By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council is bagging the idea of assessing a fee for plastic sacks, and instead will study an outright ban.
At Monday’s City Council meeting council member John Zanfardino said after his talks with other city officials including Mayor Dick Edwards and City Attorney Mike Marsh, it was clear that the fee was a non-starter given the rapidity with which state legislation forbidding such fees was moving.
“Even if we were to pass something the likelihood is it would be preempted,” he said.
A ban on plastic bags, though, apparently is not covered, so the city will looked into that, said Zanfardino.
The issue was then assigned for study to council member Mark Hollenbaugh and the Community Improvement Committee.
Council member Greg Robinette, however, questioned whether the language of the legislation moving through the state legislature wouldn’t also preclude a plastic bag ban.
Marsh said the question is what the language will be if the legislation eventually makes its way to the governor.
Robinette said the city would be better off focusing on education efforts. Letting people know what they could do to help the environment would be “a step in the right direction.”
This would be a good job for the city’s sustainability coordinator, he said.
Hollenbaugh said he had reservations about the fee because it would be “regressive,” affecting lower income residents more. It is important for council to “hear from all the stakeholders” before taking action, he said.
Council member Bill Herald urged community hearings. Those may show “overwhelming support” for the ban or they may show “a different weighting of the trade-offs.”
After the meeting, resident Joe DeMare, who originally called for the plastic bag fee, said the ban would “be preferable to a fee,” though, it meant “ducking” the issue of the state overriding home rule.
DeMare also said education isn’t the issue. People are aware of the damage done by plastic bags.
“The problem is the bags themselves,” he said.
Taking steps like banning bags is important, he said. “Every time we have progress, it encourages people to keep moving forward.”
Hollenbaugh said the committee will likely meet on the issue in January.
