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Town of Randolph, MA
Norfolk County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town of Randolph 4-18-1995 ATM by Art. 8, approved 10-27-1995. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Alcoholic beverages — See Ch. 76.
Animals — See Ch. 79.
Hunting and firearms — See Ch. 116.
Fines — See Ch. 301.
[Amended 4-16-1996 ATM by Art. 8, approved 7-29-1996]
No person shall throw stones, snowballs, sticks or other missiles, nor kick any football, nor play at any game in which a ball is used, nor fly any kite or balloon, nor shoot with or use a bow and arrow, gun, air-gun or sling, in or across any of the public ways of the Town, nor take hold of or ride upon the hind part of any carriage or other vehicles, without leave; nor drive, wheel or draw any coach, cart or other carriage of burden or pleasure, except children's carriages drawn by hand, upon any sidewalk in the Town; nor drive or permit any horse under his/her care to go or stand upon any sidewalk in the Town or to stand on any crosswalk; nor behave himself or herself in a rude or disorderly manner; nor use any profane, indecent or insulting language in any street or other public place in the Town or near any dwelling house or other buildings therein; nor be or remain upon any doorstep, portico or other step or projection of any such building or house, to the annoyance of other persons, under a penalty, in accordance with the fine schedule.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 301, Fines.
No person shall bathe or swim in any waters within the Town in a state of nudity in places exposed to public view, or in the immediate sight of the occupant or occupants of any dwelling house, shop or factory, under a penalty, in accordance with the fine schedule.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 301, Fines.
A. 
No person shall make any indecent figure or write any indecent or obscene words upon any fence, building or structure in any public place or upon any sidewalk or wall.
B. 
No person, unless required by law so to do, shall make any marks, letters or figures of any kind, or place any sign, advertisement or placard upon or against any wall, fence, post, ledge, stone, tree, building, sidewalk, or structure in or upon any street in this Town without the permission of the owner thereof.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Section 12 of Art. 7 of the 1931 Bylaws, which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed at publication of the Code. It was subsequently repealed 4-16-1996 ATM by Art. 8, approved 7-29-1996.
C. 
No person shall cause to be placed any gang insignia or item to determine boundaries upon any building, sidewalk roadway, wire, rock, sign or other pertinent structure within the limits of the Town.
No person shall throw debris, rubbish or waste material or cause spillage of any of the aforementioned materials to be deposited on a public way or sidewalk, or public property under a penalty in accordance with the fine schedule.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 301, Fines.
A. 
No person except as provided by law, shall carry on his or her person, or carry under his or her control, in a vehicle, including those weapons and instruments mentioned in Chapter 269 of the General Laws, Section 10, Paragraph (b) and Section 12, any weapon or object commonly called "nunchucks," of any substance or material, a shotgun having a barrel less than eighteen (18) inches in length, any saber, sword or weapon of like or similar nature, any knife having any type of blade in excess of two and one-half (2 1/2) inches (except when actually engaged in hunting or fishing or in going directly to and/or returning directly from such activities, or in any employment which requires the use of any type of knife), or other object or tool so redesigned, fashioned, prepared or treated that the same may be used to inflict bodily harm or injury to another.
B. 
Violation of any provision of this section shall be subject to arrest and a fine in accordance with the fine schedule.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 301, Fines.
A. 
No panhandling or soliciting shall be done that prohibits free flow of traffic, unless a permit is issued to do so. Persons wishing to panhandle or solicit, shall obtain said permit from the Town Manager's Office at Town Hall.
B. 
In the interest of the public's health and safety, no person shall solicit nor panhandle so as to request an immediate donation of money or other thing of value from another person, regardless of the solicitor's purpose or intended use of the money or other value. The solicitation may be, without limitation, by
(1) 
The spoken word
(2) 
The written word
(3) 
The printed word
(4) 
Bodily gestures
(5) 
Signs
(6) 
Any other means of communication
C. 
No person shall permit any conduct that is
(1) 
Intended to or is likely to cause a reasonable person to fear imminent bodily harm or the commission of a criminal act upon property in that person's immediate possession.
(2) 
Intended to or is likely to cause a reasonable person to be intimidated into responding affirmatively to the solicitation.
D. 
No person shall persistently closely follow or approach a person, after the person solicited has been solicited and informed the solicitor by words or conduct that such person does not want to be solicited or does not want to give money or any other thing of value to the solicitor.
E. 
No person shall intentionally or recklessly block or interfere with the safe or free passage of the person being solicited, whether the person is a pedestrian or the operator of a vehicle, including the situation where the person takes evasive action to avoid physical contact with the person making the solicitation.
F. 
No person shall intentionally touch or make any physical contact with the person being solicited in the course of the solicitation without the person's consent.
G. 
No person shall solicit or panhandle within ten (10) feet of the entrance or exit of a bank, financial institution and/or ATM during the hours of operation.
H. 
Any person who violates this ordinance shall be subject to a fine in accordance with the fine schedule.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 301, Fines.
A. 
No person, whether in or upon a vehicle, motor vehicle, conveyance, or on foot, shall burn, smoke, display, roll, ingest, or otherwise use or consume marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinol (as defined in MGL c. 94C, § 1, as amended) while in or upon any area owned by or under the control of the Town of Randolph, including but not limited to, any street, sidewalk, public way, footway, passageway, stairs, bridge, park, playground, beach, recreation area, boat landing, public building, school, school grounds, cemetery, or parking lot; or in or upon any place to which the public has a right of access as invitees or licensees.
B. 
The consumption of marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinol is also prohibited in any motor vehicle in or on a public way whether or not the user is operating the vehicle or whether the vehicle is in operation at all.
C. 
Any marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinol burned, smoked, ingested, or otherwise used or consumed in violation of this ordinance shall be seized, held, and disposed of in accordance with MGL c. 94C, § 47A.
D. 
Whoever is found in violation of this ordinance shall, when requested by an official authorized to enforce this ordinance, state his or her true name and address to said official.
E. 
This ordinance may be enforced through any lawful means in law or in equity including, but not limited to, enforcement by criminal indictment or complaint pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 21, or by non-criminal disposition pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 21D, by any police officer.
F. 
The fine for a violation of this ordinance shall be in accordance with the fine schedule for each offense.[1] A penalty imposed under this ordinance shall be in addition to any civil penalty imposed under MGL c. 94C, § 32L.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 301, Fines.
A. 
In the interest of the public's health and safety the following are not permitted for sale: drug paraphernalia, blunt wraps, bath salts or similar substance, within the Town of Randolph.
B. 
As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:
BATH SALTS
(1) 
A drug which contains any quantity of barbituric acid or any of the salts of barbituric acid; or any derivative of barbituric acid which the United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare has by regulation designated as habit forming; or
(2) 
A drug which contains any quantity of amphetamine or any of its optical isomers; any salt of amphetamine or any salt of an optical isomer of amphetamine; or any substance which the United States Attorney General has by regulation designated as habit forming because of its stimulant effect on the central nervous system; or
(3) 
Lysergic acid diethylamide; or
(4) 
Any drug except marijuana which contains any quantity of a substance which the United States Attorney General has by regulation designated as having a potential for abuse because of its depressant or stimulant effect on the central nervous system or its hallucinogenic effect.
BLUNT WRAP
Any tobacco product manufactured or packaged as a wrap or as a hollow tube made wholly or in part from tobacco that is designed to be filled by the consumer with loose tobacco or other fillers.
DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
All equipment, products, devices and materials of any kind which are primarily intended or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, ingesting, inhaling or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this chapter. It includes, but is not limited to:
(1) 
Kits used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing or harvesting of any species of plant which is a controlled substance or from which a controlled substance can be derived;
(2) 
Kits used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing or preparing controlled substances;
(3) 
Isomerization devices used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in increasing the potency of any species of plant which is a controlled substance;
(4) 
Testing equipment used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in identifying or in analyzing the strength, effectiveness or purity of controlled substances;
(5) 
Scales and balances used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in weighing or measuring controlled substances;
(6) 
Diluents and adulterants, such as quinine hydrochloride, mannitol, mannite, dextrose and lactose, used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in cutting controlled substances;
(7) 
Separation gins and sifters used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in removing twigs and seeds from or in otherwise cleaning or refining marijuana;
(8) 
Blenders, bowls, containers, spoons and mixing devices used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in compounding controlled substances;
(9) 
Capsules, balloons, envelopes and other containers used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in packaging small quantities of controlled substances;
(10) 
Containers and other objects used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in storing or concealing controlled substances;
(11) 
Objects used, primarily intended for use or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana, cocaine, hashish or hashish oil into the human body, such as:
(a) 
Metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic or ceramic pipes, which pipes may or may not have screens, permanent screens, hashish heads or punctured metal bowls;
(b) 
Water pipes;
(c) 
Carburetion tubes and devices;
(d) 
Smoking and carburetion masks;
(e) 
Roach clips; meaning objects used to hold burning material, such as a marijuana cigarette that has become too small or too short to be held in the hand;
(f) 
Miniature cocaine spoons and cocaine vials;
(g) 
Chamber pipes;
(h) 
Carburetor pipes;
(i) 
Electric pipes;
(j) 
Air-driven pipes;
(k) 
Chillums;
(l) 
Bongs;
(m) 
Ice pipes or chillers;
(n) 
Wired cigarette papers;
(o) 
Cocaine freebase kits.
When a landlord does not reside on the property they own and the police details and fees associated with the same.
A. 
Definitions.
POLICE RESPONSE
Any and all police action deemed appropriate by the Police Chief to protect the health, safety and welfare of inhabitants of a property or location where valid complaints have been documented. Coordination of police action shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the police department.
PROBLEM PROPERTY
(1) 
The Police Department has been called to the property not fewer than four (4) times within the preceding twelve-month period for any incident involving any arrestable offense including but not limited to disturbing the peace, trespassing, underage drinking or assault; or
(2) 
The Police Department has received not fewer than four (4) sustained complaints for noise within the preceding twelve-month period; or
(3) 
The Inspectional Services Department or the Public Health Department have received not fewer than four (4) sustained complaints within the preceding twelve-month period for noxious, noisome or unsanitary conditions.
VALID COMPLAINT
An investigated finding, documented by on-duty Police Department personnel dispatched or caused to respond to an incident, that a criminal act has taken place in a dwelling unit within a property, on a particular property or at a specific location which disturbs the health, safety and welfare of other inhabitants of said property or location. The term shall not include incidents involving an occupant of the premises as the victim of the crime.
B. 
Police response. The Police Chief, as deemed appropriate to protect the health, safety and welfare of other inhabitants of a property or location where a valid complaint has been made, is hereby authorized and empowered to assign a member or members of the police department to staff as police response on said property or location;
(1) 
Upon being dispatched or caused to respond to an incident, in a dwelling unit within a property, or a particular property or at a specific location, involving a criminal offense, police department personnel shall investigate the complaint to determine whether it is a valid complaint.
(2) 
Upon finding a valid complaint, police department personnel shall make a record of the incident and shall keep, within the department's control, a record of the number of incidents which occur in said dwelling unit within a property, particular property or location.
(3) 
After four (4) valid complaints incidents have occurred in a twelve-month period relating to the occupancy of a dwelling unit within a property, on a particular property or at a specific location, the Police Chief, or his designee, may notify the Chair of Town Manager's Task Force on problem Properties/Code Enforcement Officer and shall submit to the Chair/Code Enforcement Officer the all-calls report relating to police response at said dwelling, particular property or location.
C. 
Duties of the Task Force.
(1) 
The Chair/Code Enforcement Officer shall create a master file of all information received from the Chief pertaining to that dwelling unit, particular property or location and shall discuss said information with the members of the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer at a monthly meeting at Town Hall.
(2) 
If a specific address falls within the definition of a problem property, the Chair of the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer shall notify in writing, the property owner by regular and certified mail, return receipt requested, sent to the property owner's residence or usual place of business that is on record at the Assessor's Office. The notification shall identify:
(a) 
The property owner and list the specific address that has been designated a problem property.
(b) 
The number of valid complaint incidents which have occurred on said property within a twelve-month period.
(c) 
The Randolph Police Contact the property owner may contact to coordinate a plan to resolve the incidents at the particular property or location, and/or inform the Randolph Police of problem complaint(s).
(d) 
Where and to whom the property owner must address a letter of appeal of the Task Force's/Code Enforcement Officer's decision.
(3) 
In making a final designation of a property as a problem property, the Chair of the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer shall take into consideration the nature of the complaints, the number of dwelling units at the property, and the nature of the use of said property.
(4) 
Upon receipt of confirmation from the Police Chief, or his designee, that the owner of a particular property deemed problematic has cooperated with the Randolph Police Department in addressing each specified valid complaint, the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer shall remove said property from designation as a problem property.
D. 
Cost of Police response assigned to problem properties.
(1) 
The Police Chief, or his designee, shall keep an accurate record of the cost of police response to the dwelling unit within a property, a particular property or a specific location, and such record shall include the number of officers who are part of the determined response.
(2) 
The Police Chief shall forward such record to the Treasurer-Collector.
(3) 
After eight (8) valid complaint incidents in a twelve-month period relating to occupants of a dwelling unit within a property, a particular property or a specific location, the Police Chief, at his discretion, shall determine whether the cost of a police response should be assessed to the property owner and shall notify and submit said determination to the Chair of the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer.
(4) 
The Chair of the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer shall notify, in writing, the property owner of the Chief's decision to assess the cost of the police response. The notification shall:
(a) 
Be delivered by regular and certified mail, return receipt requested, sent to the property owner's residence or usual place of business that is on record at the Assessor's Office.
(b) 
Identify the number of valid complaint incidents that have occurred since the first notification.
(c) 
Where appropriate, inform the property owner of his failure to contact the Randolph Police Contact to coordinate a plan to resolve the incidents at a dwelling unit within a property, particular property or location, and/or inform the Randolph Police of problem occupant(s).
(d) 
Inform the property owner that he shall be subject to the penalties addressed in subsection E.
(e) 
Indicate where and to whom the property owner must address a letter of appeal of police response costs assigned to him.
(f) 
Inform the property owner he has seven (7) days to file an appeal.
(5) 
The Police Chief should consider the following factors in making his decision to assess costs:
(a) 
The nature, scope and seriousness of the incident(s).
(b) 
Whether the incident(s) resulted in an arrest.
(c) 
A history of the criminal activity taking place at the property or location.
(d) 
The property owner's and occupant's willingness to cooperate with Police.
(e) 
The total number of properties owned by the property owner relative to the number of said properties deemed problematic.
(6) 
Nothing in this ordinance shall limit the statutory authority of the Police Chief to investigate crimes, allocate police resources and enforce the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Town of Randolph.
E. 
Penalties.
(1) 
The Treasurer-Collector is hereby authorized and empowered to bill the property owner for the costs the Town incurred for its police response in addition to any individual costs during the period of police response to the particular property or location. The property owner is responsible for payment of the bill in full within thirty (30) days of receiving the bill. All amounts collected by the Treasurer-Collector shall be deposited into the general fund of the Town.
(2) 
Any unpaid bill for police response, including interest and/or collection costs, shall be added to the real estate tax on the property and collected as part of that tax. Failure to pay real estate taxes will render the property owner delinquent and the Treasurer-Collector shall commence foreclosure proceedings.
F. 
Property owner's rights.
(1) 
The property owner may, within seven (7) days of receipt of the notification, appeal the Chief's decision to assess costs by requesting, in writing, a hearing before a three (3) person panel appointed by the Town Manager.
(2) 
Once the panel makes a decision it must be in writing. If the panel finds in favor of the property owner, the cost of the penalty shall be abated.
G. 
Eviction. In the event the property owner has, in good faith, commenced eviction proceedings against the tenant(s) responsible for the incidents at the property, then the application of this ordinance shall be stayed until the eviction process is concluded. The Police Chief may continue police response at the particular property or location, at his discretion, at all times after the eviction proceeding has been completed; provided, however, that such costs shall not be assessed to the property owner if the eviction proceedings conclude in favor of the property owner.
H. 
Charges to constitute municipal lien pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 58. All charges to recover costs imposed in this ordinance shall constitute a municipal lien on the property so charged in accordance with MGL c. 40, § 58.
I. 
Report. The Chair of the Task Force/Code Enforcement Officer shall submit a report to the Town Manager and the Town Council no later than three (3) months after the one (1) year anniversary of the enactment date of this ordinance. This report shall include the total cost of administration of this ordinance, as well as an accounting of all revenues collected in association with it. Said report shall also contain data regarding all dwellings within a property, particular properties or locations which remain problem properties and those that are no longer designated as problem properties. The report shall also include the general impact, if any, that the implementation of this order has on the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the Town of Randolph.