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Wallsburg invites MAG adviser to overhaul building code, draft enforcement-ready ordinances
Summary
Spencer Foster of the Mountainland Association of Governments told Wallsburg’s council the state-funded Local Administrative (LA) program can help the town update its building and development code, craft short‑term‑rental rules, and draft procurement and enforcement procedures. Council members asked for templates and prioritized code, procurement and cemetery policy work.
Wallsburg officials on Oct. 24 invited a Mountainland Association of Governments adviser to help rewrite the town’s aging building and development code and to draft other policy templates the council says it lacks.
Spencer Foster, the region’s LA (local administrative) adviser, told the council the state-funded program places advisers in AOGs to help small towns that lack staff capacity. "There’s 19 towns that are eligible and Wallsburg is one of them," he said, and offered templates and targeted project work on short‑term rentals, procurement and code enforcement.
The council described the town’s existing code as a piecemeal document that contains portions copied from county code and other jurisdictions, which members said creates enforcement ambiguity. Council members asked Foster to review the town’s draft changes, provide a second set of eyes, and connect the town to limited legal guidance for general questions.
Members specifically prioritized three initial items: a rewrite or completion of the development/building code, a procurement/purchasing policy to assist audits, and an ordinance addressing short‑term rentals. Foster said he would add the three priorities to his project list and follow up with county contacts and the League of Cities and Towns for legal questions.
Council members also raised enforcement concerns that affect the code rewrite: limits on penalties, how town letters progress to court, and whether county justice courts would be used for sanctions. Foster and council members discussed using model ordinances, clarifying consequences for repeated violations, and building templates into the town’s webpage resources.
The council did not make a formal vote on code changes at the work meeting; members directed staff to assemble priority drafts for review at the November work meeting.
