Supervisors mull fireworks ban on county property

At the request of county attorney Erika Allen, the Grundy County Board of Supervisors discussed a potential ban on fireworks at county parks and properties in response to the recent legislation that legalized them in Iowa at its regular meeting Tuesday morning.
           
Allen and county conservationist Kevin Williams both expressed a desire to keep consumer fireworks, which are now legal between June 1 and July 8 and December 10 and January 3, off of county properties, citing safety and liability issues. Allen added that litigation could arise if someone was injured shooting them at a county park and felt the need to make the law more clear as confusion abounds.
           
“I can certainly see people pushing the envelope on that,” she said. “With the change in Iowa, I think it would behoove us to reiterate that (fireworks should be illegal on county properties).”
           
The law, signed by former Governor Terry Branstad, allows cities and counties to enact stricter regulations beyond what the state requires, and at press time, none of the municipalities within Grundy County had done so. Shooting the devices outside of the allotted times is still a simple misdemeanor, and it can be considered a civil infraction if individual jurisdictions enact restrictions beyond state law. 
 
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