September 23, 2022 |
The Rawlins city attorney’s office is amending overly complicated ordinances now on the books so that they are written in plain English. City council this week approved on third reading one of the first ordinances to be unpacked and simplified — Title 10.54.30.
The ordinance directs vehicle owners to display a valid registration – license plate and up-to-date tags on their car or truck. Seems straight forward for the common man, but apparently not for the attorney who drafted the original ordinance. You might have needed to hire private counsel to decipher what’s on the books in Rawlins.
For starters, the old language uses 187 words to state the obvious. The new ordinance needs only 49 words.
Gone are antiquated words like “thereto,” therefor,” and “thereon.” Also eliminated are legalistic phrases like “expressly permitted.”
The new streamlined ordinance came up for third reading this week after passing the first two unanimously. Councilman Chris Weisenburg asked City Attorney to Gwendolyn Wade to explain the changes. Wade obliged.
Pictured above: Rawlins City Hall before the start of the landscaping project. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
If police pull you over for any reason, they always ask for your registration. Keep it handy in the glove box or other onboard cargo compartment in the vehicle. The colorful sticky tags stamped with the year that come with the registration at the treasurer’s office should be affixed to the plates.
The new ordinance sticks to the point and does not digress into loaning license plates to others or displaying plates which have not been registered to a specific vehicle as the old language did.
The new code simply reads, “Every owner, or, if applicable, operator or lessee, of a vehicle which will be operated or driven upon any highway in Wyoming shall be required to obtain and display a valid registration in accordance with Wyoming Statutes §§ 31-2-201 through 31-2-232 as may be amended from time to time.”
The amended ordinance passed unanimously on a 7-0 vote. City staff told Bigfoot 99 that the city attorney is reviewing codes and making improvements as she has time.
