On July 1, 2017 Iowa Code 815.15 was amended by state legislators which extended free legal counsel to persons declared indigent if charged with an offense that included the possibility of jail. City Council approved Ordinance 1930 On December 4, 2017 to amend city code 4.06 to exclude jail time in the City’s penalty section and to allow for fines or forfeitures only upon conviction. The amendment protected the city against legal costs provided to defendants charged under local City code.
Staff were recently made aware that chapter 4.06 may have inadvertently been changed when Resolution 2018-107 was approved on March 5, 2018 - adopting a certain supplement prepared by Iowa Codification, Inc., as an official supplement to the 2008 Code of Ordinances - which appears to have reverted the prior language of chapter 4.06 back to what it was before chapter 4.06 was amended on December 4, 2017.
This Ordinance is requested to amend the language of chapter 4.06 to exclude jail time in the City’s penalty section and to allow for fines or forfeitures only upon conviction.
Staff respectfully requests a waiver of the third reading for the Ordinance to amend provisions of Chapter 4 to expediate the legislative fix in the City Code. |