Warrenton residents voiced their opinions on the city’s fireworks ordinance during a public work session on July 29.

The meeting followed increased scrutiny - and support - of the city’s current fireworks regulations in the wake of the Fourth of July holiday.

The city’s current ordinance only allows residents to set off fireworks all day on July 3 and 4, from noon to 11:59 p.m. on July 1, 2 and 5 and at midnight on Dec. 31. 

Mayor Eric Schlueter noted at the meeting that ordinance has gone through several iterations since the city lifted a ban on fireworks in 2016. 

The first version of that ordinance only allowed fireworks to be set off from 5-10 p.m. on July 4. Those restrictions were loosened to allow fireworks from noon to 11 p.m. on July 3 and 4 in 2018 before the current ordinance was passed in 2022. 

Alderman Brandon Lang was the first to speak at the meeting, and addressed several perceived issues with the current ordinance, namely fireworks being set off on public streets and narrowing the days where they are allowed. 

“Last year we had a problem with firework trash washing down the street because it rained,” said Lang. “I do think trash needs to be picked up the night of the fireworks and I do think we need to go from five days to three days on fireworks.”

Alderman Christine Wait echoed those sentiments and reiterated that fireworks should be limited to private property. 

“Fireworks should only be shot off from private property, again, backing up what Brandon (Lang) said, not to be excessive about it, but only from private property, not city streets, sidewalks,” said Wait. 

From there members of the public began to voice their opinions, ranging from support for fireworks outright, support for increased enforcement of city codes and increased restrictions on fireworks usage. 

“Are we going to send the police around now to give our citizens tickets for their shooting (fireworks) from the street?” said Kent Decker, an attendee at the meeting. “I think we have better uses other than to send them after our citizens.”

Another attendee, Janie Hall, felt she was within her rights to shoot off fireworks within the ordinance as she pleased. She said her family does their best to clean up after their displays and did not feel it was an issue to use the street for fireworks. 

“I was within my rights, I was within my freedoms, I pay city taxes for the street,” said Hall. “So as far as private property goes, there’s not a lot of people that can shoot off fireworks from private property.” 

Other attendees at the meeting felt that setting off fireworks in the street was a danger to the public, and felt that some people were not doing an adequate job of cleaning up the area once their displays had concluded. 

Debbie Brown said her house had received damage from fireworks in previous years and they are often left with a considerable mess of fireworks debris on their property following displays. 

Ronnie Wiss, another attendee, said his house had been hit by fireworks as well and felt residents should not be allowed to use city streets for their displays. 

“I believe that the fireworks should be on private property, and not on the city street, because we called once, and the second time, we did get the police to come out,” said Wiss. “But he looked and he couldn’t find any damage, and I felt like we were victims.”

Ron Bennett, said in the past his group had tried to be considerate to neighbors and city property when setting off fireworks. He said they do their best to communicate to nearby homes and clean up after the fact but acknowledged that they are not perfect. 

He did also concede that while in previous years they had purchased a piece of plywood to set fireworks on, this year it had slipped his mind and may have contributed to marks on the street. 

Some residents also pointed out that it is not always realistic to set off fireworks on private property. 

They said it may actually be more dangerous given the proximity to structures like homes and the degree to which some driveways are slanted. 

Alderman Larry Corder also weighed in toward the end of the meeting urging community members to work with each other on the issue. 

“I’m not against fireworks, I won’t be against fireworks, but that’s my biggest thought on this. We’ve gotta show more respect to our neighbors, and hopefully we can,” said Corder. 

Since the meeting was only a work session, no official actions were taken. The board may consider changes to the ordinance at one of their upcoming meetings.