Ramsey County moves toward administrative fines, away from misdemeanor citations for ordinances

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
·2 min read

Oct. 20—Ramsey County could make a move to decriminalize penalties for violating a host of county ordinances, issuing civil citations instead.

County commissioners on Tuesday voted in favor of setting a Nov. 9 public hearing on proposed changes to the county administrative ordinance, which sets rules for enforcement and penalties for county ordinances. The amendments would be used solely by St. Paul-Ramsey County Public Health to assure compliance with ordinances that regulate restaurants, bars, hotels, mobile home parks, public swimming pools, solid waste and hazardous waste.

"The primary impacted stakeholder for these changes are those who hold a Ramsey County-issued license," said Caleb Johnson, a county environmental health supervisor, adding that the switch would also apply to the public health nuisance ordinance and clean indoor air ordinance.

As it stands now, violating such a county ordinance can lead to a misdemeanor citation and possibly a fine. A civil citation could also include a fine, but it would not be considered a crime.

For the most part, the changes would not apply to St. Paul and Maplewood, which operate under agreements with state departments. Scofflaws of the solid waste and hazardous waste ordinances could face any new civil citations, however, since the county enforces those rules for the two cities.

On Monday, the St. Paul Charter Commission on a 7-6 vote shot down a similar proposal that would have opened the door to new administrative fines for those who break city ordinances, including errant landlords, employers who flaunt minimum wage rules and property owners who commit zoning infractions.

The proposed county amendments create steps for issuing and processing civil citations; outlines how a person who receives a citation can respond (pay a penalty or have a hearing); outlines the process for an appeal; and assigns a penalty schedule.

Misdemeanor citations are troubling for two reasons, county officials said. No. 1, it makes the perpetrator a criminal through the state's criminal court system — and for many violations, this is a severe option, officials said. Secondly, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in recent years made the process of administering misdemeanor citations an electronic system, restricting access and the ability to issue them, according to the county.

Johnson said county staff anticipate a small number of civil citations, since most license holders make any needed fixes within two follow-up inspections. Between 2011 and 2021, county public health staff completed more than 10,000 inspections at more than 2,000 licensed operations and issued 11 misdemeanor citations.

"Those statistics are indicative of our partnership with businesses and license holders, and the guidance to compliance that we provide them along the way," Johnson said. "Our primary goal is to just get people to follow the rules, and the vast majority of our license holders do that after they've been given notice to."