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City amends administrative search-warrant code to streamline inspections, city attorney says
Summary
Council passed an ordinance to amend municipal code sections governing administrative search warrants, allowing municipal-court processing for code-compliance entry and clarifying these warrants are for civil/code inspections rather than criminal investigations.
The Mexico, Missouri, City Council adopted an ordinance amending multiple code sections that govern administrative search warrants used for code-enforcement inspections, sampling or testing.
City Attorney Dave Struble told the council the changes are intended to simplify the process and reduce cost. He emphasized that these administrative search warrants do not address criminal search warrants handled by public safety; rather, they cover civil code matters — for example, wastewater testing or entry to inspect code violations when a property owner refuses access.
Struble said the amendment aligns municipal code provisions and would allow the municipal court to process certain administrative search-warrant matters that otherwise might require circuit court involvement when code provisions conflict. He said the change should make the city’s inspection process easier and cheaper to manage.
Council moved to read Bill No. 2024-36 by title and then voted to pass the ordinance; affirmative roll-call votes were recorded.
Next steps: staff will implement the amended procedures and coordinate with municipal-court staff on processing administrative search warrants when required by code.
