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Camden scrap yards could face stricter regulations

After running through the 50-some resolutions at Tuesday night's Council Caucus, came something new: The city Code Enforcement and Law departments asked Council to pass a resolution next week amending the city code regarding scrap-metal yards. The amendment would demand a lot from scrap-metal dealers (and also the city).

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In typical fashion, Council Caucus had as many as 26 items on its agenda
Tuesday night -- most of them snooze-inducing resolutions, such as
refunding individuals and companies for overpayments of taxes or fees and amending agreements with landlords.

Then, also typically, there were about 30 more walk-on resolutions, which can sometimes be little bundles of surprises.

After running through the 50-some resolutions, came something new: The city Code Enforcement and Law departments asked Council to pass a resolution next week amending the city code regarding scrap-metal yards.

The amendment would demand a lot from scrap-metal dealers (and also the city). Code Enforcement director Iraida Affandor said the new rules are needed "so we can control it better" -- it being the problem of metal thieves destroying many of the city's light fixtures.

Here is a preview of what's in store for the four or five licensed scrap-metal dealers in the city if the amendment is approved. (There are dozens of smaller ones, but city officials say they are targeting the big ones because the small ones are "easy" to shut down.)

  1. Anyone who wants to sell scrap metal must provide a driver's license, vehicle tags, and registration.

  2. Dealers can't accept any metal that are imprinted with codes or registration information, often a sign that the metal has been stolen from a light post or other installation.

  3. Every month dealers must turn in a list to the city of every item they purchased and whom they purchased it from.

  4. Code enforcement officials will make surprise on-spot inspections.

  5. Metal sellers will be paid by check, not cash.

Does the city have the capacity to monitor all of this closely, including the line item checks every month? Well, Affanador told me after the meeting that she is taking this up as her personal project. There weren't any scrap-metal dealers at the meeting. I'll have to catch up with them later to see what they think of these proposed regulations. TBC...