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Aspen council advances overhaul of municipal code to align sentencing with state law
Summary
On first reading, Aspen City Council moved to repeal and replace Title 15 of the municipal code to comply with the Colorado Supreme Court’s In re People v. Camp decision, removing certain offenses from municipal jurisdiction and reorganizing decades-old code. Council and staff discussed limits on penalties and enforcement resources.
The Aspen City Council voted on first reading April 28 to advance Ordinance 10, a wholesale reorganization of Title 15 of the municipal code intended to bring Aspen’s municipal sentencing into compliance with the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling in In re People v. Camp. Staff said the changes remove certain offenses from municipal court where state statute provides a better framework for sentencing and supervision.
Luisa, the staff attorney who presented the ordinance, said the reorganization was prompted by the court decision and a review that found many sections of Title 15 had not been updated for decades. "We reorganized it to make it a little bit more user friendly and to comply with In re People v. Camp," she said, describing examples of offenses moved out of municipal jurisdiction.
Council members pressed staff on whether reduced maximum penalties for some petty offenses — discussed during the meeting as substantial reductions in fines and jail exposure for crimes with state-law analogues — left the city with effective alternatives such as community service or probation. Luisa replied that municipal courts are limited by state law from imposing greater penalties than state code allows for analogous offenses and that Aspen’s small municipal court lacks resources for robust probation and community-service programming in many cases.
Kim Ferber, Aspen’s police chief, said the department is tracking repeat offenders through a high-utilizer program and coordinates with county court to pursue greater accountability for repeat violations. "We specifically engage with the county court process to hold them more accountable for repeat violations," Ferber said, adding the program has had success over the past year.
A council member moved to read the ordinance and was seconded; the council carried the motion on a recorded vote, advancing Ordinance 10 on first reading. The ordinance’s text, as described at the meeting, includes removing some offenses from municipal handling and reorganizing Title 15 for clarity and legal conformity.
The ordinance will return for second reading, when council asked staff to bring back options and additional details about potential alternatives to monetary fines and jail for certain conduct.
