The Town Council president said he thinks residents should be able to hold more than six tag sales a year.
PALMER – A Town Council subcommittee will review the tag sale and nuisance ordinances put in place five years ago after Council President Eric A. Duda and District 1 Councilor Philip J. Hebert voiced their personal concerns about them at a recent meeting.
Displeasure over the tag sale ordinance prompted a trio of residents to initiate a petition drive to make changes to the government, and one of them, David L. Hale, has become the Town Council’s most vocal critic.
The tag sale ordinance, created to curb perpetual tag sales in town, limits residents to six a year; they also must apply for a permit in the town manager’s office, something that officials said is not enforced. But that’s not the only reason why it should be reviewed, Duda said.
While Duda said there are some positive aspects to the ordinance, he said he has an issue with the permit process, and said it may be better to have residents simply notify the town manager via email of their intentions to hold one.
Duda also said he thinks taxpayers should not be limited to holding only six tag sales a year.
“I think they should be allowed to hold one every Saturday during the summer,” Duda said.
At-large Councilor Paul E. Burns told Duda that there was a reason the tag sale ordinance was created, because tag sales became a nuisance.
Duda said he was looking for input from the other councilors regarding the tag sale ordinance.
“Hopefully we can get something rolling on this. There are definitely some changes that could be made. We want to try to allow people to have more opportunities with their own property in town,” Duda said.
Said Hale, “The nit-picking tag sale law is a symbol of intrusive government . . . It’s overreach by the Town Council. They should go through the list of all the laws that are only there to harass people and get rid of them, and that’s one of them.”
The nuisance property ordinance was another measure created to improve the quality of life in Palmer: its purpose is to preserve the appearance of neighborhoods, and prohibits residents from keeping junk or debris in public view for more than a reasonable amount of time.
Duda said he had a problem with defining a substantial amount of junk as more than 50 cubic feet. He said that equates to about 3 feet, 8 inches.
“That’s a very small amount. To call something somebody has on their yard . . . junk . . . is a hard thing to do. I have things in my yard that people would think are junk and to me they’re not,” Duda said.