GREENFIELD — Proposed ordinances regulating how police can respond to protests and how taxpayers can enter into payment plans with the tax collector are inching closer to review by the full City Council.
Both matters will return to the Appointments and Ordinances Committee for further discussion and votes prior to being sent to the full council at a future meeting.
Assemblies ordinance
After making a few changes to the latest draft of amendments to the assemblies ordinance that were proposed by At-Large City Councilor Sara Brown, Appointments and Ordinances Committee members said the changes are nearly ready to be presented at a public hearing.
The proposed changes include outlining permit requirements and the process for planned assemblies, as well as what qualifies as a spontaneous assembly, and expanding the section on crowd control. The amendments would prohibit the use of tear gas as a crowd control measure in Greenfield. Committee members spoke both in favor and against this idea.
“I’ve had individual discussions with people regarding this, including Sara, and my feeling is the language is meant to guarantee civil rights. I have this feeling that it’s going to harm it,” Precinct 6 Councilor Patricia Williams said. “My preference, or my approach to language regarding the assembly, is to leave it in a situation where it’s just dealing with scheduling, and … in a situation where there is abuse, you sue them.”
“I think it also still leaves plenty of tools in the tool kit in terms of crowd control for the police, but in terms of being able to take legal action against an abuse, there has to be something in the law that prohibits the thing that someone would take legal action about,” Precinct 2 Councilor Rachel Gordon said. “There’s no perfect way to do this. There’s always gonna be a lot of gray areas, but I would honestly love to ban more of these things.”
Precinct 7 Councilor Sarah Bolduc questioned whether the city has the authority to outright ban tear gas, and said that while the city may be able to regulate its use by the Greenfield Police Department, she does not believe they have the jurisdiction to regulate the actions of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office or the Massachusetts State Police.
Committee members agreed to change the language of the draft amendments to read, “The use of tear gas by the Greenfield Police Department or any other law enforcement officers shall be prohibited in the case of public assemblies,” to clarify that the ban only pertains to use in crowd control.
With the change, committee members agreed to send the amendments forward for a public hearing, which has not yet been posted.
Tax payment plans
The city is also considering creating an ordinance codifying the existing practice within the Treasurer/Collector’s Office to allow those who cannot pay their back taxes the option to pay off their bill in installments over a period of a few years.
In a letter to the committee, Mayor Ginny Desorgher explained that the ordinance was drafted by Treasurer/Collector Mandi Whiton and tax title attorney Iris Leahy. It is up to the Appointments and Ordinances Committee to finalize the language around the length of time over which bills can be paid and what interest rate should be charged.
The draft ordinance states that payment agreements would allow delinquent taxes to be paid over a maximum of five years, and during this time, as long as payments are being made and current taxes are kept up with, the property cannot be seized. The committee also discussed lowering the interest rate from 16% to 8% as part of the ordinance.
“The whole city runs on people paying their taxes on time, the cash flow and everything else, so we want to create an incentive for that to happen,” Finance Director Stephen Nembirkow said. “When we don’t collect enough in taxes, we have to go out and borrow.”
Williams said she is in favor of charging less interest to ensure that making payments is feasible for low-income residents.
“I would say the vast majority of people who don’t pay on time can’t. They simply do not have the money,” Williams said. “I’m more concerned about not punishing people for being poor. I understand what you’re saying about incentive; however, I think the fear of losing one’s house is a pretty strong incentive to pay taxes. … I think there has to be a balance around what’s going on with our neighbors and wanting them to keep staying in their homes versus the fiscal needs of the city.”
Williams said that if the city feels 8% interest is necessary, the payment plans should have options longer than five years to allow people to lower their monthly payments.
Other members said there needs to be specific criteria to outline who is eligible for a payment plan. The proposal is set to come before the committee again after it is updated by Nembirkow and the Treasurer/Collector’s Office with more details on the criteria and whether there is flexibility for different plan options based on residents’ financial needs.
