WESTFIELD – The City Council will review the enforcement mechanism for several city ordinances controlling some city businesses, and for ordinances dealing with socially unacceptable behavior.
At-Large Councilor John J. Beltrandi III introduced two motions at the City Council’s Thursday meeting in response to concerns raised by the Westfield Police Department pertaining to businesses being operated under a city license.
“These are the junks dealers, pawnshops, most type of businesses that require a license,” Beltrandi said. “There’s nothing in the ordinance to enforce compliance, nothing in the ordinance to enforce the (proper business) operation.”
Beltrandi said he was requested by the police to review and amend the existing junk license ordinance, which regulates the sale of used goods, including jewelry, antique furniture, household items and clothing, because of two businesses now operating as junk dealers without being licensed.
“There is nothing the police can do because there is no enforcement mechanism,” he said. “If a person is doing that kind of business without a junk license, or who lets the license lapse, or who has a license but is engaged in unacceptable business practices, the police have no authority to shut them down, there is no process in place to require compliance.”
The second motion was relative to civil citations issued under the city’s Code of Ordinances, many of which were adopted to give police a non-criminal option to deal behaviors which could also result in issuance of criminal complaints.
“This situation is related to noise complaints and pot (marijuana) usage and is similar to the previous junk dealer issue in that there is a fine, but no mechanism to collect the money,” he said. “Right now if police are breaking up a party because of noise complaints, there’s not much the police can do, so they are asking the council to put some teeth into the ordinance for better enforcement.”
“Police are asking that we revamp that ordinance language,” he continued. “The problem is the way both of these ordinances are written. Things evolve and you don’t anticipate the problem until you run into a wall.”
Beltrandi, who serves as the Legislative & Ordinance Committee chairman, said following that council session that he plans on bringing in officials from the Police Department and City License Department to discuss those issues.
“These ordinances need to be tweaked,” he said.
