BANGOR – Many Americans of a certain age are familiar with the “fine jar” concept.

In many households, fine jars were used to curb bad habits, like swearing. You swear, you have to drop some cash into the jar.

In Bangor, city councilors are using a fine jar as a way to prevent cell phone abuse, more specifically as a way to get elected officials to turn their cell phones off or set them on vibrate or quiet mode, during meetings at City Hall.

As cell phones become more and more pervasive, there are few public places one can visit without having to hear the constant ringing of mobile phones.

And while regular ring tones are exasperating enough, those popular personalized musical ones are even more of a nuisance. Think of it as a form of “callus interruptus.”

Shortly after being elected City Council chairwoman last November, Susan Hawes decided to tackle the problem head-on by instituting a $5 fine for city officials whose cell phones ring during meetings.

“It’s very disruptive,” Hawes said. “I felt it was rude to have that going on. It makes you lose your train of thought.”

Though staff posted a reminder sign outside the council chambers a few years ago, council members had been forgetting to demobilize their mobiles.

“This was just sort of a fun way to reinforce the rule,” Hawes said.

The rule, she said, applies to city councilors, municipal department heads and the media, Hawes said.

“I don’t know if we would charge the citizens, though,” Hawes said, adding that most residents and others who come to the council chambers for meetings and workshop pay heed to the cell phone turnoff reminder sign.

Any money collected in the so-called fine jar – which at one recent meeting was actually a paper cup – will be donated to charity. No particular beneficiary has been designated, Hawes said. Fine funds likely will be added to whatever charity fundraiser the city engages in next.

“It’s probably going to add up over time,” she said.

But just implementing the cell fine jar made a big difference, as interruptions are now the exception rather than the norm.

In the eight months or so that the program has been in effect, only two fines, totaling $10, have been collected. Both were from the same councilor, whom Hawes said will remain nameless.

“Everybody is very aware now. It’s almost a joke. When people arrive for meetings, now they say, ‘I’ve got to turn my phone off'” so they can avoid being fined.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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