Council reviews ordinance to align airport lost-and-found procedures with new state law

Salt Lake City Council staff and legal counsel presented an ordinance to amend municipal code so the city's airport lost-and-found operations conform with recently passed state law. Paul Nielsen, the city's senior city attorney, said the state change creates an airport-specific track for handling unclaimed items and removes the prior expectation that routine lost property always requires law-enforcement evidence processing.

"The law that was passed during this session goes into effect tomorrow," Nielsen said, urging the council to consider the ordinance on a quick turnaround. Jennifer Kaufman, who runs the airport's lost-and-found operation, told the council the change reflects operational reality at the airports and reduces unnecessary evidence handling by police assigned to airports.

Council members praised the improved public-facing search tools and asked how proceeds from the sale of unclaimed items are handled. Nielsen and airport staff said federal restrictions on revenue diversion constrain how the airport may use sale proceeds; the department intends to return proceeds to the airport'enterprise fund to offset lost-and-found costs, not to general fund spending. Councilmember Young said she appreciated staff efforts to avoid creating additional taxpayer costs while legalizing current practices.

The council heard that the ordinance focuses mostly on definitions and procedural language for a new code section on receiving, inventorying and disposition of lost property. Staff noted a public hearing is scheduled for May 19 and that several airport operators collaborated on the state legislation to make the statute account for airports required to have law-enforcement presence per federal regulations.