PARIS — The board of selectmen hopes to consider three revised ordinances covering traffic and special amusement permits at its next meeting, September 10.

During its Monday meeting, the board referred the two ordinances back to the Policy and Procedures Committee for final review at the committee’s September 5 meeting.

State law gives the board authority to approve the traffic ordinances, but voters would need to approve the amusement ordinance.

In July, the committee delivered its updates to the town’s traffic ordinances to the board, which forwarded it to the Bernstein Shur law firm for review.

The town has two traffic ordinances. One regulates vehicle use of town roads. The committee’s revised version contains several changes, including regulation on snowmobiles and ATV traffic.

The second traffic ordinance prescribes weight restrictions on town roads.

In a memo to the Paris Town Manager, Geoffrey Hole, the reviewing attorney, offered several concerns and suggestions for changes in the draft traffic ordinances.

Among his concerns were the absence of a specific provision for handicapped parking, the wording of several articles and the delegation of power in sections about bicycle registration and the office of traffic engineers.

Hole also expressed concern that vehicle weight restrictions were proposed as an ordinance rather than rules.

“State law allows the municipal officers to adopt and enforce rules and it seems to me that might be preferable to an ordinance because the state may have preempted the subject matter,” Hole says in the memo.

The board voted to table the traffic ordinances to give the policy and procedure committee time to review Hole’s suggestions.

The board also asked the policy and procedures committee to finalize the special amusement ordinance.

The ordinance controls the issuance of special permits for music, dancing or entertainment in establishments that sell liquor.

Specifically, the ordinance was updated to clearly and explicitly ban entertainment that involves any sexual performance or display. Violators of the ordinance would be subject to fines.

Committee member Ann Stanley, who worked on the ordinance, told the board she found the same detailed wording in the special amusement ordinances she reviewed from other towns.

Selectman Robert Wessells questioned the amount of the fine, suggesting that if an establishment wanted to host prohibited entertainment badly enough or thought it could still make a profit, it might sustain the $500 fine. He thought there could be additional penalties in the ordinance for repeat violations.

Board Chair Sam Elliot told the committee that it should suggest a licensing fee amount in the final version. In the draft ordinance, no fee amount is assigned.

The committee agreed to review the ordinance and deliver a revised version to the board.

The board also planned on considering changes to the town’s existing sign ordinance to address commercial signs on public property.

Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox explained the ordinance shouldn’t need any alterations – the ordinance already only allows signs on public property with the written permission of the selectmen.

Knox suggested that the town draw up an application form to be filled out by those who wanted to put a sign on public property.