By City Councilor Brayden Beaner
This will be the first of what I hope will become monthly updates on city projects I’m working on as a city council member for Garretson. My goal with these updates is to keep you informed about what’s happening in our city and to invite feedback from you, the community, on the issues that matter.
At the March city council meeting, I introduced an ordinance that would have required any materials distributed to council members also be posted on the city website. While the ordinance didn’t pass, I’m happy to report that council materials are now being posted on the website ahead of meetings. This is a great step forward for transparency and record-keeping.
During the April meeting, I brought forward several ordinances aimed at updating Garretson’s Code—a task that’s been neglected for far too long. This is just the beginning of an ongoing discussion about which ordinances should remain in place. Personally, I believe that less is more—especially when a city ordinance simply duplicates state law. Outdated, obsolete, or redundant ordinances can clutter our code and make the truly important ones harder to find and enforce.
Some examples: Garretson still has ordinances from around 1923 banning public dances (yes, I made a Footloose reference at the meeting), traffic codes untouched since 1942, and lingering COVID-era rules requiring social distancing and limiting gatherings to ten people. These kinds of laws no longer serve us and only add confusion.
Cities are limited in that they can’t pass ordinances that conflict with state law. And as state law changes, so must our local ordinances. But prosecuting and updating these ordinances is expensive and, in most cases, unnecessary. Especially when it is very unlikely, they’ve been enforced in the last two decades. I believe state law is better equipped to handle most of these issues, with more resources and stronger enforcement capabilities.
Eliminating outdated or redundant ordinances is a simple and effective way to make our city government smaller and more efficient.
I also introduced an ordinance that formally recognizes the Garretson Volunteer Fire Department and Garretson Community Ambulance as Garretson’s provider of essential city services. This move helps ensure that our volunteer firefighters qualify for certain state life insurance-like benefits such as free college tuition for their surviving children.
Lastly, several community groups requested the use of city streets and parks for upcoming events. I gladly supported their approval and am excited for the experiences these events bring to our community.
As always, if you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to contact me. Thanks for being engaged and helping make Garretson a better place to live.
