HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations - 10/05/2004
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES
OCTOBER 5, 2004
Committee Members Present: Chair Tim Clark, Julie Peterson, Bruce White
The meeting was called to order by Tim Clark, Chair at 4:06 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES DATED SEPTEMBER 21, 2004
Julie Peterson moved to approve the minutes of the September 21, 2004, Operation
Committee meeting. The motion was seconded by Bruce White seconded the motion,
which passed 3-0.
APPROVAL OF VOUCHERS DATED SEPTEMBER 30, 2004
Finance Director Bob Nachlinger presented the vouchers for September 30, 2004, for approval.
Bruce White moved to approve the vouchers dated September 30, 2004. Julie Peterson
seconded the motion, which passed 3-0.
SHOPPING CART ORDINANCE
Attorney Tom Brubaker presented the Shopping Cart Ordinance, that was previously tabled at
the August 17, 2004. Mr. Brubaker stated that the ordinance proposes to implement certain
controls on abandoned shopping carts within the City because they can be an aesthetic blight
on the City, reduce property values, and interfere with pedestrian and vehicular traffic. At that
time, the Committee chose to table the matter until Committee members could gather further
information from retail store owners and managers who use shopping carts for their business.
Police Chief Crawford discussed his previous report, who advised he had met with four (4)
businesses that use shopping carts. Chief Crawford advised that generally, these owners
objected to the imposition of a cart return fee, but at the same time did not offer up any new
ideas to control and remedy the abandoned cart problem. Numerous questions and comments
were discussed between the Operations Committee meetings and staff.
The revised ordinance presented declared abandoned shopping carts a public nuisance and
proposed a different approach than that offered at the earlier Committee meeting. It allowed
City staff or volunteers to retrieve abandoned carts and return them to the appropriate store in
exchange for a $5.00 per returned cart fee to cover a portion of the City’s administrative costs.
If the cart owner failed to pay these administrative costs, the ordinance allowed the City to
Operations Committee Minutes
October 5, 2004
Page: 2
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require the cart owner to develop and implement a specific plan to prevent customers from
removing the carts from the owner’s property. As part of this plan, the store would need to
implement physical measures to prevent carts from being removed from the owner’s property.
One of the physical measures that could be utilized is the use of disabling devices on all
shopping carts.
Mr. Brubaker advised that no budget impact is anticipated though nominal revenue may be
generated by the $5.00 per cart administrative fee issued in accordance with this proposed
ordinance.
Tim Clark moved to recommend tabling the Shopping Cart Ordinance to October 19,
2004, at which time staff will submit a revised ordinance for the Committee’s
consideration.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m.
Renee Cameron
Operations Committee Secretary