Largest Moped Agency Fails to Meet Deadline for Renewal of License

By CHRIS BURRELL

After more than a year of tough talk about enforcing moped regulations and showing scofflaw dealers no mercy, Oak Bluffs is now giving a break to two brothers who own the biggest fleet of mopeds in town.

The brothers, Mike and Mark Wallace, failed to meet deadlines for renewing their license for Ride-On Mopeds on Oak Bluffs avenue. According to beefed-up moped bylaws voters backed unanimously at annual town meeting last year, that could give selectmen grounds to cancel the license altogether.

The Wallaces missed a May 1 deadline for license application and fees. They filed their application four days later, and then didn't pay their licensing fee until last Friday, according to records in the selectmen's office. The license renewal has still not been approved by the selectmen, and it is not listed as an item on the agenda of today's meeting.

The town bylaw states that anyone "engaged in the business of renting, leasing or keeping for rent any motor scooters or mopeds without first obtaining a new license shall be deemed to have forfeited its license."

But despite the bylaw, Oak Bluffs selectmen Richard Combra and Todd Rebello told the Gazette yesterday they don't plan to push a case against the Wallaces.

They downplayed the significance of the late-filed application, saying that the Wallaces had been trying to sell their moped business and that the Wallaces didn't rent any mopeds in May.

Mr. Combra's perspective on the issue is complicated by the fact that during most of May he was on the payroll of a business partly owned by the Wallace brothers called Menemsha Blues, a cafe and clothing store on the Oak Bluffs harbor.

Mr. Combra said he worked for Menemsha Blues for only 20 days, quitting the day after Memorial Day. "It created conflicts for me," he said in a telephone interview.

The Wallaces, who also own a downtown package store and gas station, did not return telephone calls from the Gazette.

The controversy around mopeds reached a high pitch two summers ago in the aftermath of two separate accidents that left one woman dead and another man with permanent brain damage. Both mopeds were rented in Oak Bluffs, which is now home to five of the Island's six rental outlets.

After the moped carnage in the summer of 2001, selectmen placed moped safety and enforcement at the top of their priority lists and set to work rewriting the bylaws.

Yesterday, selectman Roger Wey told the Gazette that his board shouldn't abandon its hard-line stance. "If a dealer isn't adhering to the rules, he shouldn't have a license," Mr. Wey said. "We should enforce all the moped bylaws to the fullest."

But Mr. Combra and Mr. Rebello said the Wallaces should not be held to the same deadlines as other dealers because they were trying to sell the moped rental business, which has been licensed to rent 120 mopeds - more than double what any of the other four dealers in town are permitted to rent.

The revised bylaw states that moped rental licenses are not transferable, but Mr. Rebello said the intent of the bylaw is that licenses cannot be moved to another location in town.

"We can't deny someone the opportunity to sell their business," said Mr. Rebello.

While both selectmen argued that the Wallaces hadn't actually rented any mopeds in May, Oak Bluffs police told the Gazette that mopeds were seen on display at the garage on Oak Bluffs avenue.

Mr. Rebello said selectmen are reluctant to enforce a bylaw that would land the town in a court battle. "We're trying to balance fairness with other businesses that don't get a license in on time," he said. "Are we going to stick it to a moped dealer when there are six or seven retail shops doing the same thing?"

But last year, when selectmen talked about enforcing moped regulations, their language was a lot angrier.

"I will extend moped dealers no courtesy," Mr. Combra said last year. "I am embarrassed and flabbergasted that [moped] businesses remained open without a license."

Selectman Michael Dutton said last year, "How many times do you allow them to break the rules?"

In the case of the Wallace brothers, it's not the first time that the town has let the issue of late-filed licensing papers slide.

In 1999, selectmen wrote a letter to Mark Wallace, demanding that he pay his outstanding fees for four separate dealerships under his control at the time. "Our office has been extremely lenient in allowing you to operate without imposing penalties," stated the letter from Aug. 6, 1999. Mr. Wallace operated without a license in both 1998 and 1999.

But Mr. Wallace is also accustomed to getting special treatment from selectmen. Last year, selectmen voted to grant him a liquor license and a sewer permit for the Menemsha Blues restaurant when Mr. Wallace promised to shut down one moped dealership that he controlled.

Mr. Wey argued that the dealership - Porthole Mopeds on Circuit avenue extension - didn't even hold a valid license, but selectmen went ahead with the deal anyway.

Selectmen successfully reduced the number of mopeds for rent in their town last year, seeing the number for rent fall from 539 to 308. That figure includes the Wallaces' 120 mopeds. The number of people injured in moped accidents has fallen for two years in a row.