Fines for illegal fireworks use in Greeley may soon skyrocket

By Trenton Sperry

The Greeley City Council signaled Tuesday that the bang of illegal fireworks in city limits will soon be matched by the bang of the municipal judge’s gavel – and with a lot more bucks at stake.

During a work session that included presentations from Greeley Fire Chief Brian Kuznik and interim Police Chief Adam Turk, council eventually settled on moving toward increasing fines and penalties for the use of illegal fireworks in city limits.

The city’s code defines illegal fireworks as anything that “explodes on the ground or in the air (skyrockets, bottle rockets, roman candles, aerial shells, firecrackers, etc).” Consumer fireworks that stay on the ground and combust – like fountains, sparklers, ground spinners and others with “low pyrotechnic composition” – are allowed.

Currently, the possession or use of illegal fireworks is a misdemeanor infraction which results in an $180 fine ($150 base fine and $30 surcharge). In the short term, Municipal Judge Mark Gonzales will increase that fine to $500, the maximum fine for infractions possible in city code. 

In the longer term, the city will move toward adopting an ordinance that makes the crime a misdemeanor offense, which will carry a fine of $1,000, the maximum for offenses in city code. Offenses can also include a jail sentence of up to a year, although Judge Gonzales said jail sentences are uncommon in most cases.

The $1,000 fine would bring Greeley closer to surrounding cities on illegal fireworks punishments. Fort Collins fines range from $1,000 to $3,000 and up to six months in jail. Loveland also fines illegal fireworks use at $1,000, or three days in jail if payment can’t be made immediately.

Though consensus was reached by much of the council on the path forward, several members also indicated their understanding regarding police enforcement challenges when it comes to illegal fireworks, including staffing issues around July Fourth, problems with evidence collection, and the trouble of distinguishing between legal and illegal fireworks.

“But clearly our fine for fireworks is much lower than other cities,” said Mayor John Gates. “I would say maybe we should raise it as an educational tool.”

Gates said he was surprised to see Kuznik and Turk report calls to their departments about fireworks were lower this past year than in previous years; he said he’s heard from residents that loud fireworks seemed to be two or three times more frequent this past year.

“I think we have a lot more people driving north (to Wyoming) to get their fireworks and then coming back here,” Gates said. “And I don’t think we can fix that.”

Police Chief Turk said his department has reached out to the Colorado State Patrol about stepping up enforcement of illegal fireworks trafficking, although he indicated the response wasn’t ideal.

“That conversation didn’t last very long,” he said.

However, he did note that increasing fines for illegal fireworks alone won’t keep people from obtaining and using them. For that to happen, he encouraged a more thorough approach.

“Enforcement would have to be strategic,” Turk said. “A public safety outreach campaign would accompany any of these options, so people would know what the potential consequences would be.”

At-large Councilman Ed Clark was adamant that enforcement around July Fourth will be impossible for both Greeley’s fire and police departments, and he said increasing fines won’t do much if anything to keep illegal fireworks from filling the air during that time. Instead, he encouraged higher enforcement outside the month of July.

“Can’t we just not enforce it from July 1 to July 7?” Clark asked Assistant City Attorney Bobbier Cranston.

“I would not recommend not enforcing laws,” she said.

Other things the council did Tuesday

• Received an update from water and sewer department staffers on the next phase of installations of smart water meters for Greeley homes. The city has about 30,000 active residential water meters, and about 100 are failing every month, mostly due to age. So, the city is replacing all of them with the latest in water meter tech. The new meters communicate remotely with a central hub, reducing the amount of labor needed to get water readings from households. Plus, the new meters have a lower measurement threshold, meaning water use is tracked at smaller increments than in the past, which can make bills more accurate and leaks easier to detect. The city began to install the meters last year, although it paused the project in early October after some hiccups, including supply chain issues, poor vendor training on installation, and a high volume of calls complaining about high water bills during peak irrigation season. Greeley hopes to install about 6,500 meters by May, when it will pause the installations during peak season, and then install another 6,500 into next year. All phases of the meter install process are expected to cost the city a grand total of $12 million. The city received a $1.5 million grant to cover some of those costs, and it’s seeking another $2 million grant. Word on the success of that grant is expected in March. The contractor – Utility Metering Solutions out of Hammond, La., and Raleigh, N.C. – agreed to spend these past few months since the pause getting their new employees trained; labor has reportedly been difficult for the company to maintain during the pandemic. Homeowners can see when their meter is expected to be replaced at https://bit.ly/3HQEBTG.

• It wasn’t the city council, but the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted unanimously Feb. 4 to recommend to the council that the East Greeley Natural Area be renamed Campo Esperanza (Hope Field) Natural Area. That name combines aspects of two of the four recommendations city staff made to the advisory board: Campo Bello (Beautiful Field) and Esperanza (Hope). The word “hope” was an important inclusion for the community, according to city docs, because of the area’s proximity to the former East Memorial school, which was named for a tragedy in which 20 children were killed and 16 were injured when a school bus was hit by a train in 1961. The school was renamed when it was joined with Bella Romero Academy in 2014. As part of the naming suggestions, several people asked that, if East Memorial wasn’t included in the name, that some form of “hope” would be, to reflect the feelings of overcoming both the 1961 tragedy and the COVID-19 pandemic. The renaming of the natural area will come before the city council in the next few weeks. The city received almost 70 naming suggestions, and more than 60% of those suggestions included the name May Bunjes. According to city docs, Bunjes was “a popular and dedicated community volunteer” active in many Greeley nonprofits and Hispanic Women of Weld County. She died of COVID in 2020, according to city docs. Staff ultimately didn’t include Bunjes’s name in the four recommendations they made to the advisory board on the natural area’s renaming, mainly because “there do not appear to be any specific ties (by Bunjes) to the East Greeley area,” according to city docs, although they did note she was a Greeley resident. City staff said there are perhaps other ways Bunjes can be honored in Greeley, citing the amount of community interest.