MORAN — A myriad of issues faced the Moran City Council Monday night. The four topping the agenda were a discussion of golf cart usage in city limits, use of metal detectors on city property, drought plans and the aftermath of the incident in which a suspicious package was found along the train tracks in Moran.
Golf cart usage proved to be a hotter topic than first thought. Some council members of the council wanted to table the issue but Jerry Wallis and Warren Johnson decided to put the issue to a vote after several minutes of debate.
For a brief period, an ordinance did pass the council which would have outlined a $30 registration fee and allowed people who own golf carts to drive them around town. After input from Bret Heim, city attorney, and William Bigelow, council member, the ordinance was brought back and tabled until next meeting with an understanding that Heim would present a finalized version of the law.
“It’s a whole can of worms that we’re opening,” Phillip Merkel, mayor, said.
“The thing about it is if we allow golf carts then people with ATV’s and four-wheelers are going to want to be able to drive their vehicles as well,” Bigelow added.
The discussion then meandered toward the issue of metal detectors on city property. According to Moran police, using metal detectors to find “buried treasure” is a hobby avidly pursued by several members of the community. Several of these treasure hunters have dug holes in city parks which are creating a public hazard. People who dig up the ground aren’t refilling holes.
The council, which has made concerted efforts to beautify open spaces, addressed the issue.
“It could result in people getting hurt,” Jim Mueller, council member, said. “We need to discourage people from doing this kind of thing if they aren’t going to be responsible and fill back in.”
The council voted to post signs in the park which would prohibit the use of metal detectors. This allows the police to enforce the decision while allowing the council to avoid having to spend additional funds publishing a new ordinance, something the council didn’t want to waste money on.
Drought has hit all areas of Allen County hard this year. Moran has already triggered parts of a water restriction plan due to usage spikes. Last month, the city registered a 24-hour period where 119,800 gallons were used. This went above the 85 percent mark on the plan. Since then members of the community have been asked voluntarily to reduce water consumption. Several possible steps were discussed as well including going to an alternate days outside water usage schedule and increasing utility prices to make it prohibitive to consume over a certain amount of water. The council agreed that the situation didn’t warrant any action yet, but Lori Evans, city clerk, assured the council she is keeping a close eye on the situation.
The last item of note on the agenda was a discussion of how the incident surrounding the discovery of the suspicious package along the train tracks in Moran was handled. While the council commended law enforcement for its response to the issue, Bigelow brought a constitiuent’s complaint to the council’s attention.
“I had someone approach me in El Charro’s and ask why they weren’t informed of what was going on,” Bigelow said.
Initially, three nearby residences were evacuated because of the package. Bigelow contends that the anonymous citizen was upset that they weren’t informed of an evacuation since they also lived within close proximity to where things were happening.
“It could have been anything in that box,” Bigelow said. “Symtex, C4, dynamite. We just don’t know. Depending on the material it could have been a pretty big blast radius.”
The council finally decided, after much discussion about who might be in charge and who made the call to issue a wider notice in those situations, to review the city response plan. Members of the council were also told to let their constituents know that they could contact Pam Beasley, Allen County Emergency Management coordinator, if they had any further questions.
