Garden City council broadens harassment ordinance to cover texts and social platforms, approves changes 7-0

Garden City's City Council on March 23 adopted an update to Chapter 131 of the municipal code to modernize the city's telephone harassment statute and broaden enforcement to contemporary communications channels.

Council member Don King moved to approve the amendment, which retitles section 131.07 from "obscene or harassing telephone calls" to "malicious use of service provided by telecommunication service provider" and lists specific prohibited acts to guide enforcement. King said he supported the update but raised concerns about one word in the draft: "annoy." "The one word I have concern was the word 'annoy.' It seems very subjective and could be used for abuse," he said during council debate.

City manager Gibbons explained the draft was written to combine a broad description of harm with a numbered list of defined acts that determine violation. "To establish the violation of any ordinance, you have to have two things... an act and some type of criminal intent," Gibbons said, adding that the enumerated subsections narrow the scope of enforcement and that the city attorney drafted language based on comparable local ordinances.

Police Chief Arnoski told the council the department supports the update because social media, texts and other telecommunication pathways have become common avenues for harassment. "This will let us take more action for them," Arnoski said during the public hearing portion.

Council modified the motion to align the ordinance's telemarketing time window with federal standards (no telemarketing calls before 8 a.m.) after members raised a preemption concern. After the amendment and brief additional discussion about numbering and clarity, the council voted 7-0 to adopt the ordinance amendment.

The ordinance broadens the local enforcement toolbox but leaves judicial determinations'including intent and applicability'to judges or juries in individual cases. The adopted text retains enumerated acts (1'8) that staff said define when the broad wording in section (a) applies. The resolution did not specify an effective date beyond standard ordinance adoption procedures; enforcement details and any implementation steps will be set by city staff and the city attorney.

Council members said the change is intended to give local courts and police more options to protect victims while relying on statutory elements such as intent and the listed prohibited actions to limit overbroad enforcement.