Blow your horn?

The saying goes, “Go toot your own horn.”

Each year, the city goes through a series of ordinance amendments that are triggered by changes made to the state code by the state legislature. Much of the city code mirrors the state code, and the goal is to keep them consistent.

During an Osceola City Council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 6, a public hearing was held on the proposed ordinance amendments to provisions pertaining to railroad crossing signals.

The code originally stated operators of a train shall sound a horn at least 1,000 feet before a street crossing is reached, and after sounding the horn, shall ring the bell continuously until the crossing is passed.

That was struck from the Iowa Code in its entirety, and the city looks to do the same with the ordinance amendment and not replace it with anything.

Council reaction

“So, a train can go through town silent?” Councilman Dr. George Fotiadis asked.

“Yes,” replied Ty Wheeler, city administrator/clerk.

"Is that a good idea? I mean, they're noisy, but …" Fotiadis continued.

Wheeler said the crossing gates will still sound, but the horns shall no longer be required when a train passes through town.

However, city officials pointed out the ordinance change wouldn’t prohibit a train conductor from sounding a horn in town, either.

“I think the reason they probably changed it, is a lot of people were complaining about the number of times they were blowing the horn,” said Councilman Dennis Page.

Still needs final approval

The first reading of the ordinance amendment was approved by the council, but there were still concerns about final approval with the second and third readings also needed.

“From an administrative perspective, it is nice to keep our code book clean,” Wheeler said. “And, if we begin to start accumulating codes that we’re basing off of state code, but we accumulate those that are no longer enforceable or changed or redacted completely, now we start having issues with our codes themselves.”

Follow-up

After the council meeting, Wheeler was in contact with the Iowa Department of Transportation.

According to Philip Meraz with the Office of Rail Transportation, Iowa Department of Transportation, the trains will continue to sound their horns at all public crossings except in a designated “Quiet Zone,” which Osceola doesn’t have.

Meraz said, in 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) passed a final “Train Horn Rule.”

“This describes the requirement, pattern and duration of when trains shall use their horns and bells nationwide,” he said. “It also established the opportunity and prerequisites for ‘Quiet Zones.’”

Basically, this designated the FRA as sole jurisdiction on the horn issue and pre-empted state and local regulation. Even though it’s not in the city code, the horns will continue to sound.