St. Paul voters to decide ballot measure that would allow fines for ordinance violations
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St. Paul voters will get to weigh in this election on a charter amendment that would allow the City Council to issue fines for ordinance violations.
The ballot measure — question 1 — follows the council’s unanimous approval of the charter change in January. A petition to halt the process gained enough signatures to put the question in front of voters.
Supporters of the ballot measure, including St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, say the ability to issue fines is a necessary middle ground, as the charter presently only allows for criminal penalties when people don’t follow the rules. That’s unusual for major Minnesota cities, including Minneapolis, where administrative fines are a tool for enforcement.
“We end up having the choices of either do nothing or file a criminal penalty. That limits our hands, because obviously there’s a lot of those places where it doesn’t feel appropriate to put something on someone’s criminal record, but there’s still something we need to be able to do,” Carter said.
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In the case of a landlord failing to keep a property in good condition, the City Council can send a letter telling them to fix the problem, revoke their license — or pursue criminal charges.
Council president Rebecca Noecker said it’s been frustrating to pass ordinances related to minimum wage, tenant protections and wage theft, then see people “flagrantly violate those ordinances and to have no recourse.” She said it’s often big companies, corporate landlords and owner of downtown buildings who are breaking the rules.
If the charter amendment passes, the council would be able to implement fines in 90 days and would need to consider and pass fines for each ordinance separately.
Noecker said the council would only pursue that as a tool where they “need to.” For example, there would be no need to set up fines for those who let grass and weeds grow out of control. There’s already a system in place that involves repeatedly alerting property owners of the problem before the city goes ahead and cuts it, then bills the rule-breaker.
“If someone is locking their skyways, illegally trapping people in the skyways, we can’t send them a letter and say 'unlock your skyways or we’re going to come unlock them for you,’ because we can’t unlock the skyways for them, right?” she said. “If someone is not paying a fair wage, we can’t send them a letter and say ‘pay a fair wage’ and then pay the wage ourselves and assess the business for it, right?”
Earlier this year, the City Council voted to form an advisory committee that would offer suggestions so low-income residents and people of color would not be disproportionately impacted by the administrative fines.
“I’m really proud of the work that we set forward to have clear indications of what equity means and how we’re going to actually practice that — not only just to the enforcement of it, but in the process and how we lead on it,” Council member Anika Bowie said at the time.
Early voting began Sept. 19. Other local leaders who support the measure include Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy and Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, DFl-St. Paul, who is running against Carter in the mayoral race.
