Hanging around at a street corner for hours for no apparent reason, interfering with traffic and keeping bags of personal property on the sidewalk would all become illegal under a measure to be considered by the Fort Dodge City Council tonight.

The proposed Prohibited Acts Ordinance will be considered when the council meets at 6 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S.

“City staff has received input from local businesses and organizations regarding behavior of individuals that are concerning to the owners and customers,” City Manager David Fierke wrote in a report to the council. “From the reports regarding certain behaviors, city staff identified gaps within our city code where the behaviors were not prohibited.”

The proposed ordinance does not mention homelessness or homeless people.

The proposed ordinance would make it illegal to loiter on public streets and sidewalks, obstruct pedestrian or vehicle traffic, aggressively solicit, store personal property on the public right-of-way, urinate or defecate on public property or rummage through garbage bins.

Passing an ordinance usually requires three separate votes of the council. However, Fierke recommended that the council approve it on one vote because the acts addressed by the proposal “tend to be more prevalent during warmer weather.”

Also tonight, the council will consider some promotions in the Police Department. It will also consider awarding a contract for extending a water main to the Georgia-Pacific plant south of Fort Dodge.