All Golf Carts to be Treated Equally

Golf carts at ASU continue to be a source of contention. Between the maintenance facility being located across Jackson St. from campus, and people not wanting to have to play dodge-cart on their daily drive down Johnson, a consensus must be made as to what constitutes ‘street legal.’

The campus needs to have permission to take their carts to the streets to avoid mowing down oblivious college students.

In order operate legally, Joe Muñoz brought the issue to City Council on Sep. 3, following a citation from the San Angelo Police Department.

 “Our intent is to use the city streets as a last resort,” said Muñoz at that meeting, reiterating that the usage was primarily limited to crossing streets on campus to reach outlying facilities.

That ordinance was passed unanimously and expanded to include apartment complexes and other business entities.

Tuesday, Council held the first public hearing in regards to said ordinance, as well as a discussion on exemptions for government entities and their golf carts.

The main discussion circulated around government exemptions for inspection fees by the SAPD.

The fee is $20 per cart, but contention was centered around whether or not ASU as a government entity is exempt from the fee as the city golf carts are.

If ASU has to comply, I’m sure the city will too, said Munoz, “as long as we’re treated the same.”

Councilman Don Vardeman agreed, “I have no problem with the fee, I think that’s reasonable because of service rendered,” he stated, adding that in his opinion no entity should be exempt from the inspection fees.

Muñoz effectively livened up the meeting when he brought up the city’s carts.

“It applies to everybody. I was at the Riverfest and I saw a lot of city-owned golf carts that surely weren’t inspected and not meeting city code, but I’m not going to say anything about that,” said Muñoz to outbursts of laughter.

“It’s either all or none, that’s the way I see it,” he said.

No one opposed that view, and Chief of Police Tim Vasquez and Sgt. Korby Kennedy of the Traffic Division were present to answer any safety questions and explain their recommendations for the ordinance.

They recommended that golf carts only be used on streets of 30 mph or less, with the exception to cross streets higher than 30 mph.

The motion was made for the ordinance to require a 30 mph speed limit for operation of golf carts on city streets; the necessity of a valid driver’s license for operators; and a requirement that all entities pay inspection fees. An age limit on riders of 16 and up was removed.

The ordinance restrictions were approved unanimously.