The Marion County Board Tuesday night entered into a contract with American Legal Publishing to review and codify all county ordinances and resolutions.
The final product will make all of the county board’s actions available on line and searchable by topic.
Codification Subcommittee Chair Brock Waggoner says the overall cost of $9,000 to $12,000 will have a big payback in time in answering Freedom of Information requests. In addition to the initial cost, the county will pay $500 per year to host the codification on the American Legal Publishing website with a link to the Marion County website. There will be a $20 per page charge to add or change an ordinance. The company will search for new state laws that impact county regulations and make updates once a year.
County Clerk Steve Fox explained how the process will work.
“It’s your point to pass an ordinance at the very end. They are going to present you with the ordinance that is going to makes all of that stuff your laws. You’re making it new. So stuff you don’t want in there, you don’t care about anymore. You may find some old laws if we are going back into the 70’s that you don’t need anymore.”
County Board Chair Debbie Smith says this is a big step forward.
“It all comes down in the hands of the county elected officials and secretary. And I’ve been through all of it and it’s a mess. You can’t retrieve anything, it’s everywhere.”
The initial process is expected to extend into the next fiscal year that begins December 1st where money with be budgeted to pay for the initial cost.
