HOWELL – To begin the month of October, officials held their regularly scheduled Township Council meeting with the safety of Howell residents at the top of their agenda.
Brian Prochnow, Howell Township’s fire bureau chief, presented the council with information about Fire Prevention Week and its importance.
“Fire Prevention Week in the township of Howell is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all that is living and visiting our community,” he said. “Fire is a serious public safety concern, both locally and nationally.”
The official dates for Howell’s Fire Prevention Week were directly a week following the council meeting, beginning on Oct. 6 and closing on Oct. 12.
Prochnow also provided the council with information and guidance about smoke alarms, addressing the week’s theme: “Smoke alarms: Make them work for you.”
“Smoke alarms sense smoke way before [people] can, alerting people to danger in the event of a fire whereas you may have as little as two minutes to escape safely,” Prochnow said. “Howell residents should install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area and on every level of their home. Howell Township residents should test smoke alarms at least once a month.”
“The theme serves to remind us of the purpose of having working smoke alarms in the home,” he said.
The council accepted the proclamation about Fire Prevention Week and thanked him for his continuing work to protect Howell Township from incidents of fire.
Along with the acceptance of Fire Prevention Week, the council also adopted many parking and vehicle related ordinances that were originally presented on Sept. 17.
There was a total of four adopted ordinances, including the prohibition of certain vehicle parking and certain activities of camping.
The first ordinance is listed as O-24-26 and prohibits certain vehicles from parking in public parking lots. Specifically, “Parking of recreational vehicles (a.k.a. RVs) including motorhomes, campervans, travel trailers, or any motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation shall be prohibited from parking in any municipal parking lot.”
Permits are available for purchase in the event an individual would like to park their vehicle in certain lots.
The second ordinance, O-24-27, prohibits the parking of inoperable vehicles on public streets. The particular reasoning for this, the documentation states, is that “the presence of inoperable vehicles on Township streets represents a nuisance to the public welfare, as such vehicles are obstacles in the event of a public emergency arising in their vicinity.”
The third ordinance, O-24-38, is very similar to O-24-26 because it again addresses the parking of certain vehicles. This ordinance will not allow for “vehicles that include living quarters designed for residential accommodation” to be parked on any public street, highway, or public property.
Homeless Ordinance
The final adopted ordinance is O-24-39, and prohibits camping and sleeping on public streets or property. According to the council, the township has reached a number of complaints regarding overnight stays on public property.
Not only is the ordinance being passed to appease the complaints of Howell residents, but according to the official ordinance documentation, “the presence of people staying overnight on Township property represents a liability risk, and can cause a nuisance to the public welfare by disturbing the Township’s peace and good order standards of conduct.”
Each ordinance adoption was unanimously voted by the Howell council.
Further ordinances were introduced following the adoption of these ordinances to be adopted or discarded at the next Howell Township council meeting on Oct. 15.
