City to Address Heightened Concern about Property Left Behind After Boston Bombing . . .

When the City finds property they don’t want to follow the state law, so they are trying to weaken it and they have the most bizarre explanation about what they are doing. We all know this is about homeless persons property.

Of course, this mainly affects people without homes, or lockers, or places to store their personal items. But, it could affect your wallet or backpack or items you just bought at the store that you accidentally left on a bench on State St. as well.

I got several emails from alders asking me what I thought about the ordinance.

“8.44 LOST OR ABANDONED PROPERTY.
(1) Charter Ordinance. By this ordinance, the City of Madison is exercising its authority under Article XI, sec. 3 of the Wisconsin Constitution, Wis. Stat. § 66.0101, and Wis. Stat. § 62.11(5). The City of Madison hereby determines not to be covered by the provisions of Wis. Stat. §§ 66.0139 and 170.105, with respect to lost or abandoned property. The City adopts this Charter Ordinance to create uniform rules for the treatment of lost or abandoned property that comes into the possession of city employees, officials or agents, and for the safety of the public in identifying and removing packages left in public places.

(2) Definitions. For the purpose of this ordinance, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Lost Property” means personal property, money or chattels that have been lost or abandoned or left on public property without the permission of the public owner. Lost property does not include (i) items left on the terrace or in garbage or recycling containers for the scheduled sanitation pick up, (ii) items seized as evidence in police investigations, or (iii) automobiles or bicycles, which are covered by Secs. 12.128(4) and 12.761, MGO, respectively.
(b) “Appropriate City Agencies” shall mean the Madison Police Department, Madison Fire Department, and any of the Divisions of the Department of Public Works and Transportation (Parks, Water Utility, Engineering, Streets, Madison Metro, Traffic Engineering and Parking).

(3) Requirement.
(a) Except as provided in Subdivision (b), if any City employees, officials or agents obtain possession of Lost Property within the scope of their public duties, the Lost Property shall be turned over to one of the Appropriate City Agencies.
(b) City employees, officials or agents may immediately dispose of Lost Property that either
1. Has an estimated value of fifty dollars ($50) or less;
2. Consists of contraband or any dangerous materials, including flammable, explosive or incendiary materials, or other materials that pose a danger to persons or property;
3. Is perishable; or
4. Poses a public health risk.

(4) The Appropriate City Agencies shall develop, within six (6) months of the effective date of this ordinance, uniform procedures for the holding and disposal of Lost Property subject to Subsection (3)(a). The agencies may each develop their own procedures, or may develop procedures to apply City-wide. The procedures shall include the following elements:
(a) Preparation and retention of a log of Lost Property obtained and disposed of, to include a description of the property, where it was obtained, and how the property was disposed.
(b) Maintaining or posting in one identified place in the City-County Building, for a period of no less than thirty (30) days after acquisition of Lost Property, of a printed copy of the log of Lost Property.
(c) A method of ascertaining whether a person claiming Lost Property has reasonably demonstrated a right to the property, and a record of any Lost Property returned to such person.
(d) The methods of disposal of Lost Property that has remained unclaimed for a period of thirty (30) days after acquisition of the property, which may include public auction, sale of the property through the Internet, transfer to non-profit entities, disposal as waste, or other reasonable methods of disposal. For purposes of disposal of the property, property that has remained unclaimed for a period of thirty (30) days becomes the property of the City. For purposes of this subparagraph, Madison Metro may dispose of property that remains unclaimed after fourteen (14) days of acquisition.

(5) Property found by members of the public is subject to Wis. Stat. §§ 170.07-170.10.

(6) This is a Charter Ordinance and shall be effective upon sixty (60) days from passage and publication subject, however, to the referendum procedures in Wis. Stat. § 66.0101(5).”

That prompted me to write an email to all alders, the mayor and the police department. (I edited a few typos)

Several alders have asked my opinion on the Lost Property Ordinance that you were asked to cosponsor. I worked on this ordinance in 2009 and it never passed before I was off the council. And here were are again, and in the mean time many people have been harmed by not having strong protections in place. However, there has been a very nice shift in many attitudes of the staff who are trying a little harder to make sure people’s belongings don’t get thrown out.

Anyways, here’s my feedback If you want to know more, let me know.

1. The state limit is $25, not $50 and that is a much stronger protection. If you found a sleeping bag, some clothes and some personal items, you could easily conclude that it was not worth $25, but clearly, to replace it all, even at St. Vinny’s prices would probably cost more than $25. Just replacing a towel, shampoo, razor, shaving cream, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste would eat up that amount, but is of no value to anyone else.

2. There is no provision for items that may not have resell value, but may have very meaningful sentimental value. (When my dad was homeless -in MN- they threw out his family bible and the only pictures he had of me and my brother. I have heard similar stories here in Madison of a person who had the only picture of his deceased wife thrown away.)

3. 30 days is too short. State law is 90 days and that is important for people to have time to find out it is lost and arrange to find it an pick it up. Often people don’t know how the system works the first time through and it could take some time for folks to find an advocate who can help. Additionally, people thrown in jail or detox or other things may need additional time. I have “lost” homeless people for weeks at a time before the reappear for all kinds of reasons and 30 days is not long enough.

4. Property that “poses a public health risk” needs to be defined. Please forgive my cynicism, but I am concerned that because something is dirty and there is food in the vicinity, it will be considered a health risk. Or worse, a person is diabetic (a pet peeve of mine as I am diabetic), therefore uses needles, and it is determined a health risk because they are known to be diabetic.

5. Notice and process. I know you want to leave it up to the departments, but we really need some sort of notice or process that is simple for people to understand. Even if it is one number people call and get redirected to another place. Plus, when the stuff is taken, how will they know the city has it? (It might be obvious by the thorough nature of the cleaning, but it might not.) Many departments are currently tagging the items before they are taken and that seems to be very effective. (i.e. they subsequently don’t need to move things!)

Additionally, the Homeless Services Consortium (about 60 of us) gave feedback to Gloede and Wray when the attended the meeting, but I don’t see any of that feedback incorporated in the draft. I can hunt for my notes, but I don’t see any of their changes. I recall there was specific feedback about a number to call and having it be picked up in the vicinity of where it was found.

I cc’d Heidi Wegleitner on this as she may have more to add. Let either of us know if we can be of any assistance!

If I had actually read the drafter’s analysis before I wrote the email, I would have had more to say. Check out what it starts out with . . . and notice the focus on disposing of the property instead of trying to find the owner . . . and the assumption it is abandoned.

DRAFTER’S ANALYSIS: Recent events such as the Boston Marathon bombing have made citizens much more aware of items left in public places. Madison does not have an ordinance setting forth procedures for taking possession and disposing of abandoned property. This ordinance establishes guidelines for such procedures. At least two state statutes establish procedures for treating lost or abandoned property that comes into the possession of public officials. These laws, Wis. Stat. §§ 66.0139 and 170.105, contain contradictory procedures, use procedures for notice and valuation of property that date from many years ago, and make distinctions based on whether property is “lost” or “abandoned”, a distinction that leads public officials into the speculative domain. Nothing in the state statutes suggest they are of statewide concern and uniform application, making them subject to the City’s power to opt out of the statutes by a Charter ordinance.
By this charter ordinance, the City opts out of those statutes and establishes a uniform procedure for treatment of property left on public property. The ordinance requires uniform procedures be adopted within 6 months of adoption, and describes the elements required in any such procedures as to notice, storage and disposal of the property. The ordinance allows the covered agencies to adopt their own rules, or to adopt one set of rules to be followed City-wide by all covered agencies.

The didn’t mention homelessness once . . . or that the state laws are much stronger protections for us civilians and members of the public.