The Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday once again debated laws regarding fireworks.

Councilman Dan Sheckler again raised concerns about due process, evidentiary burden and potential favoritism.  

“My concern is that I think that we should draft this ordinance so that we distinguish the guilty from the innocent,” he said.

Unanimously passed June 16, Council Bill 26-1011 amended city code to provide new language that included “owners or occupants of properties within the City who knowingly allow illegal fireworks to be deployed from private property” to be in violation of the updated city code.

Sheckler said he would like the ordinance to be drafted so the language reflects a “knowing element” or “knowing intent” in the evidentiary burden of a citation regarding aerial fireworks along with changing a “shall” in the writing of the law to a “may” in regard to what is considered evidence of illegal fireworks use. 

“I think we might need to be cautious about how this was broadly worded and maybe reign this in so that we protect people’s rights to due process,” Sheckler said.

City Attorney Randy Adams disagreed. 

“Simply saying it shall be evidence is simply that it is now a piece of evidence, one piece,” Adams said. 

He also disputed Sheckler's proposal establish different language that reflects a “knowing intent.”     

“Everybody whose property has debris on it will say ‘I didn’t know.’ It would be almost impossible to prove that an owner knowingly did that,” Adams said.  

Councilmember Kiki Miller asked Coeur d’Alene Police Capt. Jason Walther if any citations had been written “that wouldn’t have been without this ordinance in place during this last holiday.” 

Walther said “no” before explaining more. 

“The new ordinance has some of the same limitations in enforcement that the old ordinance did,” he said. 

Walther said that police often respond to complaints regarding fireworks and arrive at the scenes to find signs of aerial fireworks being used, but that they aren’t “really adjacent to any property,” thus needing further evidence to cite an offender.

“We need the corroborating evidence to be able to charge somebody,” he said.

He said police had little time to prepare under the new ordinance, and patrolled Coeur d’Alene on the Fourth of July under the original ordinance language.

He said that given more time with the new ordinance, police could have more time to “learn how to use that ordinance as a better tool.” 

Council members voted to have city legal and law enforcement staff meet and draft a revised law that council can review within the next four months.