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Paynesville police report six felony complaints and ask council to adopt new nuisance ordinance
Summary
The police chief told the council the department has six felony complaints and is conducting public nuisance enforcement on 40+ properties; the SRO program will transition to the county sheriff at year‑end. The chief urged the council to pass an updated nuisance ordinance so citations can be used when necessary.
The Paynesville police chief told the City Council the department has “six felony complaints” currently signed and working with the county attorney’s office, including thefts, harassment‑related orders, forgeries, DWIs and assaults. He said the department has also opened misdemeanor and other cases and expects ongoing work with county prosecutors to process older investigations.
The chief described a new public‑nuisance enforcement effort led by Officer Kedar, saying the officer has addressed “40 plus properties” and that eight of those properties have come into compliance. The chief said the department has largely tried to resolve violations through outreach and notices but has paused enforcement actions tied to an older ordinance because “we have a new ordinance that is supposed to be passed” and enforcing the old standard would be inconsistent with the forthcoming rule. He asked the council to adopt the updated nuisance ordinance so the department can issue citations where owners do not remedy violations.
On school safety, the chief said the city’s long‑running School Resource Officer (SRO) program will transition to the county sheriff’s office at the end of the year because the local department cannot reliably recruit officers for the niche SRO role. “The sheriff’s office has far more staff,” the chief said, and the sheriff’s office will provide the service going forward while the city will stay in communication with the assigned deputy.
Councilmembers asked about the nuisance enforcement process. The chief explained his staff identifies potential violations (tire stacks, garbage, construction debris), attempts personal contact, follows up with letters that set remedial deadlines, and—if owners do not make progress—may issue citations. Several councilmembers expressed support for staff outreach but said the council needs to adopt the updated ordinance before the department turns to citations.
The next steps are procedural: staff will return with the proposed nuisance ordinance language for council consideration so enforcement authority aligns with current policy. The council took no vote on the ordinance at this meeting.
