Decorah City Council is divided over whether to regulate the idling time of cars and trucks

Changes have been made to a proposed ordinance which would amend existing ordinances covering the idling time of vehicles in the City of Decorah.

The original draft set a limit of five minutes for the idling of motors and vehicles in the city.  However, amendments were introduced to change the possible fines to being a warning for the first violation and a $25 fine for the second violation.  The amendment also made the ordinance apply to all vehicles, not just the heaviest.

By a 4-3 vote Monday night, the city council approved the changes.  City council member Dan Bellrichard told fellow council members that getting people to act right is a good thing and that the ordinance would help reduce air pollution.

But city council member Gary Rustad strongly opposed the ordinance, saying it would not be enforceable.  Police Chief Bill Nixon told city council members his department would probably wait until they got complaints about a truck or car left idling for a long period of time before they investigated, predicting enforcement would be "complaint-driven."

Rustad then asked Nixon whether police had gotten any such complaints in the past 12 months and Nixon replied, "Never."

Still, the rewriting of the proposed ordinance was approved and the new language will come up for a reading in December.