A proposal to give the city’s elected leadership wide latitude to craft non-criminal penalties for rule-breakers is on its way to the St. Paul City Council.

For nearly two and a half hours, the 15 members of the St. Paul City Charter Commission sat in the basement of downtown City Hall Thursday afternoon, reviewing a litany of scenarios as they debated whether to support amending the city charter to allow the city council to impose administrative citations, or civil fines for ordinance violations.

A residential tenant described being hit with a more than 7% rent hike by a landlord who laughed in her face when she mentioned the city’s rent control ordinance, which is intended to cap rent increases at 3%.

Angie Wiese, director of the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections, shared pictures of a city residence where bags of trash have overflowed from dumpsters since at least October.

St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw described situations where telecom companies open sidewalks in poor neighborhoods in order to perform work underground, but leave them unsealed for weeks, with no immediate consequence for dragging their heels.

Each instance, said officials, could be addressed more speedily through a civil citation than through criminal charges or a license revocation.

Convinced, the charter commission opted to buck recent history — the proposal has failed twice before since 2017 — and voted 12-3 to approve the recommendation. The charter amendment now goes to the city council, where it needs unanimous approval to pass.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and a majority of the council have gone on record supporting the prospect of giving the council wide latitude to determine which ordinances to amend to allow civil citations for rule-breakers. Each ordinance would go through a separate three-reading hearing process, giving the public a chance to weigh in.

Opponents worry about overreach, revenue streams

Department directors on Thursday shared a list of about 15 areas where administrative citations could be used in lieu of slow-moving criminal charges or heavy-handed license revocations, from dog bites to rent control violations and illicit discharges to storm and sanitary sewers.

Three members of the charter commission said they remained unconvinced.

Maisue Thao, who voted no, said the examples shared by the department directors were clearly areas where administrative citations could be helpful, but granting city inspectors more authority to fine residents and business owners could lend itself to overreach. She said she wanted more details about fine schedules and the appeals process.

Cosandra Lloyd said the council should delink revenue derived from the citations from the issuing department. That way, for instance, a Department of Safety and Inspections inspector would not be able to help balance the DSI budget by fining homeowners for mundane infractions such as chipped paint, which is common in the city’s many century-old properties.

“I have a concern for it becoming a revenue stream for the city,” said Lloyd, after voting against the amendment proposal. “Any funds that are collected should go into an equity fund that can be used for any individuals who are cited but may not be able to afford to get into compliance.”

Commissioner Debbie Montgomery also voted against the proposal.

Supporters say goal is compliance

Beth Commers, interim director of the city’s Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity, emphasized that the goal was compliance with city ordinances, and not to penalize everyday homeowners.

For mundane ordinance infractions, she said, the city generally starts with outreach and education before escalating to stiffer penalties.

“Every one of the state’s top 25 cities (by population) except the city of St. Paul has the power to impose administrative citations,” said Commers, noting precedent in that St. Paul Police already have the authority to issue fines for parking violations. “We are not asking for something totally new.”

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