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June 16, 2009

In-street fund collection concerns city officials

By Rod Rose/The Lebanon Reporter

Lebanon — Allowing fundraising groups to collect money at city intersections may be restricted or banned because the process is too dangerous.

“I think we’re going to review it,” Mayor Huck Lewis said Tuesday. “I’m just so worried ... that somebody is going to get hurt.”

While he’s participated in the collection points, as part of Relay for Life, Lewis thinks increases in traffic volume and speed make the efforts unsafe.

“As much as I’d hate to see it affect organizations, I’d much rather not see someone get hurt,” Lewis said.

No city permits are required to stand at intersections to collect money, Lewis said. A federal law now requires anyone, from police to construction crews to reporters, to wear safety vests when standing on state and federal highways.

Lewis said he’d like to speak with the Indiana Department of Transportation to get that agency’s opinion of on-road fundraising.

For years, many groups have gotten city approval — and some groups have not — to stand in the road at the Lebanon and Camp street intersection, to collect money for charities.

That, City Councilman Brent Wheat said at a recent council meeting, “is an exceptionally bad idea.”

Persons collecting money were a factor in a recent three-vehicle crash at the intersection, Wheat said. Investigating officers reported one of the drivers “was watching the people standing in the roadway” and rear-ended another vehicle, Wheat said.

The issue arose after Councilman Mike Kincaid asked if persons collecting money at Indiana 39 and Anderson Lane had permission to do so.

That intersection is probably more dangerous than Camp and Lebanon, Wheat said.

Southbound drivers on Ind. 39 are sometimes going 70 mph as they approach the stop light, Wheat said. Some drivers east- or west-bound on Anderson Lane will hit 60 mph trying to beat the light, he said.

Boone County Emergency Medical Services ambulances are based nearby; Lebanon Fire Department’s Station Two is less than a half-mile from the intersection.

A driver’s inattention when emergency vehicles enter the intersection could result in “a million-dollar lawsuit,” Wheat said.

As traffic increases on Lebanon Street, “it gets more and more dangerous” to allow persons to stand in the road soliciting donations, Wheat said.

Wheat suggested the city regulate in-road solicitors; City Attorney Darren Chadd said there are ways to address safety concerns.

The council took no official action. Some groups have asked the city’s Board of Works and Public Safety for permission to collect money at intersections — but not all do, Wheat said.

Any regulations or restrictions would have to apply equally to all groups, Kincaid said.

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