Goshen, Ind. city officials Thursday announced that due to a mix-up connected to a rarely used state statute, the ordinance voted on by Goshen City Council members Monday authorizing use of city staff to help enforce the county’s COVID-19 health fine law has not been formally adopted after all.
The announcement, made in a news release distributed Thursday afternoon, notes that upon further review of the night’s proceedings, city officials determined that the ordinance was not actually approved on its second, final reading Monday, even though a majority of the council’s members voted to pass the ordinance on second reading in a vote of 4-3 in favor.
According to Goshen Mayor Jeremy Stutsman, at issue is the fact that according to state statute, for an ordinance to be approved on both first and second readings on the same night, it has to receive a two-thirds majority of the vote on second reading in order to be formally adopted.
However, since the council did not have two-thirds of the votes on second reading, the ordinance could only be passed on first reading, and therefore has not been formally adopted, he explained.
Read the full story from John Kline in the Goshen News here.
