ATV ordinance one step closer

John Skipper

MASON CITY — The City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday night to approve, on second reading, an ordinance allowing all-terrain utility vehicles on city streets — but warned that final approval might not come so easily.
Earlier this year, the council approved the use of all-terrain vehicles on city streets to go to and from snow removal jobs. The amended ordinance would allow vehicles used for summer work on city streets under the same circumstances.

But City Administrator Brent Trout said his position hasn’t changed since last winter. He said his preference would be for the council to wait until the state law is changed to require operators of all-terrain vehicles to have insurance.

Police Chief Mike Lashbrook also said his position hasn’t changed. He said all-terrain vehicles are not meant for city streets and can be a safety hazard because the motoring public does not expect to see them.

He said the vehicles are not required to be registered so police officers would have difficulty tracking down owners if that situation developed. And he said he wasn’t aware of any demand by the public to have this ordinance.

Council members Don Nelson and Jeff Marsters urged defeat of the ordinance and Councilman Travis Hickey said he would be inclined to vote against it when it came up for final reading in two weeks. But all approved it on second reading and said they would await public comment to help them decide how to vote when it comes up again.

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Source: http://www.globegazette.com/news/local/article_8d72a652-4ced-11df-9413-001cc4c03286.html

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