By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Hamburg Township is updating its Breach of Peace ordinance following what was described as a minor incident that occurred at a cemetery.

A first reading of Ordinance 94C was conducted at a recent Board of Trustees meeting. The draft changes were said to have merely broadened what was already in place and will now include cemeteries in definition. The update was said to be prompted by an incident at one of the township cemeteries.

Police Chief Richard Duffany and Treasurer Jason Negri were asked to look at the Breach of Peace ordinance and make any appropriate changes as the type of situation that occurred was not adequately covered.

Negri explained that the incident was a minor question of someone allegedly parking in the wrong place on private property, even though they weren’t. He said the private property owner harassed the person who had parked there, and they were very distraught given the nature of why they were at the cemetery.

Negri told the board the changes were very minor, basically just broadening the definition of where certain types of incidents might be taking place. A section was updated from “public park” to now read “public facility” and cemetery was explicitly added to language.

Trustee Bill Hahn commented that a lot of people have complained over the years about parties and noise, especially on lake property and questioned if this would give police authority to deal with those situations. Negri clarified that much of that detail is in the current ordinance and the police department already has the tools needed to combat parties on lakes. He said the current change just broadens the existing Breach of Peace ordinance to include cemeteries in definition.

No board action was required as it was a first reading. The ordinance is expected to be brought back to the next board meeting for ratification.