SMITHFIELD – Town attorneys are now word-smithing a new ordinance governing placement and operation of donation bins within town.
At the Oct. 6 Town Council meeting, resident Tom Hodgkins said he supports the new ordinance proposed by Council President John Tassoni, but said he thinks it could be tighter.
He said the target of the ordinance should be the owner of the property where the bin is contained. Instead of just saying it shall be a violation for someone to dump materials, he said, it should also say that it’s a violation for an owner to permit any materials to exist or be placed outside the bin at any time. As soon as police see the infraction, he said, they could then write it up, instead of the difficult proposition of catching someone in the act.
Hodgkins said he suspects the town could see some frequent violators with a finalized ordinance. He suggested that if a property owner sees three violations within a year, the town clerk shall administratively and immediately revoke the permit. They could then apply again later, he said, but this would send a message.
Tassoni said he doesn’t have an issue holding the property owners accountable, saying most are getting paid to host the bins and the owners of the bins themselves aren’t coming often enough to empty them. He said he thinks three strikes might represent too much, and perhaps the first strike should be a certain fine, the second a larger fine, and the third the bins get removed. He said this would be an opportunity to police themselves, but right now there isn’t a lot of policing happening.
Tassoni said they’ve had some bins on town property, and some of them have been removed for this very issue.
The council president previously explained his rationale for wanting the new rules to crack down on violations.
Rather than have an ordinance someone can argue with by saying that they didn’t discard the items personally, as Hodgkins pointed out, officials are now contemplating rules where the owner is ultimately responsible no matter what. It should say very clearly that no owner/operator can leave any item outside of the bin, Hodgkins said, though it can still leave in that any person discarding items could also be found in violation.
Instead of giving a specific period of time, it should say for any period of time, said Hodgkins, because if it’s a 24-hour limit, the enforcement would become a burden for the town. Tassoni agreed.
Jack Blatchford, CFO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island, spoke in support of the ordinance, saying that out-of-state collection companies give everyone a bad name, including those such as BBBSRI that are doing things correctly. He said they sign memorandums of agreement with owners of any location, and if they’re told dumping occurred, they get there within 24 hours to clean it up.
Blatchford said they have one bin at Smithfield Commons and one at NurturEd. This type of ordinance would keep outsiders with questionable dealings and only picking up items once per month out of the picture, he said.
“They’re a mess,” he said of those other bins.
Blatchford said he just asks that these illegal acts by people leaving things behind don’t end up hurting the children of Rhode Island Island, saying BBBSRI counts on the money gained from sales of textiles to cover its costs and allow for the mentoring of local youth.
Councilor Rachel Toppi noted that the ordinance doesn’t mention churches, asking if they’re exempt. Tassoni said everyone would be included, and Toppi then responded by asking if it would be legal to regulate churches, including those in town with a bin way in the back of their building. Councilor Angelica Bovis then said it would be less legal to exempt churches than to include them.
Officials confirmed that there are three properties currently serving as the greatest sources of concern on this issue, and none are churches. The matter was continued to Oct. 20 for consideration so that the wording can be appropriately finalized.
