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Councilmember Anderson stated that the city is usually on firm ground and in pretty good shape <br />with a court appeal if they used a proper certified hearing officer. However, if done just in-house <br />the appeal may or may not be overturned. <br /> <br />Councilmember Kurak asked how the fines are collected if there is no judge involved. <br /> <br />Assistant City Administrator Nelson explained that Blaine tried to save the case load at the <br />County and solve it at the local level but if it was appealed, then it would go to the County. <br /> <br />City Attorney Goodrich stated the City has no authority to put someone in jail. With the tobacco <br />ordinance, the City can choose if they want to prosecute in criminal court, district court, or use <br />the administrative route. With the administrative route the City controls the licenses. However, <br />with the ordinance under discussion there is no license to be taken away so the City would go to <br />a judgment and be enforced or language drafted to assess it to the property. <br /> <br />Councilmember Hendriksen stated he likes the idea of some kind of mediation and a person who <br />can step back from the issue, but he would have hoped that could have been included in a less <br />formal process. He stated he does not want the City to set up a system parallel to the court <br />system and issue fines. Councilmember Hendriksen stated he wants the City to have a warmer, <br />more friendly approach to its residents. If there are residents who will absolutely not correct <br />blatant problems, then maybe those should be moved forward. <br /> <br />Assistant City Administrator Nelson stated with the Blaine example, they did establish a <br />significant administrative process and there is a lot of work associated with it. They also hired a <br />half-time person to deal with the citations, tracking them, and collecting fines. <br /> <br />Councilmember Hendriksen stated he didn't want Ramsey to become another Blaine. <br /> <br />Councilmember Anderson stated Ramsey is currently contributing dollars each year to mediation <br />services and the Police Department uses it sometimes to resolve things such as neighborhood <br />disputes. She stated that is already an option that can be used. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec noted that staff receives many complaints and questioned how polite the callers <br />are to the City's staff. He stated the callers can be offensive to staff during those calls. He stated <br />it would be nice if there was a more firm process to follow before it goes to the courts which may <br />take awhile to address it. Mayor Gamec stated he receives two to three calls each week about <br />these issues. <br /> <br />Councilmember Hendriksen stated he does not believe staff should be subjected to any offensive <br />calls and should one be received, there should be an internal policy on how that call should be <br />handled. He stated that type of call should be transferred to a person who can deal with it <br />directly. Councilmember Hendriksen stated that the City should have zero tolerance for that type <br />of situation. However, that is not justification for railroading the Council to do something else. <br />He stated the second issue is really how to do Code enforcement. He stated he believes the City <br /> <br />City Council Work Session/July 23, 2002 <br /> Page 6 of 11 <br /> <br /> <br />