Under a helmet ordinance approved by Brookhaven aldermen Tuesday, a child that hops on a bike and rides to a friend’s house down the street would have to strap on a safety helmet.

Or maybe not.

Though aldermen approved the ordinance requiring anyone 16 and under wear a helmet while biking on a 5-2 vote, some ambiguity continues to exist as to the dictates of the helmet law.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, Mayor Les Bumgarner mentioned throughout the discussion of the ordinance that children riding on the street of their residence would be exempted from the helmet requirement.

The text of the ordinance, however, appears to have no such exemption. Instead, it requires helmets be worn on any public area, including streets, sidewalks and parks.

At the city board’s Feb. 20 board meeting, aldermen received a copy of a proposed helmet ordinance modeled.

No significant discussion of the ordinance was held. Tuesday night, ordinance proponent Alderman at Large Karen Sullivan reported she had received no feedback from fellow aldermen about the ordinance and motioned to enact it.

When asked about whether she intended an exemption for a child’s residence to be included in the ordinance, Sullivan wasn’t explicit.

“My intention is what’s in the ordinance,” she said.

When asked about the apparently absent exemption Wednesday, Bumgarner acknowledged he thought the ordinance stated such an exemption, but he still sees room to find some flexibility in the ordinance as written and passed.

He cited this clause in the ordinance: “the implementation or enforcement of this ordinance shall be discretionary and not mandatory.”

Said Bumgarner, “I think the discretionary party would be, if you’re riding around in you’re neighborhood, you’re fine. That would be the discretionary part, not to ticket them.”

Still, the mayor said it’s a point he might like to see codified more clearly.

“I would think if it’s not spelled out specifically, the policemen really need some guidelines,” Bumgarner said.

He said amending the ordinance later might be a good idea.

As to whether she would support a later revision of the ordinance to include such an exemption for the street of a child’s residence, Sullivan said she wasn’t ready to state an opinion.

“Anything I support, I’ll have to look at the situation first,” she said. “I’ll just say an ordinance is a living, breathing, thing. They’re always being changed as we figure out more and more about different situations.”

Ward One Alderman Dorsey Cameron and Ward Three Alderman Mary Wilson both voted against the ordinance. They both described a concern the helmet requirement could present a financial burden to families.

Sullivan has pushed for the helmet requirement to bolster an application she’s making on the city’s behalf for a “Healthy Hometown” grant.