URGENT ACTION ALERT City Hall is accepting public comments on the Republic City OHV Ordinance only until Monday, December 1st. Please write to Mayor Couse and each member of City Council to oppose the ill-conceived Republic City OHV ordinance. Please share with the City Council members your personal concerns and experience. Include your connection to the city whether you work, live, shop, own a business, or come to Republic on vacation. Below are some specific concerns with passing an OHV ordinance that you can include in your letter: OHVs are designed for operation in specific areas. Prohibiting OHVs in town will not stop anyone from using them in the designated areas. A citizen has to trailer their jet ski to the lake, can't shoot guns for fun in town, and town is not an OHV recreation area. Ferry County is prohibited from enacting their OHV ordinance. Even if they could, their proposed route does not connect to the City's proposed route. The City would like to provide an activity for the children, however, the City prohibits bicyclists, skateboarders and rollerbladers from using the sidewalks yet there are no bike lanes in town. The City made this decision for various reasons, why don't the same reasons apply to OHV? The proposed City OHV routes do not connect with the proposed County OHV routes. Not only are most of the routes illegal but also incompatible. Deer Park this month rescinded a similar ordinance. Their own city attorney recommended this because there is a liability to the city in case of an accident. An OHV ordinance in the city will increase illegal OHV driving. Currently, law abiding citizens load their OHV and take it to an OHV facility. Anyone who rides from their home to the route will be violating the law. The City has shown it is concerned about intrusion because they have made the effort to create the "least intrusive" route. But passing an ordinance essentially opens the whole town to OHV use. Current  State law sufficiently outlines rules and penalties.  The City received a grant for sound metering and education. This fits well with established law which prohibits non-street legal, under 16 drivers and illegal behavior. Let's keep the probability for violations to a minimum and keep our law enforcement efficient and streamlined. Send hardcopy of your comments to: P.O. Box 331, Republic, WA 99166-0331 Shirley Couse, Mayor Council member Jim Burnside Council member Linda Hall Council member Dave Michel Council member DiAnne Hewitt Council member Alex Wirt It was good to see many citizens voicing their concerns about the City OHV Ordinance at the City Hall meeting on Monday. Please add yours this week and help keep Republic and Ferry County a great place to live. Ellen Picken, President, Board of Directors Quiet Communities Coalition