UPDATE 4/12/22 – City Manager Terrell Blackmon told WIZS News the Municode contract was passed Monday night by the Henderson City Council. Original news article from 4/11/22 continues below.
The Henderson City Council meets Monday evening and one item up for discussion involves contracting with an outside agency to recodify a batch of city ordinances that would bring infractions into compliance with state law.
John C. Rose explained on Monday’s The Local Skinny! that the council was scheduled to entertain a motion to contract with a company called Municode to help the city make the changes, which would begin the process of bringing city ordinances into compliance with what state law dictates.
Last year, Police Chief Marcus Barrow identified seven ordinances – ranging from the use of golf carts on city streets to carrying a concealed weapon on city property – to tackle first.
The ordinances must be worded in a way that specifies whether infractions would result in a criminal charge or a civil penalty.
Henderson City Manager has said that the city doesn’t have the manpower to complete the task within the required time frame, and city staff has recommended that the council adopt the contract with Municode, in an amount not to exceed $20,000.
According to information in the council agenda packet, all city ordinances had been considered Class 3 misdemeanors unless otherwise noted. State legislators, however, have adopted a change to this which states that ONLY if the city ordinance specifies that the infraction is a misdemeanor will it be considered as such. Otherwise, an infraction will be considered a civil penalty subject to a fine.
“The extensive work needed to address this new session law is beyond the scope of staff,” according to the agenda packet. The ordinances cover a broad area affecting every department in the city and an extensive look into updating all ordinances to comply with this new law is required.
The police department can pay the initial fee of $5,580 and two additional payments would be made from the 2022-23 budget in the amount of $3,980 each, with the final payment due at completion. It is estimated to take between 10 months to one year to completely update the ordinances.
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