Rules & Ordinances Committee Meeting - February 23, 2026
Rules & Ordinances Committee Meeting - February 23, 2026
The Rules & Ordinances Committee of Lakewood City Council met on February 23, 2026, to continue the phased consolidation of city fees into a single Master Fee Schedule. The committee considered a communication from the Law Director, Resolution 2025-71 to establish the updated Master Fee Schedule, and Ordinance 30-2025 to remove corresponding fees from the city code. All committee members were present, joined by Law Director Ernest Vargo, Chief Assistant Law Director Jennifer Swallow, and Finance Director Brian Mahoney.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The committee unanimously approved the minutes of the November 3, 2025 Rules & Ordinances Committee meeting.
- Communication from Law Director Vargo: The committee received and filed the Law Director's communication regarding the Master Fee Schedule, which had been referred on November 17, 2025.
Discussion Items
- Master Fee Schedule Phase 2 (Resolution 2025-71 & Ordinance 30-2025): Assistant Law Director Swallow explained that this is the second of three planned phases. Phase 1 (adopted in 2024) moved Housing and Building fees into the Master Fee Schedule. Phase 2 moves all fees from Part One (Administrative Code) and Part Seven (Business Regulation Code) into the schedule. Phase 3 will cover Public Works, Water, and Wastewater fees and is expected soon.
- Fee Changes: Most fees remain unchanged. Two new fees were added:
- Property assessment search: $15 (previously charged but not formally authorized).
- Sidewalk dining inspection: fee listed as TBD (to be determined); it will not be charged until separate enabling legislation is passed. Council member Baker expressed a preference for citing a specific code section, but Assistant Law Director Swallow noted the upcoming zoning refresh may change that section.
- Credit Card Processing Fee: A new fee allowing the city to pass credit card processing costs to users (currently absorbed by the city). Councilmember Steiner raised concerns about equity for low-income residents. Finance Director Mahoney noted that cash, check, or electronic bank transfer (auto-pay) are free alternatives, and the new finance system will automatically apply the fee for credit card transactions.
- Help to Others (H2O) Camp Fee: Councilmember Bullock questioned whether the fixed $100 fee should be adjustable. Assistant Law Director Swallow responded that a camp scholarship process exists to reduce costs for participants.
- Fee Changes: Most fees remain unchanged. Two new fees were added:
- Committee Members Present: Chair Matt Bixenstine, Bryan Evans, Angelina Hamilton Steiner; also participating: Sarah Kepple (Council President), Kyle Baker (Vice President, non-committee member), Thomas R. Bullock III (non-committee member).
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 2025-71: The committee voted unanimously to recommend adoption to full Council. This resolution establishes the Master Fee Schedule incorporating fees from the Administrative Code and Business Regulation Code, superseding all prior fees included in the resolution.
- Ordinance 30-2025: The committee voted unanimously to recommend adoption to full Council. This ordinance amends various sections of the Administrative Code and Business Regulation Code to remove fees and reference the Master Fee Schedule instead, with the repeal of obsolete sections and enactment of updated language referencing the schedule.
- Both pieces of legislation are designated as emergency measures requiring a two-thirds vote of Council for immediate effect.
Meeting Transcript
I will call the uh February 23rd meeting of the Rules and Ordinance Committee to order. It is 736 p.m. All members are present as our Chief Assistant Law Director uh Swallow as well as uh um law director uh Vargo and uh Finance Director Mahoney as well. Um I want to start by uh uh making a motion to approve the uh minutes from the last meeting of the rules and ordinance committee held November 3, 2025. Motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion? Uh hearing none, that motion passes. Excuse me. All in favor? Aye. All right. Now that motion passes. The following three agenda items are related to an initiative in the law department to remove fees from several areas of the code and to instead organize them neatly into a new administrative document called the master fee schedule. It's my understanding that this effort will benefit both city staff and residents by creating one go-to source for information on fees uh rather than the current practice of conducting research in the code to locate fees, essentially streamlining everything to make it more user-friendly for all. Resolution 2025-71 creates the master fee schedule, and ordinance 30-2025 amends the code by removing those same fees from the code. Uh this time I will turn it over to the law department to say more about the proposed legislation. Thank you. Um others of you will learn that last year um a resolution was adopted that took all of the fees from housing and building and created a master fee schedule. At that time, we uh modified those ordinances to change those to be consistent with having a master fee set schedule. Um these two pieces of legislation are what I anticipate to be the second set of a total of three uh phases to this process. And um resolution 2025 71 takes all of the fees from the administrative code and the business code and move those into the master fee schedule. The accompanying ordinance 30-2025 then amends the relevant sections of the codified ordinances to modify those to be consistent with moving those fees into the fee schedule. Thank you, Assistant Director Swalo. Um should I actually read the communication from Law Director Vargo? No. Not necessary. Okay. Um it's very well written. Just wanted to make sure we're sitting on that. Thank you. It's already read into the full council record. Okay. Councilman, thank you though. Thank you. All right, in that case, I'm gonna move to receive and file this communication from uh law director Vargo regarding the master fee schedule that was received, referred to the to the rules and ordinances committee on November 17th, 2025. I have it's been uh seconded. Any discussion? Uh hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. All right, and that has uh been received and filed. Um to row resolution 2025-71. A resolution to take effect immediately provided it receives the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members of council or otherwise to take effect at the earliest period allowed by law to establish the master fee schedule by incorporating fees from part one, Title V administrative code, and part seven business regulation code of the Lakewood codified ordinances and superseding all prior fees established that are included in this resolution that was referred to the rules and ordinances committee on November 17th of last year. Um, Mr. Chair. Just one question for the uh law department. Um so you said this is two of three, so there will be one more. Correct. Um so what are the what uh what are the fees that aren't currently so you said building housing and this is administrative and business. Public works, water, wastewater.
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