The Maple Valley City Council is turning to citizens to weigh in on a potential city-wide fireworks ban.
The council is considering placing an advisory note on the Nov. 3 general election ballot to ask citizens if they would support a fireworks ban. The result of the advisory vote is nonbinding.
Deputy Mayor Sean Kelly said the council will discuss the ban after the results are in and decide what to do based on the citizens’ choice.
Kelly also said King County Elections needs the information for the ballot by Aug. 4, the day after the next slated special council meeting, so this process “has been moving fast,” he said in an interview Tuesday morning.
According to Kelly, city staff and the city’s attorney, Jeff Taraday, are working on an official resolution for the council to vote on during next week’s special City Council meeting, Monday, Aug. 3. The resolution would authorize the advisory note to be placed on the ballot and for the information to be sent to the county.
In addition to a resolution, the city also needs to appoint two people to write the pro and con statements for the advisory note and voter’s pamphlet.
City Clerk Shaunna Lee-Rice said two citizens showed interest in writing those two statements, Clark Davis and Linda Olson.
Davis, who runs several fireworks stands in the area and is also an insurance agent in Maple Valley, was interested in writing the con statement, or the one that is not in favor of a ban.
Olson showed interest in writing the pro statement. She spoke at Monday night’s meeting during the public comment portion, stating noise from fireworks poses a problem, not just fire danger. At a previous council meeting, Olson also stated her concern for veterans enduring the loud bangs of fireworks during Independence Day celebrations.
“It isn’t just the fire danger,” Olson said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s beyond that.”
Olson said she wants help writing it if she does get appointed by the council to do so, but said she wanted to make sure not just fire danger was mentioned in the statement.
The pro and con statements are due to the county by Aug. 13, said Lee-Rice.
The special City Council meeting is set for 7 p.m., Aug. 3 at Lake Wilderness Lodge.
