The Soldotna City Council is holding off on enacting a new policy regarding conduct in city facilities – for now. The council voted Wednesday to postpone an ordinance establishing a trespass policy until the end of October.
City officials first proposed the policy in July. Soldotna City Manager Janette Bower says it’s intended to protect city employees and the public.
“The need for this ordinance came from taking a closer look at what process the city currently has in place if we are faced with threats, harassment or conduct that materially disrupts city operations,” she said.
As proposed, the policy specifies what behavior could cause the city to trespass someone from a municipal facility. That may include talking past a time limit during a public meeting, repeatedly being threatening or harassing or refusing to comply with directives, among other things.
Council member Chera Wackler successfully amended the proposal to address language she felt was too vague. The council removed “unreasonable” and “unduly repetitious” behavior from the type of conduct that could cause the city to trespass someone.
“We don't limit people from speaking on a specific topic when they're coming here,” she said. “I don't want anyone to read this and feel like they can't come in and speak about any topic at any time because this is a platform where they should be able to do so.”
Soldotna Vice Mayor Lisa Parker said she would vote against the proposal as written, even though she supports the intention behind it.
“I understand that our employees have been harassed and felt threatened by people in the past and will in in the future, but I have a concern about the tone that this is setting,” she said. “And if I was to redo this, I would put this in a more positive format, and it would be procedures for regulating conduct at public facilities.”
State law already gives cities the authority to bar people from public property in some cases. But Soldotna doesn’t have an internal policy outlining what that process looks like, and when it should be used.
Soldotna’s proposed policy would require city trespass orders to be narrowly tailored and descriptive about what behavior resulted in that person being trespassed.
The council unanimously agreed to postpone a vote on the policy until the end of October, with the goal of reworking it to address concerns they raised.
