose not to want to support fireworks, then don't go buy fireworks.

If you do uh want to celebrate uh our country's birthday, then come and join us with some fireworks.

So I just I just feel like there's always gonna be a division, either nationally, statewide, citywide.

sense uh i uh i think the freedom and agency is another thing you know we we have uh our our biggest thing that we have is in the in the US is our agency and our freedom and if you choose not to want to support fireworks then don't go buy fireworks if you do uh want to celebrate uh our country's birthday then then come and join us with some fireworks so I just I just feel like there's always going to be a division either net nationally statewide citywide some people are for some people are against I think that we we should really look hard before we take the right of somebody away because the opinion of somebody else and I hope that as you consider this that there's so many good things that that bring families together and we don't have a high risk of fire in certain case I hope that that would be having a longer treatment's good so thank you very much appreciate the time to be here anyone else go right ahead sir uh my name is Devin Alred I live at 1258 South 4465 West Syracuse.

So I don't have social media on purpose because I you know like to debate and such um but I've made the mistake of perusing my wife's Facebook page ever since the governor announced the ban and from what I can gather um a significant amount of consternation with fireworks in general and the support of the ban and I'm not saying wholesale but a lot of people are happy for their dogs and uh a lot of people are happy for us veterans who you know purple hard recipient I love fireworks and go boom all day so Richfield Utah I grew up there they just came out and they are allowing personal fireworks within the city Richard Utah is about 45 miles north of the uh of the beaver fire the cottonwood fire down there and they are just as wide open the more so I would say so touching on his point it is about it is about a freedom it is about our choice it's about us doing what we want this it it fireworks aren't a hill to die on but I just have a big issue being told that I can't do something as traditionally awesome for our country's 250th birthday because I sure say I'm not gonna make the 300 so I would like to make this as memorable for my children as humanly possible and just you know big kid rules apply don't be stupid there's gonna be stupid people no matter what no matter what law you impose um but yeah just because some folks are dumb doesn't mean that everybody else is suffered so I appreciate your oldness and letting us have voice answer okay who'd like to go next go ahead sorry um thank you could you guys help me remember stuff I was gonna say I appreciate this meeting as well um my the very when I first heard about the ban I literally immediately also personally took it personally as this is um who is the government to tell me that I'm dumb can't be safe can't be smart I've been letting off fireworks my entire life might definitely won't make it to 250 because I'm definitely older than you're 300 sorry I might not make it to that 250 um you're there yeah not quite um every year I do fireworks um it's also my birthday um and so it's kind of our it's just we've been doing it forever and ever and it is our last year in this community and we are selling our house and was really looking forward to going out you know uh obviously coinciding with 250 my birthday and moving so um but mostly the free agency I obviously feel like I think it's important that we don't assume everyone is going to make mistakes I think history matters so thank you go ahead oh you were scratching my hands all right is there anyone else that would like to go ahead sir my name's Jeremy Berry I live at 3421 West 2280 South Syracuse I've been here for over 20 years um storm I've I love fireworks myself over the last 10 years I have not been able to enjoy them because sitting in my front lawn I would have just be read on with firework beak debris my neighbors buying aerials and they go to Wyoming buy them and they just land in my yard last year they broke a window with a bottle rocket and had flaming pieces landing on my yard and go out and put them out so it is stuff like that that kind of concerns me this year with the drought we've been watering our lawn less sorry our lawn is very dry so fountains great go ahead mic was off in the street but the aerials are what can't anyone else I'll go ahead I think Dan knows 1982 South 800 West I've been in Syracuse for

We've been watering our lawn less.

Sorry, our lawn is very dry.

So fountains, great.

Go ahead.

Michaels off in the street, but the aerials are what can spend.

Anyone else?

Oh nice Dan knows 1982 South 800 West.

I've been at Syracuse for 22 years.

Quite a while.

We've lit fireworks off every year since we've been here.

It's a family tradition.

We have a big party, barbecue, probably 60, 70, 80 people come to our house.

Um I think people need to be smart.

We're smart.

If if you're living next to a field, I can understand the fire department saying, no, you're off limits.

You shouldn't be lighting bottle rockets.

You should call the cops on those people.

It's you know, that's they're illegal anyways.

So I think legal fireworks to a degree, as long as you're not living next to a fire hazard.

The wind isn't blowing at 20 miles an hour.

I I think everybody should be smart about it and be allowed to light their fireworks off, keep their freedoms, keep their traditions.

That's all I got to say.

And be smart and be smart.

And prepared.

Do you want to go next?

Sure.

Um, I guess one more if I am at 2115 South 1300 West in Syracuse.

Um, I've also been involved with fireworks for like my whole life.

And I feel like it really is about just being like smart and responsible and like listening about your neighbors, super super frustrating.

Like, don't get me wrong.

But also those things are coming from illegal fireworks that are like Wyoming, those aren't gotten involved rockets, like those are people making stupid choices.

Um, so I just feel like we have a lot of our agency already, like we're already told kind of what to do about a lot of things that are light, and that's just like one that feels a bit more personal to a lot of us.

Um like our freedom and celebrating and you know, it's about our nations.

So hopefully people can just be smart and use the legal stuff and do it in the business.

Anyone else?

Just fair warning.

When I cut off public comment, the discussion will only be at this table.

So if you want to give input, now is your chance.

If you're not from Syracuse, yeah, you can speak.

My name's Kyle.

I live up in North Octon, and I work in the fireworks industry doing the tents and things.

And so what I've noticed is I lived in California for a lot of I grew up here, we moved to California, came back, and fireworks were legal, and it seems like that the approach that the Utah has taken, you know, with the way the fireworks are done, they've mapped out everything that you know.

Most of the fire restrictions have all been in place for the full 10 years I've been here, and that the fireworks, like when we talk bottle rockets or things that artillery shells that room mechanics that can be pointed, they made those illegal because that makes sense.

That the ones here in Utah, you know, you have to put on the ground and it has to come, you know, it has to be able to control which direction the fireworks are going.

So I think that you know they've taken the government, you know, the the Utah government have made reasonable rules for fireworks, and I think they've been pretty effective.

And then my second point is that doing it for 10 years that this year doesn't seem you know, I they they say drought and everything, but it's not we've had worse temperatures.

I've been in a tent that's 104 degrees all week, and the temperatures and the climate have been worse than it is this year, and so this year seems like a really pretty mild as far as the weather is concerned, and I think that you know, doing it responsibly and following the laws that the government, you know, that they originally created makes sense to me.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Go ahead.

Uh Steve Ross, 850 West, 350 South of Syracuse.

I don't talk at meetings like this at all.

I'm in support of what the governor's done with where he's at with that band for common sense, and I think it goes further than just with fireworks.

There should be those things looked at, but I think that where we live.

I I used to shoot off a lot of fireworks.

My wife now sells them.

I support her in what she does.

Um, so I don't shoot nearly as many off now because we're working, and so I watch it, I see it, I enjoy it.

And so I watch it, I see it, I enjoy it.

I like being able to choose what we do and how we do that using common sense.

And sometimes I I feel lately that common sense just seems to be missing in a lot of the issues at hand that we face.

So my ask all of you as you sit down and talk about it now, even if I'm the last person speaking, is that there are people out there that use common sense.

Um there are individuals out there that make bad choices to buy the ones that they should be, and I support that they should be fine to the full extent of the law.

I do, because it creates a bad issue for the large majority of the public that care for what they do out there the right way and put them out.

Um so I I just ask that you think about that and consider that that we're not always going to be able to keep in check the ones that are gonna do what they want to do anyhow, no matter what anybody tells them.

And I think from what I've seen so far, the large majority of us here are supportive being able to celebrate that freedom that we have and do it respectfully and responsibly, and uh that's it.

Thanks.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

Go ahead, sir.

I'm also here, like Scott.

I'm not from up here, I though Dan and Draper.

Um, first and foremost, I'd like to thank you guys for the opportunity to be out here.

Okay, uh Sydney, they didn't give us this opportunity, so we are able to voice our view.

So thank you very much.

Um just kind of echoing the words that have gone around.

Um things, and if there's you guys have played the fire, the fire department has put a lot of time and effort into making that uh maps of where we can light face uh fair to assumption make, but um allowing us to have the opportunities to light this year, and we can the fire department can look again at certain areas, and if we need to make a couple adjustments this year just based on conditions and stuff like that, I think I think that'd be great that can be helpful as well, but still still allows the opportunity to celebrate 250.

Thank you guys.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

Fair warning, last call.

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comment um and bring the discussion back to the table.

Council, one of the reasons why this is so important to me is I'm hopeful that we can leave tonight with an agreement that you can all support because having a supportive council when there will be people who disagree with our decision is very important because we're gonna all have we'll all get phone calls, we'll all be told what other people's opinions are, and that's fine.

That's part of the job, and we'll deal with it.

But I do hope that um we can arrive at something that we can agree on.

A couple of things that I want to make clear that had come up during public comment.

Number one, we have been investigating whether we have the right to ban certain kinds of fireworks.

Um, I know that there is another city who is also investigating whether they can ban aerial fireworks, because there is a difference, and there is a greater risk when you use fireworks that shoot up into the air.

It's the opinion at this point of legal counsel and and our interpretation that that's not in within our our purview because if the governor's only allowed to suspend law, he's suspending the law that says these are the things that are legal, but then the forester is given the right to say I'm now suspending areas.

That would mean that we either have the ability to turn on areas or not, not choose the fireworks.

Um, that has been decided by legislature.

Uh, whether I agree or not is a different subject because I remember a time in Utah's history when that wasn't a part of our uh you know legal state, but there will always be people who break the law.

That is just something we can't get around.

There will be people who go up and buy things that are not legal in this state and bring them back to this state.

That is no different than every other year.

The other thing that I would point out is that um we historically have monitored conditions.

We have a forecast that none of the days of lighting fireworks uh would be over um 10 miles an hour uh winds uh that is expected to be around five uh most days of the lighting days that's still within tolerance um for low risk.

That's still within tolerance for low risk.

I would ask that throughout our discussion we'd be very careful with the wording of what we uh go forward with regarding fireworks and risk.

Fireworks carry a risk period.

That's just life.

So we can't use the word this is a safe zone or a safe firework because there is always risk.

So in whatever order we put out I will not be declaring a safe zone.

I will just say lower risk because there is always risk in fireworks.

That's just life and we have to respect that.

Now as I put in the packet of information I pointed out several things that we determined to be fact.

I mean we have we have options we can uphold the ban and just not let them be here.

We can uh modify the ban by lifting it in lower risk areas which is one option or we could just lift them blanketly in the city and go back to whatever the state lies we might be able to do something in between that but those are basically our three options to discuss.

I do want to give a moment to our fire chief Aaron Byington to present some of the facts he gathered and that we this is all moving because we've been gathering data literally since Thursday's announcement I've been straight researching this so that we don't make decisions based on nothing but actual facts.

So Aaron I'll turn uh well first off I think it's important that we we see what communities around us are doing as well one of the challenges are if if we do choose to open up areas for fireworks to be discharged at everybody else bans or upholds the ban for fireworks that everybody else comes to Syracuse City and now we go from a population of 4000 to with Leighton City and everywhere else but it looks like that the majority of the communities surrounding us as they there's still a couple out there the majority of the communities surrounding us have uh they've restricted areas and they're allowing fireworks.

So they do have maps out and have restricted areas I spent this weekend several hours over this weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday driving through the entire city um and looking at areas where there is agricultural land where there's heavy vegetation I looked at areas where there would be challenges for firefighting if there was an incident I looked at areas of higher risk which I would consider our commercial areas in that and uh I also looked at areas where there are unfortunately there are a lot of uh uh residents in our community who haven't kept up their properties very well which pose a fire risk as well so I looked at those areas um based upon those areas looking I I have two options that I would support I've talked to the mayor about this I would support restricting areas in the city where we found that had heavy vegetation agricultural areas so we can protect the farmers and um and what they have their investment uh we can uh homes in various stages of construction which are basically tinder boxes so if we've got uh neighborhoods that are in the process of being developed uh and we have homes that are uh maybe framed up things like that I think we need to look at that area as well um and creating a map that is uh one of the options and then of course the other option would be if based upon what the the council wants to do I I would also support upholding the fireworks ban so um in either case my number one choice and where I came when we had our first discussion was that we find an area to restrict I think um I think if we look historically uh I and I went back over I went back through 2020 and looked at our all of our fire calls over the July 2nd through the July 5th time um I also looked at the state of emergencies that were uh issued by the the government or by the state by that time uh because of drought conditions and uh I also looked at the stage two fire restrictions that were issued by the state forester every single year in the past six years they've had stage two fire restrictions um and one two three four of the last six years we had a state of emergency due to drought so looking back historically we this this is unprecedented for us because I think this challenge that the governor has has put out there for us is is based off of what is happening in central Utah based off the the heavy wildland fire season that the state is seeing which is higher than any year that I can remember there's a lot of fires in Utah they are in central Utah though and it is in a wildland urban interface area.

So looking back historically, we this is unprecedented for us because I think this challenge that the governor has put out there for us is based off of what is happening in central Utah and based off the heavy wildland fire season that the state is seeing, which is higher than any year that I can remember.

There's a lot of fires in Utah.

They are in central Utah though, and it is in a wildland urban interface area.

So that's that's my position.

And where we're at moving forward as part of the discussion, there's any questions you have, I'd be more than happy to answer.

I want to point out a couple of things.

There is some chatter online that is unverified that uh large majority of the fires that are in central Utah are started by fireworks.

Even if that's true, because I I don't know for certain, so I don't want to put that out of spec.

But if it were true, those are already illegal because we are not during the discharge days that the legislature has set up.

So we're responding to a legal activity, not to legal activity.

So that's one consideration.

The other thing that I would point out is that um the governor made the statement the same day, uh, and this is verified.

He said, I'm not trying to stop neighborhood fireworks.

I'm trying to empower people uh to protect the wild areas that interface with cities.

So with that comment, um he is expecting that some cities will list lift bans.

I know that there are areas throughout the state where they've just said we don't care, we're just gonna enforce the ban.

I think the intention was clearly framed that it was not that everywhere in the state would be completely free of fireworks.

So I leave those with you, and then go ahead.

I just want to add one more thing that I thought about.

Uh in the past six years, we have had fireworks caused fires, whether they were due to not properly disposing or something catching a small field or some brush on fire or fitzerbushes or whatever it is, we've had those.

Um, whether or not no matter what we decide on for tonight, we'll still have them.

They're going to have them.

Um the other thing that with this options for support the support options for restricting the areas.

Uh, looking at those areas, it's going to be heavily restricted, especially further west of where there's more open law, more open lots and areas is where we were looking.

The other thing is that I think is important to note is that we do have a safety plan in place.

We are bringing in extra staffing for the fire department.

The police department is looking at bringing extra staffing.

We're already working with code enforcement right now to work on some of the the weed and the abatement issues that we have that could cause potential risk.

So we do have a good solid safety plan in place to also help uh with this if this is the option that we choose moving forward.

And you guys know that what I like to do is kind of investigate the different choices that you have so that we're prepared to answer questions before a meeting.

So we have investigated what does it look like and what would happen if we upheld the ban.

One of the concerns is it would be harder, it would there would be more effort to deal with enforcement because we are a 10 square mile city, so it could be difficult to enforce, and not everyone obeys the law.

We have looked at what would it look like if we were to decide to ban just high-risk areas, and staff has put in tremendous amount of time over the weekend and today to uh look at the kind of some parameters that I suggested on what would constitute an area's ban.

If that's the way you want to go, we'll talk about that and get your agreement with those ideas or not.

But again, we prepared for that.

And then lastly, you know, what would it look like if the areas around us uh didn't lift the ban, and we did, and we just had a massive influx of people.

Fortunately, I think we've found out because I've been in touch with the other mayors quite a bit today.

Uh, we found out that most are going to have some accessibility.

So that is probably not an avenue we have to consider.

That all said, who would like to start?

Because I want to hear from all five of you before we move forward.

No, I'm happy to start.

Um thank you, Brett.

With what I do for a living, we rely a lot on experts.

I'm not a firefighter, I'm not a fireworks person.

Um I'm concerned about our city, and if the experts, and I I think I'm hearing Chief Buyington say that the risk is manageable and that there's adequate staffing.

Those were the two things that I was concerned about.

As well, I think we have to be very careful with everything, and I'm mindful of the issues that are out there.

But if things can be managed appropriately, um we have adequate staffing.

Um I would be supportive of a restricted, but a restricted plan, but still allow fireworks to help.

Thank you.

I uh just to elaborate a little bit on the staffing uh for the fire department.

We are planning on bringing in our seasonal wildland team.

They are not deployed out on any fires right now.

Uh we'll have so we will have a brush truck, uh first quick attack brush truck that'll be out uh moving and and just driving throughout the city.

I know I'll be out on all those nights as well to kind of help uh in in areas.

Uh we will also bring in additional staffing so we can fully staff station free to we chose restriction and that crew were out if they were dispatched.

Would we still be able to handle things within the city?

We we'll be able to handle whatever we can within the city.

I mean, it's it's really difficult.

I mean, if a house fire of any sort takes a lot of resources, and uh, and then that's why we rely on mutual aid or automatic aid, and that's one of the challenges any time that we have a fireworks season or this time of year that that one community could be could have a house fire, and we're helping them out, and then something helped happens here, and another community helps us out, and that's just how we've operated for the 32 years I've been in the fire service.

And and we've only sent the wildland team out on wildland fires when there is adequate staffing to that.

Okay, but what I'm hearing you saying is that whatever staffing can be there, will be there to fully staff absolutely.

I appreciate you going first and uh sharing your thoughts.

I always I always like hearing what you what you have, and I I uh I agree with you.

Um initially um my reaction was because of the state of of affairs where we are uh to restrict, and then as I pondered and prayerfully thought about it.

Um my leaning is to choose freedom over safety and to allow people to be free to choose.

And I do think that my opinion is is that it's our job as a city to be prepared to respond to whatever the consequences of that are.

Um, but I would be willing to support whatever um you decide.

I I would be totally on board with the partial restriction.

Um, but I do I do feel like I've I've come away from the full out ban, that I don't I don't feel like that that's that is the position government should ever take is restricting its citizens to tell them what they can and cannot do.

Okay.

We're not going in order.

Oh it's like you want to go?

I will.

Um I I like option B in the packet.

Thank you for putting that together.

And I think that um to minimize the risk, I think the best option would be to expand the areas of restriction and certain areas under um chief our chief police's recommendations and the mayor, and I think that's chief of fire fire chief.

I mean, chief of fire, what did I say?

Police.

I play one on TV.

Yep.

So I think that that's going to be you know um the best decision for our city and for its residents for um having a safe and enjoyable fourth of July.

Okay.

Sorry, Golf Lady's groups.

Exactly.

I totally agree.

Option number two seems reasonable with limited restrictions, and I like to be able to trust in our citizens.

We love this city, and we're gonna do the right things.

I believe it sounds like the cross section here believes that too.

So as long as you think that's a safe smart decision, we'll go with that.

So a couple of points that I have.

So there's there's been a lot of hysteria online, and and granted, there's a lot of wildfires in the in the state.

Um, but uh those are in areas that uh in central Utah we just we've discussed.

We don't have forests that border our city.

Um we're as the chief said, we're uh we're a fairly low risk uh community when it comes to to fireworks.

Um as far as drought years go, um, as long as I can remember being on the council, we've we've had um watering restrictions for our for our citizens to help with with the drought.

Um and so we get to water three days a week um uh during this time of year.

My lawn is green, my bushes are green and healthy.

So if I don't think that is a that's a valid excuse.

Houses are all a drought does not affect the flammability of a house.

We're not watering our houses.

Um, and so that risk is inherent with with fireworks.

Um, I would say, you know, Chief, I know you mentioned that that you know there's new construction and things like that that could be you know, that could be tinder boxes.

Do have we ever restricted near new construction before?

There have been no restrictions historically in Syracuse.

Okay, so I don't know that I don't even know that a drought year changes something like something like that.

So, like I like many have echoed, I think the the freedom of choice is important.

I think it's important for people to be responsible.

Um, but it sounds like we've got a very well prepared fire department.

Um we don't have historically, we don't have higher, you know, high fire incidents or high risk areas in the city, and I don't know that this year changes much with that.

So I'd be in favor of a uh of a ban restriction in full.

Okay.

So my concerns um lift, sorry, lifting the band.

Lifting the band, right?

Sorry.

So hearing that most of you are on the same page, uh, I'm gonna take the next step and talk about what that might look like.

I have with staff prepared a map.

Well, Noah did most of the work, but under certain guidelines.

I'm going to show this to you, and I'm not putting this out in the public on purpose, because it is not official and it is not a done deal.

This is a work in progress, but I want you to take a look at it and understand what some of these um ideas are.

One of the things that I said was uh we probably need to uphold a ban anywhere next to um a farm field, which we do have some in the city uh of more than an acre, because we I have already spoken to uh at least one farmer who said, Look, my wheat's gonna be ready to harvest, it's gonna be as dry as it can be.

If you if we could ask somebody to move a hundred feet to the neighbor's house to make that more possible that he doesn't lose a field, we're still letting people operate in the city without um, you know.

I don't I don't think everybody has to have like driveway access.

If if you if there's operational uh ability in the city with keeping that risk safe, I think that that's reasonable.

That's just my opinion, but that's what I asked for.

We have marked the county lands in red because we can't change that, but it is in our service district.

So if you see the black line that it uh indicates where it's city border currently stops, and you see red beyond that, that's because that is already a given.

I I can't change that.

So um the other thing that I would say is we have tried to leave all neighborhoods uh open.

We shut down parks because parks are wide open spaces and could get out of control.

We shut down churches because they're not open to everyone, they are private, they're owned by a group, and they would have say over that themselves.

Uh we shut down schools.

I know that the school district has asked us to just stay away from their property, so that was left out, but and we shut down the large commercial spaces.

So um the large commercial spaces are of concern um because again, loss of property if you burn down somebody else's business, you take away their livelihood.

Um with that in mind, that's what this reflects.

There is one neighborhood issue that I did shut down.

You'll see in the south part of the city between uh Jensen and 3000, there is a strip of red that uh I'm suggesting we ban fireworks because those neighborhoods are built around wild spaces that have just we unkept weeds uh in amongst the homes.

So that's a little higher risk, and those people could visit a friend and still light off fireworks and be happy.

So if you're next to one of the wild spaces that would be dried out and of concern, I'm suggesting that and those are choices, you know.

They they could have chosen to develop differently, but they chose to leave wildlands in the in and amongst their neighbors.

Does anybody have any questions on those choices or feelings that we went too far or not far enough?

I think this is far enough.

Okay, yeah, see anything.

No, as I said, I drove the intent for me was not to sit and just pick and pick places that we're gonna uphold the ban in and then allow fireworks in other areas.

I specifically went over a lot of this.

This area is not even covering homes, it's covering the agricultural areas and the open spaces.

So if you notice that, I mean it looks like there's a lot of red on here, but it's covering we've got a lot of open spaces.

Um I mean, there are uh you know, there are some areas and there are some homes and some streets that are next to those large areas, and uh to to try to keep to keep and protect those areas.

I guess this is where I I felt based off of that information.

Um we did have the discussion and and added a few areas, but I think this I mean, whatever your guidance is, I I feel comfortable with this.

I also can look at other things.

I mean, we had the discussion about you you brought up the you know, maybe if you feel like it's too much, we can look at that as well.

We we could open this up a little bit more.

I mean, mostly I'm of the opinion that if you're right there next to uh somebody's open field, uh, an agricultural land where somebody could lose this entire crop.

That's that's you know, a lot uh to lose because of somebody's carelessness.

I would prefer to say, you know, walk across the street and share with your neighbors' driveway because that extra hundred, 150, 200 feet, whatever it is, that extra little bit could mean extra or less risk.

So I'm not trying to ban anything.

I think everywhere in the city can get to somewhere uh fairly close, and um in the middle of neighborhoods where we have irrigation now in this month at three times uh a week.

You should be, you know, you should be safer than um normal.

So we're trying to make it possible if this is the route we go.

And uh and when you look at this map, I want you to look at this map as we're not banning anything, it's it's lifting the ban from what if you can think about this thing entirely red from what Governor Cox said in the State Forester, and then we've gone through and said these areas would be okay and we feel safe in these areas.

So it's not us choosing to ban anything, it's just choosing these are the areas that we feel comfortable with.

Choosing the least amount of risk.

I I would probably estimate on the working draft of the map, if you just consider residential neighborhoods, you're probably lifting the ban on 85 to 95 percent of the neighborhoods.

Of the of residential neighborhoods, yeah, and there will be some outskirts.

If you if you order somebody's field, we will probably ask you to go across the street.

That's not that big of an ask.

All right, if nobody has any comments about the map, I am gonna collect those and destroy them and finalize the map because um this is not official yet, and we are still working on it.

We've spent a lot of time trying to determine what's safe.

And fireworks are never safe.

So they're just lower risk.

Yeah, I I wonder if if when we when you make a decision, Dave, if we can just make uh a decision that we we just encourage our community to be very cognizant of what the governor said, and that we're choosing to choose freedom over that and be kind and be cautious and don't shoot bottle rockets through your neighbor's house, maybe that would be great.

You know, and be more cognizant of that.

But I I feel I feel like letting people have their choice is really good.

And I think I think we've made the appropriate measure with staff, um, making sure the fire department's prepared, our police departments prepared, uh, our public works are already out doing enforcement.

I I think I think that's really the right thing to be doing, and I think we've done that.

So I applaud you, Chief.

Thank you for your hard work.

To be honest with everybody, I came to this meeting not knowing if I would get a lot of people supporting it or a lot of people against it, and I was willing to hear from the community at large.

I am sure that someone out there is going to be upset no matter what we choose.

There will be those who are not happy.

But I really felt it was important to get your input.

Um we're we're in this together.

This is this is not just one person making decisions.

Okay, with that, does anybody else have anything to comment on this subject?

I appreciate the extra hour of your time tonight.

Thank you very much, and I will declare this meeting adjourned.

We'll put something out tomorrow.

We have to put it out by five o'clock.

We actually ask for emotional.

Oh yeah, this is an official meeting.

Sorry, this is not a work session.