GIRARDVILLE - During its February meeting, Girardville borough council adopted amendments to two ordinances dealing with parking and canvassing, with an amendment to the open container ordinance to be advertised.
In the open container ordinance, council directed borough solicitor Christopher Riedlinger to update and advertise the amended ordinance in time for adoption at the March 8 meeting to have it in force for the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is March 24. The borough council approved the amended ordinance in helping to better enforce the rules involving people having open containers of alcohol in public.
According to council Vice President Joseph Chiaretti, the amendment is to make the open container restriction more specific.
"The open container ordinance stated something like 'on the streets,' of Girardville," Chiaretti said. "The primary change is to include pavements, parks and other public areas."
The canvassing ordinance amendment changes the fees for solicitors at special events, along with establishing a new category of solicitors, permit requirements, establishing the procedure to obtain permits and prescribing penalties.
The amended ordinance (2012-1) has a new subsection that requires a special event solicitor to obtain a permit for each display, be it stationary or mobile (such as a merchandise cart). Before the amendment, the vending company would only need one permit no matter how many carts and stands were involved.
Application for permits must be made to the mayor within 20 days of the intended canvassing, solicitation or peddling, or within 20 days of the special event. The permit fees were increased to the following levels: $50 per day; $100 per week; $150 per month or $200 per three months; $400 per six months; and $1,000 per year.
If convicted, fines per violation will be not less than $200 or more than $600, and or imprisonment upon conviction or for failure to pay a fine not to exceed 90 days. Paying of court costs may also be required.
Ordinance 2012-2 amends the original ordinance (2009-1) to clarify the prohibition of parking uninspected/unlicensed vehicles on public streets and increases the range of fines imposed for violations. The major change is the level of fines, raising the range per violation from $25 to $100 to the new range of not less than $250 and no more than $500. Each day on which the violation occurs is considered to be a separate violation.