Underage Drinking Ordinance Tabled for Review [VIDEO]

The indefinitely tabled the underage drinking it was considering until a committee can be formed to examine the best ways to educate and/or penalize underage drinkers or underage individuals caught with alcohol on private property.

"We're just not focused with where we need to be with this and I want to make sure we get this right," Mayor Bob Collins said Thursday.

The ordinance would have imposed fines beginning at $250 on an underage drinker and, on subsequent offenses, may have resulted in the loss of the person's license. The council after spoke to the council about how he felt the penalties could deter underage drinkers. Currently, Kinnelon police are only able to penalize underage drinkers or those who are underage and found to be in possession of alcohol on public property.

To gain more public input, the council in the auditorium. About 35 people attended, a low turnout according to the mayor, but many councilmembers said this could have been due to the timing of the special meeting, in July, when many residents were away on summer vacation.

The council then on the ordinance until the council's regular September meeting Thursday.

Collins said he thinks there is a lot of "misinformation" being spread about what the ordinance would mean to the residents.

"There are some people who feel this is an invasion of privacy," he said.

"To put an ordinance on the books that ultimately doesn't meet the objective or somehow is misperceived and misunderstood, I think, actually is counter-effective, ultimately, to where we need to be," Collins said.

The committee, Collins said, will be made up of members of the public, some council members and will include input from the police department.

Kinnelon Public Schools Board of Education President Margaret Zybrick, who spoke as a resident and parent and not on behalf of the board, told the mayor and council she appreciates the suggestion that the ordinance be tabled.

"As a parent and as a child advocate, my concern is that we do right by the kids and I do not think punitive action is always the best way to go," she said.

Zybrick gave an example of a police seatbelt detail where officers handed out brochures to drivers who were not wearing seatbelts explaining the penalties instead of issuing tickets.

"When you punish a kid for something, you don't know what the fallout's going to be," she said.

Councilman Andy San Filippo, who ultimately voted in favor of tabling the ordinance, said he would like the penalty for underage drinking to include community service, but that he believes there should be a penalty.

San Filippo was in favor of an educational piece along the lines of what Zybrick was describing, but said that "the first time, they need to be coddled, the second time, they need to be seriously reprimanded" if caught drinking underage.

Councilman Gary Moleta, who has been a proponent of the ordinance since its introduction, said that he believes the ordinance could be a deterrent for other underage persons considering drinking and that "it's about changing the behavior."

Moleta said that while Kinnelon does not have "street corners where drugs are brought in," that alcohol has become a serious issue in the borough and he thinks that the council can help play a role in stopping it.

Councilman Ron Mondello said he is not opposed to penalties being set forth, but that he is displeased that the state is recommending how borough ordinances regarding underage drinking be written.

"The mayor and council should have free reign to figure out how this ordinance best suits [the borough]," he said.