Car wash protocols

Soapy water runoff; dangerous behavior and permissions are at issue

HAMBURG — There is nothing uncommon about seeing a group of volunteers out washing cars to raise funds for their organization on a sunny summer weekend. One only assumes that these groups must have gone through the proper channels to get permission for their event, however.

At Monday night’s Hamburg Borough Council meeting, Councilman Russell Law brought up an instance where the nonprofit car washers and borough officials weren’t on the same page and he mentioned some fears that he had regarding the issue.

Law said that he believed there were state Department of Environmental Protection regulations about washing vehicles on municipal property, so when he saw that there was an unexpected car wash going on at the Hamburg firehouse this past weekend, he began to worry. Fire Chief John Haig, who was in attendance at the meeting, said that two Wallkill Valley cheerleading groups held car washes there in the previous few weeks — but he only knew about the first one.

“Channels got crossed,” Chief John Haig said during a recent phone conversation, explaining that he had been on vacation and permission for the fundraiser was given by someone else in the organization who didn’t realize that they had to relay the information.

Councilwoman Joyce Oehler spoke up at this, saying that she had recently been given word from the Department of Environmental Protection that as long as the car washers were insured and they diverted the soapy water away from storm drains, there should be no issue about washing cars — as long as they were not-for-profit.

Councilman Dan Barr agreed. “I don’t believe this is a council issue,” he said, adding that he thinks the matter should be decided directly by the fire department. He added that as long as the participants are being safe (mentioning a time when he saw a group of cheerleaders doing cartwheels on the side of a busy highway to attract business) and there are no water restrictions, a nonprofit organization should be allowed to hold a carwash.

In the end, it was decided that the unexpected carwash was a non-issue, but the council and Haig agreed that from now on the fire chief must be notified of all happenings at the Hamburg Firehouse.

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