Council moves ordinance amending disorderly conduct code to second reading

The City Council heard the first reading of Ordinance 16-16, which the mayor described as "amending chapter 9.10 of the South Bend Municipal Code relating to disorderly conduct, public nuisances, authorizing clerical corrections, providing for severability, and establishing an effective date." A council member said the update was drafted with the city attorney to correct prior errors and align the code with state law. "The main changes are, the firearms, Shooting a firearm in the city is actually a gross misdemeanor, and our municipal code had it as a misdemeanor," the council member said, noting that discharge issues are governed by the Revised Code of Washington and the municipal code adopts RCW by reference.

The council member described changes to fireworks enforcement and nuisance penalties. "We changed that and moved it to the public nuisance side of things ... the 1st offense for a firework violation is a ... an infraction ... the way we did it, it wasn't right. So this is the correct way to do it," the speaker said, later adding that the code "specifically allows us to charge them an infraction of a $150 the 1st time and then a $250 infraction per day that the property remains in violation" and that repeat violations within 12 months could be escalated to misdemeanor charges. After discussion and clarification about referencing RCW, the council moved and seconded a motion to advance Ordinance 16-16 to a second reading; the mayor called the question, heard an affirmative recorded response, and declared the motion carries.

The hearing on Ordinance 16-16 was informational at this stage (first reading); the action taken was to schedule a second reading for a future meeting. The council did not adopt the ordinance at this meeting.