HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - cover letter for ordinance City of AMES, Iowa
50010
JOHN R. KLAUS (515) 232-6210
City Attorney
R. MICHAEL HAYES
Ass It. City Attorney
June 22 , 1979
Honorable Lee Fellinger, Mayor
And Members of the City Council
Of The City of Ames, Iowa
In Re : Ordinance to Revise Criminal Ordinances
Dear Mayor Fellinger and Council Members:
Certain questions have been raised about the validity of
the current scheme of Ames Municipal Code Sections 24-1001 ,
24-1004 , 24-1005 , and 24-1006 (a) which define crimes against
the city by reference to State law. Among these are that
Iowa Code Section 380 .10 sets out the exclusive method of
adopting a statewide code by reference and the present
ordinance does not conform to these requirements in that it
does not identify the date of the referenced portions of a
statewide code; that the present language can be interpreted
to impermissibly delegate the City Council ' s legislative
authority to revise the definitions of these crimes to the
state legislature, or , in the alternative, to be unconsti-
tutionally vague because it is unclear whether these sections
reference state law as of the date of the oridnance or as
state law may be amended subsequently; and that certain
offenses, such as assault, can be a simple misdemeanor, an
indictable misdemeanor or a felony and the ordinance appears
to make them simple misdemeanors under all circumstances.
While I feel the present ordinances are a valid and defensible
exercise of the city' s authority under the home rule amend-
ment, it would be desirable not to litigate these issues in
every prosecution. Therefore , I propose the following ordinance
to obviate these questions . It changes the existing sections
by substituting the phrase "simple misdemeanors" for "public
offenses" and the phrase "1979 Code of Iowa" for "penal
statutes and laws of the State of Iowa" .
Combining ' u . n and Industry li lit
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These changes will require the City Council to consider
amending parts of these sections whenever the referenced
state law is amended.
To enact this ordinance with reference to specific portions
of a statewide standard code, Iowa Code Section 380 .10 re-
quires that there first be a published notice and a hearing
in accordance with the provisions of Iowa Code Sections
380. 8 and 362 . 3 . Therefore , the first action to be taken
by the City Council on this matter should be to set the
meeting of July 10 as the date for public hearing on adopt-
ing certain simple misdemeanor offenses defined in the 1979
Code of Iowa as offenses against the City of Ames and
directing the City Clerk to publish the required notice not
less than four nor more than twenty days prior to July 10 .
The notice must state that copies of the proposed ordinance
are available for public inspection at the City Clerk 's office.
Respectfully submitted,
R IY�,,Jj
R. Michael Hayes
Assistant City Attorney