MONROE — The use of traffic-enforcement cameras in Monroe could end up on the ballot after all.
The City Council on Tuesday made clear that it wants voters to weigh in on the future of traffic enforcement cameras in the city, perhaps as early as the November general election.
Council
members are breaking the issue into two pieces. The first focuses on continued use of the cameras already in place. The second would address the future installation of more cameras under the contract.
Council members said they want non-binding votes to help them decide what to do. They aren’t expected to make a decision on voting until next week.
Councilman Kurt Goering said a vote on whether the city should continue to use cameras may be the best way to determine whether people in Monroe really want the technology.
“We want to know what everyone thinks and this is the best way to do it,” he said.
Monroe spent years planning for the camera program, Monroe Mayor Robert Zimmerman said before Tuesday’s council meeting. He said officials want to move cautiously amid a mess of conflicting legal advice, overheated politics and possible financial risk.
The city as of Tuesday night still had not taken steps to get a judge’s ruling on the validity of an initiative that seeks a vote on cameras in Monroe. The Snohomish County auditor earlier ruled there were sufficient Monroe voter signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot. Council members voted by resolution, however, to declare the initiative legally flawed under state law.
At Tuesday’s meeting, it was unclear whether Monroe will actually go to court to continue challenging the initiative. Some on the council made clear they want a judge’s decision.
“If it is ruled to be valid, I would happily put it on the ballot,” Councilman Tom Williams said.
The city has been paying close attention to other places in Washington where judges have ruled against similar measures, Zimmerman said before the meeting.
City leaders hope putting the cameras to an advisory vote would better measure public sentiment, especially from people who live in city limits, Zimmerman said. Efforts to challenge Monroe’s camera program have been spearheaded by people who aren’t closely connected to life in Monroe, he said.
The camera contract with Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems was signed before the mayor and many other city leaders took office, Zimmerman said.
In general, he said, ending contracts prematurely can be detrimental to those footing the bill.
“It’s never good,” he said. “There is a cost.”
The decision to put the camera question on the ballot likely is a good sign, said Tim Eyman, the Mukilteo-based activist who’s been the brains behind anti-camera initiatives around the state.
He said the vote Monroe may be considering marks a “huge shift.”
“I take that as very positive progress and a good thing,” Eyman said.
Monroe Initiative No. 1 seeks to remove enforcement cameras that already have been installed, to reduce fines levied from camera-generated tickets and to require voter approval before any more enforcement cameras can be installed.
Initiative backers began work on another measure — Monroe Initiative No. 2 — in response to the council’s earlier rebuff. The new initiative, if it became law, would require Monroe to have a public vote on cameras each municipal election cycle.
Monroe has cameras up at three spots — two school zones and the intersection of North Kelsey Street and U.S. 2. The school-zone cameras were scheduled to be turned off once school got out earlier this summer.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com
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