When St. Paul officials find that a landlord has allowed a property to fall into disrepair or failed to abide by the city’s rent control ordinance, or an employer is not offering paid sick time, there’s precious few tools at their disposal. They can yank a business license or a fire certificate of occupancy, leaving workers unemployed and tenants homeless, or file lawsuits or criminal charges, initiating a court process that may take years to resolve.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is fully on board with a long-standing effort to amend the city charter and allow the city council to roll out administrative citations, or non-criminal fines for those who break city ordinances. State Rep. Kaohly Her, Carter’s most high-profile challenger in the Nov. 4 mayoral election, said she’s equally supportive of the effort.

All seven city council members have signed endorsements or voted in support of the idea, which also has the backing of labor groups like AFSCME and SEIU, as well as members of the anti-poverty coalition ISAIAH. They’ve called citations a way to hold errant landlords, employers and other rule-breakers accountable without the difficulty of pursuing court action or shuttering homes and businesses.

“If someone is locking their skyways illegally … we can’t unlock them,” said St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker, standing side-by-side with Carter, Her, ISAIAH and labor leaders last Monday outside an early voting location on Plato Boulevard. “We don’t have an effective tool. We need administrative citations to get the job done.”

The prospect of amending the city charter to allow the council to craft administrative citations now falls to voters, who will find a question to that effect on their Nov. 4 ballots. Proponents have noted that 24 of the state’s 25 largest cities have relied upon various types of administrative citations for years, including Minneapolis, Woodbury, Brooklyn Center and Hopkins.

Opponents worry that citations will be misused to help balance the city’s budget woes on the backs of the most vulnerable homeowners and small businesses.

What do critics say?

Within the city’s neighborhood district council system, some critics say the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections has garnered a reputation for coming down more readily on everyday gardeners growing tall plants in their lawns than on large corporations with decrepit billboards or long-vacant properties like the dilapidated CVS at Snelling and University avenues.

“Honestly, all of DSI really just needs a huge revamp in the way that they treat businesses, especially due to the size of them,” said Bradley Taylor, founder of the Donut Trap, which spent months fighting a $5,000 vacant building fee after converting an old maintenance shed into a small cafe on Hague Avenue. “Whether you’re opening a 5,000-square-foot spot or a 30,000-square-foot spot, they’re treating them all the same.”

The store’s vacant building fee was recently lowered to $2,500 following elaborate deliberations of the city council, which came as slim consolation to Taylor, who began selling doughnuts through vending machines and a food truck before opening his out-of-the-way doughnut and ice cream cafe this past June.

“I would probably vote in favor of not giving more power to DSI,” said Taylor, who is Black. “If anything, it should be held more accountable, and have more diverse hiring. I’m sick of seeing white men show up to my door as if they’re patrolling. I don’t really see any difference between the way that these dudes in DSI work and the way that police work.”

‘Minor property stuff’

Some foresee citations helping communities of color. St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw has described situations where telecom companies open sidewalks in low-income neighborhoods in order to perform work underground, but leave them unsealed for weeks, with no immediate consequence for dragging their heels.

Still, Taylor’s concerns have not been lost on some members of the city’s charter commission, which repeatedly revisited and at least twice rejected the prospect of amending the charter to enable citations over the past decade.

Critics have expressed concern that DSI will be granted the power to issue fines for minor code violations common to low- to middle-income neighborhoods and property owners, balancing department budgets on the backs of the poor.

“I was adamantly opposed in the beginning,” said Debbie Montgomery, a member of the charter commission and former member of the city council. “I was getting beat up left and right — ‘it’s better than having felonies.’ But I still have some concerns. I think it may impact communities of color because of the different things it could apply to, like minor property stuff — peeling paint, tall grass, junk in the yard.”

Hearing process to create citations

The charter commission had a change of heart in December and voted to forward the charter amendment to the city council, which also has backed amending the charter. A petition led by Peter Butler, a former city employee, garnered enough signatures to slow the process by forcing the charter amendment onto the public ballot.

The city council has emphasized that each new type of administrative citation will go through its own ordinance hearing process before the council, and each will have its own fine schedule.

They’ve also promised to create other guardrails. As a result of an April 23 resolution, within 90 days of the ballot measure’s approval, a legislative advisory committee must provide a written report to the city council on an “equitable implementation framework” for citations.

The committee must be composed of an individual with an academic background in city enforcement, a representative of a labor union, an attorney or someone with legal background in the area, a district council representative, a community expert on fines and fees, a member of the city’s new Reparations Commission, an independent research organization and city staff.

Department requirements

Each department that produces administrative citations will be required to report back to the city council annually on how many were issued, the types of infractions and how the money was spent. The report is expected to include “to the extent possible, data collection on demographic impacts,” according to the council resolution.

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Her on Monday noted the city’s earned sick and safe time ordinance would provide for paid sick leave for workers even if a new state requirement were abolished, but only if the city rules are enforceable.

“We see how fast the winds of political change can blow,” she said.

“This is something that will have no impact on folks who are … mowing their lawn,” said Carter, promising that administrative citations will not be imposed on everyday residents with tall grass and property owners “coming to the table on the front end” to address problems.

“This is something that is simple,” the mayor said. “This is something that is critical for our city. It’s something that will help us to be able to maintain our community standards.”