At Monday’s regular meeting, the Marshalltown City Council approved the first reading of a newly rewritten code of ordinances for the city, with a goal of having the rewritten document in place by April 11th.

A year ago, research was done to help make the code of ordinances more user friendly for both developers and property owners.

Michelle Sponheimer, City Housing and Community Development Director, presented the newly rewritten code of ordinances to the city council at Monday’s meeting.

A recommendation was made to further review the document with any proposed changes to be submitted to Sponheimer prior to the regular council meeting on April 11th.

At Monday’s meeting, the council also approved a resolution for the Marshalltown Police Department to offer a $2,000 hiring incentive to non-certified police officer applicants.  A new hire would initially receive $1,000 with a second $1,000 to be offered after they successfully complete their probationary period.

The council also directed Police Chief Mike Tupper to draft a resolution for the March 28th council meeting that would allow for the hourly pay rate for police department personnel to be increased for extra duties performed while on the job.

Any new changes to the rate would become effective on July 1st.