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City adds enforcement tools, allows limited city assistance in camping and shopping‑cart ordinance
Summary
Ordinance 3090 amends chapters on shopping carts, camping, sidewalk sitting/lying and impound of abandoned vehicles. Council added city‑manager discretion to provide limited assistance (for example dumpsters) for some private property cleanups while keeping owner expense as the default.
Moses Lake city council adopted Ordinance 3090, a multi‑chapter amendment addressing shopping carts, camping, sitting or lying on sidewalks, and impound of abandoned or junk vehicles. The amendments update definitions, clarify enforcement processes and add an impoundment category for vehicles used as illegal camps on public rights‑of‑way.
Staff explained specific changes: renaming responsible positions to “city manager designee” for administrative flexibility, removing commonly used public items (tarpaulins, blankets, hammocks) from the enforcement definition to avoid penalizing park users, and adding language that makes removal of unlawful camps an owner expense. City attorney and staff cautioned the council that direct city payment for private property cleanup risks running afoul of state constitutional limits on unlawful gifting; that steered the council toward limited, discretionary assistance models.
After prolonged discussion, council agreed to include a clause allowing the city manager to provide limited, indirect assistance (for example, a dumpster or first‑time help under defined conditions) and to direct staff to develop an administrative policy to guide equitable use of that discretion. The ordinance was adopted by voice vote with the added language and guidance for an internal policy to be available for council review.
