Public Hearing on Vernon Ordinance Dealing With Drunkenness in Parks Rescheduled for July 24

A public hearing on a proposed ordinance to make it illegal to be intoxicated in municipal parks and recreation areas has been rescheduled for July 24.

It will be part of a special Town Council meeting, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

The public hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday as part of the council meeting, but town officials missed the advertising deadline and the hearing was called off.

Officially, the new policy would be an amendment to the existing Ordinance No. 111.

Police officials want the amendment because, they said, officers have been dealing with "a persistent problem" of public intoxication in town parkland. Currently, there is no mechanism through which the police can remove a person from a park for simply being drunk or high on drugs, police said in the memo.

Currently, one can not possess or consume alcoholic beverages in a municipal park. A proposed amendment to the ordinance would prohibit intoxication as well.
 
"We want to get this ordinance in the hands of our police officers as soon as possible," Mayor George Apel said.