Clay
Clay City Council increases fines for Cosby Lake rule violations
The hike in fines is to prevent recent rule-breaking at the park from becoming a “trend.”
The Clay City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday night amending the existing Cosby Lake Park Rules ordinance to include increased fines for violations of the park’s rules, the Trussville Tribune reports.
According to the ordinance, “Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the said terms and provisions of this ordinance may be punished by a fine not less than $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second offense, and $1,000 for the third and each subsequent offence. Each day shall constitute a separate offense.”
On the previous ordinance, the fines were as follows: $50 for a first offense; $100 for a second offense; $200 for third and subsequence offenses.
“We’re mirroring what the ordinance already said,” City Manager Ronnie Dixon said. “It’s just an increase in the fines. It institutes fines and punishments for being in the park past dark or any other offense.”
The increase came about after the council had a discussion at the May 8 council meeting to address crime and safety concerns within the city, which included but were not limited to instances resulting from individuals trespassing at Cosby Lake after the park closed.
“There truly is an issue of people parking and being at that lake after hours,” Councilor Don Baker said during his comment time at the May 8 meeting.
Baker told the mayor and council that he believes it is time to open up dialogue on true public safety in the city.
“We have some of the best deputies in Clay that we have available to us, and they do a magnificent job,” he said. “The question I have is, we had budgeted at one time for eight sheriffs, and I know we’ve kind of beat this up and down, and I know we’ve got the cameras. What would it take to fully staff those eight deputies and get two more deputies in the city of Clay?”
Dixon said that the city is no longer budgeted for eight deputies, but reduced the budget to cover the six deputies that the city is currently contracted for.
“The reason we didn’t do it is because the sheriff’s office recommended that we not,” he said. “It has to do with the number of deputies who report to a sergeant (and) the number of deputies who are on a particular shift out of the Center Point substation, so what we have coverage on with six could not be improved upon by just adding two more people. So it was at their recommendation that we not go to eight. That was budget year before last.”
There was further discussion among the council about whether or not six contract deputies provided 24/7 police coverage for the city and whether or not officers who are not contracted by the city could enforce the rules at the park.
Dixon said that even with six deputies, the city does have 24-hour coverage and that any law enforcement officer, state park ranger or constable can address trespassing violations.
“What everybody forgets, it’s not about people,” he said. “The Center Point substation has 10 deputies per shift that cover (the Clay) beat. So what we employee deputies to do is to enforce city ordinances, as well as provide additional public safety to the 10 that the sheriff is providing per shift. So when we have two on, in effect we have 12. That’s how that works.”
Following Tuesday’s meeting, Baker said that he plans to continue making public safety a priority, including efforts to increase the council’s awareness of crime and safety issues within the city.
The new fines for violations at Cosby Lake will go into effect immediately. A sign displaying the fines will be posted at Cosby Lake by the end of the month.
“I think this is definitely a step in the right direction,” Baker said. “I like the ordinance and I like the fines. Our ordinances, we want them enforced. We want the park to be a safe place during the day and we want it to be a place that people are not at when they’re not supposed to be there. We’ve had a couple of things happen and that can’t be a trend.”