HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - cover letter for ordinance SOLE®
CITY CLERK
CITY 07 AlviES,IOWA
City of - AMES, Iowa
50010 DEC 1 197$
1
(515) 232-6210
JOHN R. KLAUS
City Attorney
R. MICHAEL HAYES
Ass It. City Attorney
December 8 , 1978
Honorable Lee Fellinger, Mayor
And Members of the City Council
Of The City of Ames, Iowa
In Re: Ordinance Amending the Municipal Code by Repealing
Chapter 23 Pertaining to Mobile Homes and Mobile
Home Parks
Dear Mayor Fellinger and Council Members :
You will find herewith an ordinance for the purpose of
repealing chapter 23 of the Municipal Code of the City
of Ames, Iowa. This is in accordance with my recommen-
dation in the report of necessary code revisions under
date of October 13 . At the meeting of December 5 , the
Council indicated that it would desire to see this
ordinance on the agenda for December 19 .
Repeal of Chapter 23 as it presently exists does not re-
move the City of Ames from involvement with mobile homes
and mobile home parks. The City of Ames will, under
state law, remain an active participant in the licensing
and inspection of mobile home parks much in the same
manner as the City is a participant with the state in
licensing liquor establishments. Under the provisions
of section 135D.3 of the Code of Iowa, the required annual
license for a mobile home park must be submitted to the
State Department of Health, but this section provides that
if the mobile home park is located within the municipality
the application is filed with the local Board of Health,
which in our case is the City Council. The local Board
then votes either to approve or disapprove the license or
renewal and the application is then processed to the
state for final action.
Combining Education and Industry with Hospitality
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Section 135D.5 of the Code of Iowa 1977 provides that:
"When the application is received by the
State Department of Health it shall
promptly cause that the mobile home park
and appurtenances thereto to be inspected. "
In this regard section 135D.20 empowers the State Department
of Health to delegate the inspection function to the local
authority. If this is done, then the local authority is
empowered to retain one half of the twenty-five ($25 . 00)
dollar annual license fee, that is twelve dollars and fifty
cents ($12 . 50) per mobile home park. However, since it is
unlikely that the City could perform a meaningful inspection
of a mobile home park for $12 .50 from the standpoint of pure
economics , it would make more sense to insist that the State
Department of Health perform the inspections as they are
required to do by law.
Respectfully submitted,
John R. K1 us
City Attorney
cc T.V. Sprenkel
Pat Switz