Council defeats ice cream ordinance

BANGOR – Efforts to further regulate ice cream trucks in the city melted away Monday after city councilors voted not to go forward with new rules that some said went too far.

The 5-to-3 vote by the Bangor City Council ended months of discussion, although city officials said one or more councilors could, if they wanted, revive the issue and bring it back before the government operations committee, which has handled the issue on at least three other occasions. An amendment that would have sent the ordinance back to the committee died with a 4-to-4 vote Monday, which set up the next vote that ended with the council dropping the ordinance altogether.

The ice cream truck ordinance was prompted initially by a complaint by Bangor resident Michael Gleason who said that songs like “The Entertainer” played loudly and repeatedly by the ice cream trucks were a “nearly daily assault.”

But an attempt by city officials to curb noise resulted in what some said was redundancy and over-regulation. The defeated ordinance proposed changes that would have prohibited trucks to operate before 10 a.m. or after sunset and limited the ice cream trucks to stops of 10 minutes at any given serving location.

It also mandated that the trucks be inspected and insured, which some councilors and an ice cream vendor said was already required by the state. Background checks of drivers stipulated in the ordinance are already being done, according to Bill McLaughlin, a local ice cream truck operator.

And other requirements of the proposed ordinance would affect motorists, who would be required to pass stopped ice cream trucks no faster than 15 mph.

For Councilor David Nealley the proposed ordinance had some good things going for it, but it was taken too far, beyond its initial intention.

“Quite frankly, I believe that there was one intent, I think the pendulum swung a little far,” Nealley said, acknowledging that there were some things that could be salvaged and returned to the government operations committee.

Others in the audience also thought the proposed ordinance went too far, including McLaughlin, who wondered out loud whether a little girl running a corner lemonade stand would be next, with the city trying to make sure her cups were clean and that her water was a certain temperature.

And Bangor resident Ken Buckley admonished the council that if they did move forward with the ordinance, they also needed to bring under control some bothersome noises not included in the ordinance.

Specifically he cited motor vehicles that are equipped with large amplifiers that pump out the “loud and excessive deep-throated bass noise that blasts the neighborhoods and highways.” And then there are the military refueling KC-135 planes that easily could drown out 50 ice cream trucks playing “The Entertainer” even if they were accompanied by Julie Andrews singing “The Sound of Music,” Buckley said.

Buckley said the matter could have been handled better and taken up less of the council’s time.

“I’m dumbfounded that this issue could achieve such attention by the council and the city staff without calmly being laid to rest by the very simple understanding by both parties,” Buckley said.

Not all in attendance saw the ice cream truck music as welcome sounds of the summer.

Roberta Williams lives in Ernst Manor, a complex for retirees and people with disabilities. She said the ice cream trucks make regular visits to the complex despite there being no children there and the complex’s restriction on solicitations.

She said the noise is particularly bothersome to her service companion dog who helps her deal with her conditions, that include a fear of public places.