TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Karen M. McDonald, City Attorney
FROM: Lachelle H. Pulliam, Assistant City Attorney
DATE: February 27, 2023
RE:
Title
Approval of Draft Ordinance Amendments to Resume Criminal Enforcement of Certain City Ordinances
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All Districts
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal III: City Investment in Today and Tomorrow
Executive Summary:
Pursuant to the consensus of City Council at its February 6, 2023, work session, the City Attorney's Office drafted ordinance amendments to allow for the continued criminal enforcement of certain City ordinances.
Background:
Effective December 1, 2021, the NC General Assembly made changes to the law, affecting the City's ability to criminally enforce certain ordinances. Those changes require Council to pass an ordinance specifying that the particular ordinance is criminally enforceable.
The law includes defenses to any criminal charges resulting from ordinance violations. Further, fines imposed in criminal cases are owed to the public schools under Article 9, Section 7, of the North Carolina Constitution.
At the January 3, 2023, Council work session, Council directed staff to provide additional information about how changes in the law impacted the City's ability to criminally enforce its ordinances. Specifically, Council requested data on the ordinances the City typically enforces criminally, indicating those most to least likely to be enforced.
Between the years of 2016 and 2022, the City Attorney's Office criminally enforced 30 code enforcement cases. The types and number of cases prosecuted are as follows: Solid Waste - 8, Zoning - 8, Housing - 7, Vehicle - 6, and Graffiti - 1. Code Enforcement has requested criminal enforcement of approximately 59 cases but the City is prohibited from criminally enforcing these cases without an ordinance. The types and number of requested cases are as follows: Housing - 25, S...
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