By Ryan Storz
The village of Leasburg has many ordinances related to criminal offenses that are outdated, ineffective or just missing.
This was brought to the board’s attention by its attorney, David Smith, at a special meeting on July 13.
Smith said that with the village now employing a law enforcement officer that comprehensive ordinance reform is necessary. However, this can be very expensive and, if village members do it themselves, it can be a lot of work.
Smith told the board that there are a few ways to make the changes. For now, the village could adopt mirror ordinance state statutes, but that’s a problem because lots of state statutes do not apply to the village, according to Smith.
The village’s police officer, Michael Smart, needs valid ordinances to write up a criminal offense. Smart will still be able to enforce state laws with no problem but, with outdated ordinances, the way offenses are prosecuted are handled differently, according to Smith.
Leasburg trustees could get a collection of what they have now and update a few ordinances. Smith pointed out that, right now, the blood-alcohol level is written as being 1.0 when it’s actually .08.
Another way to update the ordinances would be for Smith to take a flat fee per ordinance, but with so many ordinances needing to be amended, it could cost thousands of dollars. The village could also go through Sullivan Publications, which works with municipalities in codification. Board chairperson Kathy Byrd said that she had previously looked into Sullivan and found that it would cost between $5,000 and $6,000 minimum.
The issue will be discussed further at Tuesday night’s board meeting.