The Soldotna City Council enacted an ordinance that would repeal and replace the minor offense table and changes to related code sections. It also consolidates individual fine schedules that had previously been scattered throughout code into the single table in Soldotna Municipal Code 1.08.
John Czarnezki, the city’s Director of Economic Development and Planning, tells council that the ordinance preserves and improves the ability to cure the more common code infractions with a citation, rather than a civil suit:
“We’re trying to be more effective and efficient with code compliance with this ordinance. This minor offense citation provides us an opportunity to resolve issues quickly potentially saving on staff time and resources and potentially on the legal expenses that would be associated with any kind of civil action that may be undertaken. We’ve got some past experience in dealing with these. We’ve issued two to date, two minor offenses, at least as the planning department only, have issued two.”
There have been some piecemeal changes adopted as older code sections were routinely updated, but this ordinance, he says, is comprehensive in nature and touches sections of code administered by many city departments to include Public Works, Soldotna Police Department, Parks & Recreation, Utilities, and Economic Development and Planning.
There have been several instances where staff has spent a large amount of time issuing repeated warnings and notices of violations with little result. The ability to issue a citation for a minor infraction should encourage prompt compliance with municipal laws, according to Czarnezki.
Some examples of common offenses that were not listed in the minor offense table and that are now included:
- Dust control violations
- Illegal off-road vehicle use
- Camping more than 30 days
- Failure to obtain a city permit
- Sign code violations
- Prohibited farm animals
- Violation of animal standards in a campground
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