By Scott Harvey
Commerce – The Commerce City Council Tuesday will consider amending its sex offender ordinance following last month's vote to settle the more than two-year-old lawsuit.
Councilman Tony Henry made the motion to settle for $43,000 during an April 23 hearing in Dallas. That motion was seconded by Bob Monday and was approved by a 3-2 margin with Mayor Quay Throgmorton also voting in favor. Councilmember's Billie Biggerstaff and Richard Hill were opposed.
Henry, in previous attempts to settle, had been opposed. He says the financial figure had taken its toll.
"You can't look at the fact that we're settling with someone and paying him an 'x' amount of money; you've got to look at the fact that we're paying our attorneys too, and that cost is growing every day," said Henry.
"Even if we won the case, we still have to pay our attorneys. It's not Tony's money; it's not Scott's money, that's the citizens of Commerce money."
While Henry still feels the city would have won the suit, the attorney's fees would have continued to mount. He had also considered the settlement based on recent comments from citizens.
John Doe 7 vs. City of Commerce was filed in November 2007, claiming the city's sex offender ordinance was unconstitutional. The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in the fall. Since the filing, the ordinance has not been enforced. The ordinance will become effective upon passage of Tuesday's amendments, which focus on two of the ordinance's eight sections.
Section 66-101, titled Definitions, does not list College and Public Way in the revision. Additionally, four of the five definitions of the word Sex Offender are removed from the original document. The sole definition of Sex Offender is slightly revised.
Section 66-103, titled Exceptions, lists revisions to previous language as reflected by the removal of the definitions for College and Public Way. The Exceptions section also provides additional guidelines concerning the establishment of a residence/property prior to the effective date of the ordinance.
Tuesday's meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Commerce City Hall.