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Mayor: Ordinance review will include changes to city gun laws

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 10 p.m. —  Holding up the latest issue of the Kentucky League of Cities magazine “Kentucky City,” Bardstown Mayor Bill Sheckles showed an article titled “Showdown at City Hall? What to know about local gun control.”

Sheckles told the council at its regular meeting Tuesday night the article detailed what city governments can and cannot do when it comes to gun control. Larry Green, assistant city administrator, is currently working on a project to update the city’s ordinances, and Sheckles told the council that project will include updating the city’s gun control laws.

“We’re pretty much in compliance, but there’s a couple of oddball things in our ordinance that we need to get in compliance,” he told the council. “When we do that, we’ll do it all at one time and bring it back to the council for approval.”

Mayor Bill Sheckles discusses street closure requests during the city council meeting on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Click to enlarge.

When asked after the meeting if the changes to the city’s gun control ordinances were the same as those brought to the council months earlier by Stephen McBride, a Shelby County resident, Sheckles said the city had already taken care of the issue McBride brought to the council.

“Our ordinance pretty much reflects what the state statutes say,” Sheckles said. He said McBride brought up the fact the signs posted on city buildings prohibiting all weapons – openly carried and concealed – did not comply with state law.

“We changed all the signs on all our buildings, our parks and the lake,” Sheckles said. “Technically, in open areas you can carry a concealed weapon, like at the community park, or the lake. That’s what the state says, and that’s the one update we’ll need to make.”

STREET CLOSURE REQUESTS. The Bardstown City Council approved requests to close portions of city streets for two upcoming events.

The Cox’s Creek Elementary School PTO asked the city to block portions of West Stephen Foster Avenue for a 5K walk and run fundraiser. The council debated if the request was to close the roadway entirely or to simply block traffic to allow the runners to travel that section of roadway.

Sheckles said the city had the necessary approvals from the state to allow the city to approve the request.

Councilman Fred Hagan said the request sought permission to block traffic; the mayor said the 5K walk and run would only need to control traffic when the participants needed to use the roadway, which would be a total of about an hour.

The council also approved a request from the Mainstreet Program to close the first block of North Third Street north of the Court Square for the annual July Street Concert.

Councilman Joe Buckman noted that in the last two years, the concerts resulted in damage to downtown businesses. Both incidents involved broken plate glass windows, he said. Sheckles said he witnessed the incident last year and said it was an accident. The mayor said he would check on improving security for the event.

After discussion, the council unanimously approved both street closure requests.

In other action, the council:

  • Listened to the mayor express his appreciation for the thoughts and prayers for his wife Linda, who underwent surgery recently;
  • Accepted and approved the Dispatch Center budget for fiscal year 2012-13;
  • Approved the recommendations of the Historic Review Board;
  • Approved two cemetery deeds;
  • Approved the minutes of the March 13, 2012 council meeting.

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