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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, February 25, 2008 Page 15 tions, land use cases, and the additional workload during the summer construction season. Discussion included the administrative ticket process and voluntary payment fol- lowed by issuance of a citation and the court process for non-compliance. Staff discussed options available: additional personnel; cease proactive enforce- ment; extend re-inspection time fran7es; delay time consuming cases; with current practice to cease proactive enforcement and reacting to complaints. Councilmember Roe thanked Mr. Munson and Mr. Talbot for their report; opining that the report indicated three areas of focus for the City Council: ordinance lan- guage and procedure discussions and possible amendment; education of the pub- lic, of which he was fully supportive to allow the community to la7ow the City's standards and what's expected of them by the community, not just staff or the City Council; and additional staffing resources. Councilmember Roe opined that an informational brochure could be provided with the first violation detailing available resources to assist with compliance; a look at the mandatory fine aspect, as allowed by State Statute; whether impounding vehicles was acost-effective way to deal with fees; and whether the City was recouping costs for re- inspections. Councilmember Roe noted that the notion of escalating fines was a recommendation of the rental housing study group that met several years ago, and was glad to see that other communities were also considering that idea. Councilmember Ihlan thanked staff for the list of options; opining that she would be interested in discussiing additional seasonal staffing to the extent it could be offset by escalating fines or fees. Councilmember Ihlan requested a financial im- pact analysis of the options provided by staff; and in terms of prioritizing options, how they could reduce the backlog of cases if not completely paid for by addi- tional fees. Councilmember Ihlan noted that this would allow the City Council to weight that benefit against the cost recouped; and was open to further discussion and options based on those cost analyses. Further discussion included administrative tickets versus tickets issued by other cities; with Mr. Munson noting the distinction was other communities applied a petty misdemeanor. City Attorney Squires advised that, at a minimum, the language in current code should be amended to be a mandatory fee, not voluntary or optional. Councilmember Roe noted that the same procedure was evident in many of the City's ordinances for violations; and opined that the "feel good" approach to en- courage good citizenship may no longer be prudent.