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• FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES _3_ May 11, 2005 Proposals for recodification of Falcon Hei htg s City Code (continued) Mr. Thomas Lageson, 1740 North Pascal Street, a Planning Commissioner, said the Planning Commission has been involved from Day 1 in looking at the code but has not been involved in any of these proposals. Council member Lindstrom said the Planning Commission knows it has always been the plan to have an outside group do the nuts and bolts of putting this together. Mayor Gehrz said the discussion was getting into details and she wanted to back up and talk about the process. The City code is an accumulation of ordinances and gets to be cumbersome after a while. This will make it easier to retrieve information and easier to understand. She asked City Attorney Knutson to talk about what happens and what the company does. City Attorney Knutson said the company performs a technical review. They take all of the ordinances, integrate them, put them in an order that makes sense and compare them with current State law requirements. They then give the City a draft with the changes. It is a very technical process performed by lawyers and technicians. Council member Talbot asked if the company will alert the City to things that are not in the code but should be mentioned. City Attorney Knutson said this is very much a policy question. If the City asks them for suggestions they will do that but they won't get involved in policy issues. Mayor Gehrz asked what happens with the new City code when changes are made. City Attorney Knutson said that ordinance amendments will be made. Use the supplemental service. If you don't, you have a good chance of having a real mess on your hands in two to three years. It is money well spent to have the company do the supplemental service because they keep the code in good shape. Mayor Gehrz said the City has budgeted for this for several years. If the supplemental service is used, a future Council won't have to do this again. City Attorney Knutson said you can tell people the code is on the web site. All the rules are in front of them. They don't have to come to City Hall and staff doesn't have to run copies. Web sites are more current than what is in print. Council member Talbot said the City needs something that is consistent. As the City makes new ordinances, they are best done through their filters. He would also like to see something that helps people in their search of the City code. In response to a question from Council member Kuettel about ordinance updates, Ms. Jones said she has been assigned to shepherd this project through and has been keeping a file of things that need to be looked at and revised. The Planning Commission also had a lot of good ideas that have been noted. The City code is always a work in progress. The City will get the benefit of advice as to what is needed and what should be changed. Mayor Gehrz said the Planning Commission's responsibility is Chapter 9. Their job is not the • other chapters. For example, they shouldn't be involved in alcohol compliance issues. 3