Commission finds no municipal littering fines; members will research options

At the Jan. 12 meeting a commissioner said they had learned ‘‘the city actually doesn't have any littering fines in place on any scale’’ and proposed drafting a starter letter to raise the issue with city council.

Commissioners discussed enforcement options (police vs. code enforcement), how fines would be structured (tiers and escalation), and where any revenue would be directed. Members agreed to collect comparables from neighboring municipalities and present draft language and implementation options for a future council referral.

One member noted that creating a fine is only the first step and emphasized the need to define enforcement responsibility and administrative processes; another commissioner said the commission could forward a proposal to an alder to put on a council agenda once they had a confident draft.