Council begins examining city codes

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- New Ulm City Council members began the tedious job of combing through the city's codes and ordinances Wednesday, looking for upgrades and improvements.

It's a job the city tackles every ten years or so. The last recodification was done in 1994.

Assistant City Attorney Susan Nierengarten said the proposed changes incorporate ordinances passed since the last recodification, passes on staff suggestions for improvements, conforms the city's laws to changes in state laws, and cleans up unclear language, obsolete passages, clumsy grammar and statutory references that are incorrect.

At the same time, it is a chance for the council to look at possible changes in the city's ordinances to better meet current and future conditions, and address problems that come up.

Among the obsolete passages and measures were references to charging fees for jurors and witnesses, language that made sense when the city had a municipal court, and considering whether criteria for allowing deferments for special assessments might by outdated.

City ordinance allows deferring special assessments in cases where a property is homesteaded, the owner is over 65, and there is financial hardship (that is, the assessed market value of the house is less than $60,000). Councilors wondered whether the $60,000 figure, set in 1986, might be too low compared to today's property, or even if the value of the property is an accurate reflection of the homeowner's ability to pay. The city staff is going to check with the county assessor's office for a more reasonable figure.

Councilor Clark Tuttle also wanted to add more flexibility to deferral of special assessments, allowing the council to waive them if needed in cases where it would encourage housing developments.

The council spent time talking over the issue of transient merchant licenses. Currently, exhibitors at craft shows during Heritagefest and other occasions aren't being licensed. The council pondered whether they needed to be licensed, or whether the sponsoring non-profit or civic organization holding the sale should be licensed and do the required record keeping on the merchants.

The councilors agreed on recommendations to cover the pruning of trees in the city right-of-way, after several instances of trees on city boulevards being trimmed back excessively in the past couple of years. Changes would require that trees not be trimmed higher than 13 feet above ground. Licensed tree services would be expected to know the city's rules and follow them.

The council may be considering some new ordinances. One change in state law during the past session of the Legislature extends to cities the ability towns and townships now have to assess fees for emergency services. Cities have to adopt an ordinance spelling out which emergency services they charge for, and set fees.

While councilors didn't seem interested in charging fees for things like fire calls and ambulance runs, they did think it would be prudent to have the required ordinance on the books, with fees set at zero for now. Councilors seemed especially interested in the possibility of charging for flood control efforts for people living in the flood plain.

Councilors talked about the possibility of rescinding the city's ordinance prohibiting bicycle riding, skateboarding and roller skating in German Park and on downtown sidewalks. Councilor Ruth Ann Webster thought that the city, as it develops a bike trail, shouldn't be discouraging biking tourists from the downtown area.

Tuttle said he thought New Ulm should be encouraging the use of downtown by all, including young people.

Council President Dan Beranek said the no-biking law was put into place to prevent abuses by some young riders and skaters who posed a danger to pedestrians. He said if the New Ulm Retail Association came to the council asking for the law to be removed, he would agree.

Tuttle also argued that the city police should be issuing administrative citations for drivers violating the speeding laws in the city, keeping the fines for the city coffers and preventing the revenue from going to the state.

"After what they did to us this last session, we shouldn't be sending money to (Gov. Tim) Pawlenty and that lady who objected to it." (State Auditor Pat Awada, who earlier this year issued a warning to cities that were issuing speeding citations that the practice was illegal.)

Nierengarten and Police Chief Erv Weinkauf counseled against that, saying that other cities are following the practice and the issue will be coming to a head.

"Until they decide it's legal to do it, I think it would be a waste of time for us to try it," said Weinkauf.

Nierengarten said the practice would also incur some expenses to the city, in the printing up of new citations, the need for a municipal court to hear challenges, and the job of collecting and keeping records on the fines.

The council's session was informational Wednesday. The council got through about half the city's code book, and will continue combing through the city's laws next week. The next session is tentatively set for 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the City Hall first floor meeting room. The final recommendations will be prepared for approval at a later meeting.