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Council to hold work session on ordinance enforcement after legal advice; staff to compile enforcement chart
Summary
Council members agreed to schedule a February work session to develop enforcement options for town ordinances, direct staff to compile a chart of current enforcement provisions, and consider whether enforcement should be an in-house position or contracted role.
The Bluff Town Council agreed on Jan. 21 to schedule a work session in February to develop a coordinated approach to enforcing the town’s ordinances and to clarify roles between the mayor, town manager, planning and zoning and any dedicated enforcement position.
"I put that on there not so much to tie up a discussion today, but to kind of get some direction on how you want how everybody wants to handle talking about enforcement," Council member Linda Sosa said, explaining why the item was on the agenda.
Councilors said they want a focused work session (the next regular work session was scheduled for Feb. 11) with preparatory materials: a chart listing each ordinance, its written enforcement remedies and the common issues staff encounter. One councilor volunteered to compile the list if staff provides the spreadsheet template. The council discussed combining enforcement responsibilities with related administrative functions (for example, addressing and permitting) or hiring a contractor, and noted the need to draft a clear scope of work and salary estimate if the town seeks to hire a position.
The council also referenced a recent San Juan County public hearing in which Kendall Laws cited the nuisance provisions of the Utah Code as an enforcement avenue, suggesting that in some cases private parties may pursue remedies under state nuisance law rather than use town-paid enforcement resources. Council members stressed that the work session should identify which ordinances require town enforcement and which could be channeled to civil remedies.
Why it matters: The town currently lacks a consolidated enforcement framework; creating a job description or contracting approach and clarifying remedies will define who responds to recurring problems, what the town enforces directly, and what residents must pursue through civil court.
What’s next: Staff will prepare a spreadsheet listing each ordinance number, remedy and current enforcement mechanism and circulate it to council members before the Feb. 11 work session.
