Fort Collins council approves one municipal court code update, takes up second on amended second reading

The Fort Collins City Council voted Tuesday to approve Ordinance No. 058, 2026 on second reading and then took up Ordinance No. 059, 2026 with an amendment as part of Item 14, "Items Relating to Municipal Court Sentencing and Default Code Updates." Ordinance 58 amended city code provisions on default judgments by extending the time to file a motion to set aside a default judgment, while Ordinance 59 would repeal and reenact Section 1-15 on general penalties.

Mayor Emily Francis introduced the item without a staff presentation, and a staff speaker said the language update for Ordinance 59 was meant to add "petty offense" in addition to misdemeanor as a possible escalation level. Francis said there were no people signed up for public comment, and council members did not raise questions or comments before the motions.

For Ordinance 58, a motion was made to adopt the measure on second reading, and Francis announced after the roll call that it passed 4-0. The motion described the ordinance as amending city code provisions on default judgments to extend the time to file a motion to set aside a default judgment.

The motion on Ordinance 59, read aloud by a staff speaker, said the measure would repeal and reenact Section 1-15 of city code concerning general penalties to align with state law in regard to People v. Campana and People v. Simmons. The amendment to subsection E.4 said that after the clause "the new alleged violation may be charged," the section would read: "as a petty or misdemeanor criminal offense as specifically provided for such designated level of violation, in addition to any costs which may be assessed, or if no specific level of violation is designated, then is an unclassified misdemeanor that is subject to a penalty or imprisonment, costs, fees, and any other orders imposed in accordance with this section."

Francis seconded the motion on Ordinance 59 and called for a roll-call vote after no further discussion. The vote result was not announced before the meeting excerpt ended.