A request to amend the Winamac golf cart policy was revisited by Town Council members when they met Monday night.
Council President Tom Murray noted that when resident Tony Calabrese came before the members during their first meeting in July, they said they would take his recommendation under consideration. Calabrese asked the council to consider adding utility vehicles, such as “Kubotas”, to the vehicles allowed on town roads.
Since they haven’t met since then, President Murray said they should discuss it during the special session to reach a consensus before their next official meeting.
Councilwoman Judy Heater stood by her position from the last meeting, which is that the policy should be adjusted to allow individuals to utilize UTVs for business purposes. She noted that the policy could still reflect certain restrictions, such as a mandated speed limit.
However, the remaining members felt that that changing the policy would “open a can of worms”. They noted that officials have a hard enough time enforcing and policing the current rules, with reports of unlicensed drivers utilizing the vehicles and people traveling with infants.
They indicated that adding on something else that would require monitoring could result in those rules being disregarded as well and that could be especially dangerous with larger and faster vehicles.
Heater said she thought that rules could be followed and that they should give responsible individuals the opportunity to utilize the UTVs for work. She made a motion to amend the policy to allow them for business use, with limitations set for speed and usage.
The motion died for a lack of a second, with members Alvin Parish and Dan Vanaman saying they weren’t ready to commit to a policy change right now. The golf cart ordinance will remain unchanged for the time being.
