The City Council Monday night failed to resuscitate an ordinance banning guns and other weapons in City Hall.
Mayor Jim Brainard last week vetoed the weapons ordinance, which the council approved with a 4-2 vote on Oct. 19. Five votes were needed to override the veto, but the council voted 3-3.
Brainard said last week that screening for weapons in City Hall could have negative repercussions.
“If the city were to enact this law and then screen every person entering City Hall and a weapon is snuck into the building and used to harm someone, the taxpayers would be liable for three times the normal recovery as well as attorney fees for both parties,” Brainard said in an e-mail. ”This constitutes an unacceptable liability for taxpayers. To enact this law and not screen all members of the public that visited City Hall would also put the taxpayers at risk for a judgment and attorney fees. I am also concerned that if the ordinance was enacted and we did not screen that only the ‘bad’ guys would have weapons in the building. Money was not appropriated for screening when the ordinance was passed.”