In this installment of 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan Police Chief John DiFederico about the department’s plans for enforcing the town’s newly adopted summertime ban on gas-powered leaf blowers (its full text can be read here under “Exhibit A”—scroll down).
Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:
The Police Chief’s comments make one thing unmistakably clear: the department was caught flat footed and never given the time to create a workable enforcement plan. It is not even clear if the police are the designated enforcers of the ordinance, and the Chief is now being asked how to enforce it with no guidance from Town Hall. It is obvious the Town Council did not have a rollout plan. In addition to taxpayers and landscapers, the police are now left to absorb the consequences of a policy pushed through without operational input or practical foresight. Cudos to the Chief for committing to a light handed enforcement approach and only issuing warnings rather than escalating a poorly conceived ordinance that few are even aware of.
What is actually clear is the professionalism of Chief DiFederico and his department. The ordinance went through extensive public and media discussion for more than a year, and Chief DiFederico indicated at a New Canaanite coffee some time ago that he was prepared to enforce it under the normal terms of the town charter (which also answers Pavla’s question — it’s written in the charter). There is no evidence that he or his department were caught flat-footed on anything, and he has adopted a totally reasonable strategy of treating this summer as an education period. The police have set an example of responsibility and accountability that the rest of our town administration could learn from. Let’s trust them to handle this and give the ordinance a chance. The sky is not falling, and our quality of life will improve.
At the very start of the podcast, Chief DiFederico stated that he has not even had a conversation with the First Selectman about whether the police have been officially designated to enforce this ordinance. That is not interpretation; it is a direct statement from the interview. The reality is that Town Council passed an ordinance without clarifying who is responsible for enforcement. Given his lack of guidance, the Chief’s plan to treat the rest of the summer as an educational period is a reasonable one. His professionalism is evident, but professionalism does not change the fact that a rollout plan never existed.
John, having legal authority under the Town Charter to enforce ordinances is not the same as Town Council conducting a formal operational impact assessment before voting. Did the Town Council perform due diligence before passing this legislation? Good legislative policy requires lawmakers to request formal operational assessments from affected departments prior to passing new mandates, evaluating staffing impacts, and budget implications, rather than relying on informal comments at a New Canaanite coffee or leaving the departments to figure out the logistics after the fact. Inquiring whether the Town Council passed this without producing a formal operational study isn’t ‘falling sky’ rhetoric; it’s asking for basic legislative accountability.
Can the Town Council produce the Police Department’s operational assessment that was relied upon before assigning this new enforcement responsibility? If no such assessment exists, why was the ordinance adopted without one?
There is no requirement for the Town Council to produce an assessment like this before passing an ordinance, so you are asking for a superfluous bureaucratic process that the Town Council does not have the expertise to carry out. The police chief is best equipped to know if his department can enforce an ordinance, and the most efficient thing to do is to ask him. This is what was done!
The issue isn’t whether the Town Council is “required” to produce an enforcement assessment. The issue is that they passed an ordinance without clarifying who is responsible for instituting it or enforcing it. A Public discussion is not an enforcement plan, and informal comments at a coffee event are not a substitute for formal direction from Town Hall. In effect, the Town Council decided to buy a plane without asking if anyone could fly it. The Town Hall’s silence since passage suggests they have no appetite to promote the law or explain how it is supposed to work. What we have is an ordinance that is nothing more than a symbolic gesture.