Title
Seeking a recommendation from the Charter Commission to amend Chapter 6.03 of the City Charter pertaining to the imposition of civil penalties for violations of city ordinances.
Body
WHEREAS, the City does not currently have specific authority under its Charter to issue civil penalties, including but not limited to administrative fines; and
WHEREAS, for many ordinances, the only enforcement tool the City has is a criminal citation; and
WHEREAS, to reduce, or in most cases eliminate the need to criminally enforce ordinances, the City of Saint Paul seeks the ability to implement ordinances that provide civil penalties, including restitution, rather than criminal prosecution, for violations of certain city ordinances; and
WHEREAS, use of civil penalties will facilitate compliance with certain City ordinances, and allow the City to reach compliance goals in a timely, consistent, and appropriate manner; and
WHEREAS, the Council will also adopt administrative hearing procedures to provide due process before administrative penalties are imposed for violations of City ordinances; and
WHEREAS, under the proposed language, prior to imposing administrative penalties for any ordinance violation, the Council will first amend that ordinance to outline the presumptive penalties and applicable hearing procedures; and
WHEREAS, any proposed amendment to an ordinance proposing administrative penalties will include the public procedures that applies to all ordinances, including public readings and a public hearing, to allow for public input; and
WHEREAS, civil penalties and administrative hearing procedures will help to alleviate pressure on City prosecutors, who face ever-increasing caseloads; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, that, pursuant to Minn. Stat. Sec. 410.12, subd. 5, the Council of the City of Saint Paul requests that the Charter Commission consider and recommend the following changes to Chapter 6.03.1 to allow for civil penalties:
PROPOS...
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