Anyone owing a parking ticket fine in Fort Dodge may find they aren’t able to get their vehicle registration renewed in Webster County until it’s paid, under a new agreement.

The Webster County Board of Supervisors approved their side of an agreement Tuesday in which anyone with an unpaid fine would be sent to city hall or the county clerk of court to pay it before they could renew their license plates at the county treasurer’s office.

The City Council will consider the agreement at next Monday’s meeting, said Fort Dodge Police Chief Roger Porter. The council held a workshop on the issue, without a vote, at last week’s meeting.

“If they have an outstanding fine, they get a notice after 30 days,” Porter said. “Then it hangs out there for 60 days, then it gets turned over to the clerk of court for a warrant. The warrants are something we can’t really enforce; we can’t clog the jail system up with people who have $30 fines, or things like that.”

City officials started researching what other towns do, Porter said, and found a lot are going to this sort of agreement.

“They still have 60 days after the notice, 90 days total,” he said. “Then instead of a warrant this puts a flag on their vehicle registration.”

The county treasurer’s office would collect a $5 processing fee per citation as part of this agreement.

That amount is per Iowa code, Porter said.

Porter said he reached out to Webster County Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Campbell, and Treasurer Brenda Angstrom, about six weeks ago to start this process. He’s had both the city and county attorneys review the agreement.

This will apply to new unpaid tickets, not existing ones.

The problem adds up over time.

“At our last count, there were around 1,200,” Porter said.

Angstrom said when the yearly notice is sent out to have people renew, it will include a statement if a parking fine is due.

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In other business, the supervisors took the next step in crafting development agreements with both Cargill Inc. and Crimmins Investment LLC. The supervisors will further consider the agreements at their March 19 regular meeting.

Tuesday’s step was a public hearing on the projects. The public did not submit any written or verbal comments.

Webster County recently expanded its Urban Renewal Area, to allow tax increment financing for the agreements with Cargill and Crimmins. The financing will assist Cargill with the costs of some sanitary sewer and waterworks infrastructure, and in connection with Cargill’s continued business operations; and support to Crimmins Investment LLC in construction and operation of a new warehouse facility.