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Council to revise charter amendment and advances adoption of international property maintenance code
Summary
Council members directed staff to revise a charter amendment proposal that would raise the city's maximum fine for misdemeanors and municipal infractions to $5,000 and agreed to add the International Property Maintenance Code to city building and construction references.
Salisbury officials discussed a charter amendment and a building-code update during the Sept. 8 work session.
City staff presented a charter amendment resolution to revise section SC 5-1 of the city charter to raise the maximum fine for misdemeanors and municipal infractions from $1,000 to $5,000 to align with recently updated state law. Housing and community development staff said the measure is a first step in a broader review of fines and fees that staff plan to consolidate into an annual fine schedule at budget time. A city office representative recommended an alternate approach: instead of specifying dollar amounts in the charter, the city could reference applicable state law to avoid repeated updates when state limits change. Council members asked staff to prepare the alternate version for consideration at a future meeting.
Separately, the council agreed by consensus to move forward with an ordinance amending Title 15 of the Salisbury City Code to reference the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) published by the International Code Council. Housing and community development staff said the IPMC is part of the standard training and certification used by the city’s housing inspectors and that adding the reference will align local code with the technical standard enforcement staff already use.
Why it matters: Raising the charter fine limit or referencing state law affects the city's flexibility to set penalties for misdemeanors and municipal infractions. Incorporating the IPMC brings the local code into alignment with inspection standards used in staff certification.
Council direction: staff to draft and present an alternate charter amendment that references state law and to return with clean language at the next work session; ordinance to add IPMC reference will proceed to the next step in the legislative process.
No final ordinance vote or charter amendment adoption occurred at this meeting; council members requested revised language for the charter amendment before a final vote.
