NELSONVILLE, Ohio – Nelsonville charter council met for a special meeting Monday, when its Police & Fire Committee returned to City Hall for the first time since June 15.
The committee invited Police Sergeant Matt Greeno to speak about building public awareness of a curfew for minors in the City of Nelsonville.
Committee members agreed that the existing curfew times were reasonable, Greeno said. The problem, council member Charlotte Beech said, is that “we all just need to know that it exists.”
Nelsonville law sets curfews for minors under 16 at 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Sunday–Thursday and 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Those aged 16 and 17 are under curfew from 10:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. Sunday–Thursday and 11:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Greeno said enforcement involves taking the offending minor home and engaging with parents, who themselves are guilty of “allowing children upon the streets after curfew” under the current law — a minor misdemeanor.
Council members discussed several potential communication strategies, including a conversation with students led by a school resource officer and posting signs throughout neighborhoods as well as an online notice. Beech proposed passing the ideas along to Chad Gibbs, school resource officer for Nelsonville-York City Schools.
The council also discussed a measure that would upgrade jaywalking to a jailable offense for all adults in Nelsonville, and moved to forward the issue to full council. Council member McCray Powell cast the only opposing vote.
One attendee expressed concerns about how that change would be enforced in the Public Square. Pedestrians freely cross streets without using corner crosswalks, the person said.
Council member Charlotte Beech said that current jaywalking rules already include the Public Square. The frequency of charges wouldn’t change, she said — just the nature of the punishment.
“We changed the parking ordinance from 24 hours of not moving the vehicle to 72 hours, [but] there hasn’t been an uptick in enforcement,” Beech said.
Beech also raised other potential pedestrian safety laws for future consideration, including a helmet law and a speed limit for the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway. Beech said conversations about a future helmet law should include the availability of helmets, and suggested addressing this concern, for example, with grant-funded helmet giveaway.
Before adjourning, Powell said the committee should discuss a council stance on Flock Safety’s automatic license plate reader cameras, an issue he said some residents hoped the city would address.
“I’ve had a few citizens approach me about if the city has any position on Flock cameras,” Powell said. “They were hoping the city would come out with some kind of resolution to not do business with this company and have some explicit policy against this type of surveillance.”
Beech said the Police & Fire Committee will discuss Flock cameras at its next meeting, which will take place on Monday, Oct. 5, at City Hall.
The charter-based city council meets every other Monday of each month, at Nelsonville City Hall, 211 Lake Hope Drive, Nelsonville. Its next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28.
