SOUDAN- Residents quickly worked through an abbreviated agenda at the Special Town Meeting held on Nov. 3. The three town board members and clerk Dianna Sundsdahl were in attendance, along with a single township resident and Police Chief Dan Reing.
The meeting was convened to address one item that needed to be handled at a township annual meeting, normally held on the second Tuesday in March, not a regular town board meeting. That item, formally recognizing a portion of North Second Street as a township road, was quickly approved. The township has been maintaining that section of road between Highway 169 and St. Martin’s Catholic Church, but that section of road within the boundaries of the township was never formally platted as a township road. This approval starts the process of formally recognizing the road. JPJ Engineering will now begin that process of creating a legal description of the road and getting the road legally recorded.
The town board put other items on the meeting agenda, to update both the parking and blight ordinances.
The existing parking ordinance prohibits parking on any township street between midnight and 8 a.m. from Oct. 15 to April 15 to facilitate snow removal. It also prohibits parking within 20 feet of any intersection or crosswalk, and within ten feet of a fire hydrant.
The changes to the parking ordinance include a section allowing the township to tow a vehicle violating the ordinance at the owner’s expense, in the case of an emergency or need for immediate removal. The township police department has the authority to issue an order to tow. The changes also impose a citation fee of $20, with an additional $10 late fee, for any vehicles violating the parking ordinance.
The blight ordinance is more detailed and covers weeds, junk automobiles, exterior condition of structures, vacant structures, and storage of hazardous materials. The ordinance gives the enforcement officer the authority to inspect vacant structures and the exterior areas of a property, and with the permission of the owner to inspect the interior for the purposes of enforcing the ordinance. If permission to inspect the interior is not granted and there is probable cause to believe a violation exists, a search warrant may be obtained.
The changes adopted include more details on how the ordinance will be enforced, details of how a letter of violation can be appealed, how the letter must be served, and when a blight ordinance citation would be issued.
Violation of the ordinance is a petty misdemeanor. The updated ordinance also imposes a fee of $30 for any citation issued, along with a $10 late payment fee.
All township ordinances are available for viewing online at breitungtownship.org.