The Sawyer County Zoning Committee voted to postpone action on a proposed amendment to the county zoning citation ordinance to allow staff time to gather additional information and circulate the draft to towns. The amendment package before the committee would have updated ordinance references and increased deposit amounts for citations; staff initially proposed a $100 increase per listed deposit amount.

Zoning administrator Jay said the existing citation schedule dates to 2013 and that recent enforcement activity, plus an additional zoning staff position, prompted a review to ensure citation amounts provide appropriate incentive to comply with county ordinances. Jay said fines and court fees add to the deposit amounts and that the proposed change would not be used as a revenue source but rather to improve compliance.

Committee members, members of the public and counsel discussed procedural questions including where the schedule belongs in the municipal code and whether comparable counties should be surveyed for citation amounts. A public commenter, Linda Zilmer, asked that the zoning administrator and committee coordinate with department head and county administration on fee placement and updates.

Following discussion, the committee voted to postpone the ordinance amendment for one month so staff can provide comparisons to adjacent counties, verify the correct municipal-code location for the schedule, and reissue the draft to towns for comment. Committee members also asked that correspondence about zoning items be copied to the zoning administrator for timely response. The postponement motion carried.