Lynn City Council gets back to work

LYNN – The City Council was expected to take up business Tuesday postponed last week by the sudden death of former mayor Patrick McManus.Meetings of the Ordinance, License, Public Property, Ways and Means, and Finance committees scheduled for July 14 were canceled by City Council President Timothy Phelan. Those meetings have been rescheduled for Tuesday. The Ordinance Committee was set to discuss a proposed ordinance that prohibits the possession of a weapon on school property.Phelan has asked Ordinance Committee Chairman Darren Cyr to set down a public hearing on the matter.The ordinance, if adopted, would prohibit possessing or carrying any weapon or instrument fashioned to function as a weapon into any city school or building. Any instrument that might be used to potentially cause physical harm would also be prohibited from these premises.Language contained in the proposed ordinance includes under the definition of “weapon” any air gun, pellet gun, BB gun, paint ball gun, or any pistol, revolver, rifle or smooth-bore armament from which a shot or pellet can be discharged by any means.Further, any electrical weapon or explosive object, device or fireworks, would be prohibited, as would any sharp-edged weapon or cutting instrument regardless of blade length. Any bat, billy club or similar object would also be banned from school property and public buildings if found to have no legitimate purpose.Exceptions to the weapons ordinance would include any tools, items or instruments provided exclusively to the school for use and with a legitimate purpose in a classroom or shop activity.Anyone violating the ordinance would be arrested.According to a draft of the ordinance reviewed by Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., the purpose of the local law is “to increase safety in the city’s public schools and provide the Police Department with a viable enforcement action to address the growing concern of violence and weapons in our schools.”Presently, the Police Department has “limited enforcement action and right of arrest” when responding to a complaint from a school principal or administrator that a student has been found in possession of a weapon on school property, according to the mayor.Current Massachusetts General Laws and Lynn ordinances related to dangerous weapons contain voids when the incident includes box cutters, razor knives, small pen knives, BB guns, air guns and similar weapons. The proposed ordinance eliminates the ambiguity and the frustration for both school administrators and police officers, Clancy said.The new ordinance would also not be required to take into account the maximum blade length of any knife or cutting instrument and instead treat them equally by prohibiting all sizes. The current city ordinance sets the maximum knife blade limit at 2.5 inches.Two other public hearings before the City Council slated for Tuesday have been postponed until Aug. 11 because they must be re-advertised.The first hearing is a request from Holy Family Church for permission to hold a carnival on church property on Aug. 20-22. The other hearing is related to a council decision to turn over to St. Jean’s Credit Union a slice of public land near the intersection of Maple and Chestnut streets.Last week’s meetings were postponed out of respect for McManus, who died unexpectedly at his Lynn home on July 10. City Hall was also closed Wednesday, the day of the former mayor’s funeral.