City mulls ways to change traffic rules

KINGSTON, N.Y. » A proposal to amend Kingston’s Boot and Tow Law has first led aldermen to consider altering the way they make changes to the entire Vehicles and Traffic section of the City Code.

During a meeting of the Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee on Wednesday, aldermen adopted a resolution to make Section 390 of the City Code an ordinance, rather than a local law. The difference would allow aldermen in the future to more quickly make changes to that section of the code.

A local law requires two readings by the Common Council, each at a separate monthly meeting, before aldermen can vote on the matter. An ordinance can be amended by a simple vote of the council.

The resolution to make Section 390 an ordinance must still be voted on by the full council, which is scheduled to meet again at 7:30 p.m. on March 6. The council will also be considering amending a contract Kingston has with a parking service company to allow severely delinquent parking tickets to be outsourced to a third party for collections.

The ordinance-versus-local-law issue arose when city Comptroller John Tuey asked aldermen to amend the Boot and Tow Law so the law would be tied to the owner of a vehicle, rather than to the vehicle itself.

“The current Boot and Tow Law ties the legislation to the registered vehicle rather than the registered owner of the vehicle,” Tuey told the committee. “I’m recommending that we change the legislation to tie it to the registered owner, rather than the vehicle. We’re finding the Boot and Tow Law, the effectiveness of it, is diminished somewhat by tying to the vehicle.”

Tuey said, for example, when a vehicle is immobilized by a “boot,” the owner can make good on the outstanding tickets that led to that situation. The owner only has to make good on the tickets tied to that vehicle, though, not all the tickets the person might have for other vehicles, the comptroller said.

“So, I think we’re missing an opportunity,” Tuey said. He said his office sees the same people over and over again when their vehicles are immobilized. Tuey said they know how to work the system to some degree.

Alderman Patrick O’Reilly, a non-enrolled voter who represents Ward 7, questioned why the law was not previously tied to the owner.

City Assistant Corporation Counsel Daniel Gartenstein said legal “defenses develop over time. Until someone raises it as a defense, there’s no reason to know it’s a loophole.”

Aldermen said once Section 390 of the code becomes an ordinance they would revisit Tuey’s request to amend the Boot and Tow Law.