An effort by a group of Island County residents to have a ban on personal fireworks in unincorporated areas hit a stumbling block this week, although the issue hasn’t fizzled completely.

Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair, who was the swing vote on the three-member board, announced at a meeting that she couldn’t support a proposed ban at this time, but she was willing to discuss the possibility of a ballot measure. She was critical of a report and outreach work she had asked the group, Citizens for Safe and Humane Fireworks, to do on the county’s behalf.

In response, the advocates of a pyrotechnic prohibition are now considering changing their tactics.

“As our group, Safe and Humane Fireworks, has been given an extensive list of demands we need to satisfy,” the group said in a statement, “in order to convince District 3 Commissioner Janet St. Clair that banning consumer fireworks is in the best interest of Island County; we are reevaluating our mission. The group is considering a different strategy, starting with a ban on South Whidbey, with the support of District 1 Commissioner Melanie Bacon.”

St. Clair, a Democrat representing District 3, was caught in the middle on the issue. Commissioner Melanie Bacon, a fellow Democrat in District 1, has been a leader in the effort to ban fireworks while Republican Commissioner Jill Johnson, who represents District 2, has been clear that she opposes such a policy.

During a regular commissioner meeting Tuesday, a couple members of the anti-fireworks group once again addressed commissioners about the proposed ban. Afterward, Johnson pushed St. Clair to finally make a decision, noting that members of the community have been asking for a fireworks ban for months.

“If we’re not going to have the conversation, we need to tell the community that we’re not,” she said. “If we are, we need to get it scheduled for a work session to start working on it. I agree that it’s unfair for people who come back week after week to not know what the next steps are.”

St. Clair explained that she had asked the group in January to do specific work before she would consider the ban through a councilmatic vote; county staff wasn’t available to do the work because it wasn’t in a work plan. But she said she was disappointed in the group’s efforts. Specifically, she said the outreach wasn’t robust and bipartisan, the survey sample sizes were too small, the enforcement plan was vague and all the stakeholders weren’t contacted.

“This is hard for me,” she said, “because I will be really honest with you personally I am very interested in a ban, but I’m more interested in proper process, true governance and true inclusion of everyone who has a right of an opinion in this conversation.”

St. Clair, however, said she might be willing to support a ballot measure. In response, Bacon made a motion to put the proposal on the ballot, but it failed for a lack of a second. Johnson said she might also support a ballot measure with additional discussion, depending on the cost and other factors, and St. Clair agreed to put the issue on a future work session agenda.

It’s unclear whether Citizens for Safe and Humane Fireworks support a ballot measure. The members have argued that the issue shouldn’t be considered a popularity contest but a critical issue of health and safety. Likewise, Bacon said the commissioners sometimes have to make decisions that might be unpopular.

“I think that when we refuse to make decisions, when we refuse to act, we are not standing up to our obligation in this position,” she said.

Bacon wrote an opinion piece that is published in this edition of the newspaper.

Currently, legal fireworks are allowed in unincorporated areas of Island County on July 3-5 and on Dec. 31.

In proposing a fireworks ban, members of the group cite fire danger, pollution from fireworks remnants, harassment of wildlife and pets and other concerns. On the other side, people point out that nonprofit organizations make a lot of money for charitable causes by selling fireworks and that they are a traditional American way to celebrate.