OTTUMWA — The city’s proposed nuisance ordinance will get its first reading at the July 28 City Council meeting.

That’s what a council majority decided during Monday’s special meeting.

Since May 20 city staff members have conducted a public hearing and have put the ordinance on prior council meetings.

Health Director Jody Gates told the council she and her staff have discussed the ordinance with council members, the city attorney and other staff members. Four changes have been made since the last meeting and three of those changes are underlined in the new version (available on the city’s Web site at www.cityofottumwa.org).

The first change is in 24-1 and the words “through legal means” were added to this section to clarify that city officials and the health department may not enter people’s homes uninvited without a warrant.

“The language in Section 24-1 — ‘permitting city officials to enter any building or place’ — has been in the city’s nuisance code since at least 1961,” Gates said. “During that time, this code section hasn’t been interpreted to mean city employees can enter a house without the owner’s permission unless they have a warrant.”

The updated nuisance ordinance wouldn’t give city staff any broader authority, she added. The addition of the words “through legal means” should clarify the Section 24-1’s intent.

The second change is the addition of the word “seasonal” to Section 24-3(12).

“The addition of this word should alleviate fears that snow blowers or lawn mowers stored in a carport or stored outside would be prohibited,” Gates said.

The intent of Section 24-3(12) is to prohibit the outdoor accumulation of items intended for interior use, broken items, unused building materials and trash and garbage.

“[The section] wasn’t written to prohibit storing a working lawn mower or string trimmer over the winter in the yard or a carport,” Gates told the council.

The third change would allow city staff to assess abatement costs in the same manner as property taxes. Gates said that sentence was omitted from previous ordinance versions.

A fourth change would add the word “nuisances” to the ordinance title.

“The rest of the ordinance is unchanged from the one presented at the July 1 meeting,” Gates said.

Councilman Bob Meyers liked seeing “legal means” added to Section 24-1.