By Sara StrongHow the city of Luverne handles bad-check prosecutions could change, after a tentative, upcoming meeting between city, county and legal representatives.During a meeting Tuesday night, the Luverne City Council discussed its options.It normally pays the Attorney’s Office (the prosecutor) $95 to prosecute non-sufficient fund cases.City Administrator Greg LaFond said, “It does not seem to be a good use of city or court resources.”Actual costs for the city to prosecute the non-sufficient funds is complex.The city pays the City Attorney $95 to prosecute and gets $93 back from the state. The money it gets back goes to the county in the form of the joint law fund.If the city saves money by avoiding the placement of $93 into the joint law fund, the county will probably raise the city’s contract fee to make up the difference.Assistant County Attorney Terry Vajgrt said that the system is more complicated than the council realizes. He uses his discretion in prosecuting people who write bad checks, and gives them opportunities to pay the money they owe before taking it through the court system.Mayor Glen Gust said that, as a business owner, he knows the current system does work because cases that he turns over to the attorney get returns.City Attorney Don Klosterbuer previously said that his office has an obligation to prosecute the cases. However, some cities in Minnesota set a minimum dollar amount to collect, or use private collection businesses instead of prosecutors to collect the money.Vajgrt said, “I don’t think it’s good policy to dictate a threshold of dollar value to prosecute.”In his decisions to prosecute, he said he takes into consideration victims and their wishes, as well as the circumstances of the crimes.Vajgrt has worked in a prosecuting capacity since 1990, and said he is frustrated with the attempt to change the system without his input from the start.“I’m in the best position to know. … I think the lack of respect for our office is troubling,” Vajgrt said.The council made it clear that Vajgrt is invited to explain current procedures and that he’ll be included in future meetings.The council also said it would like to involve the business community in any future talks on the bad check issue.Renken trailer parkThe Donald Renken property near the Verne Drive-In was mostly condemned 1 1/2 years ago, and a court order to bring the property up to code was in place.Since then, much of the property has been cleared, but the city isn’t happy with the progress.Renken’s files go back 10 years at City Hall, with numerous attempts to get cooperation from the owner. Just two of the trailers are lived in now, and three of the original 13 condemned are still standing.Tuesday night, the Luverne City Council discussed paying a contractor to remove the remaining unoccupied buildings and assessing the costs back to Renken’s property taxes.LaFond said, “If we don’t enforce a court order, what message does that send?”Councilman David Hauge said he didn’t want the city to appear like a “toothless tiger” after so many years of warnings and accommodations on the part of the city.Councilman Tom Martius suggested getting contractor estimates and sending Renken a letter, telling him that that much will be assessed to his property tax bill. Then, after a few days deadline to complete the final clean-up, the city could hire a contractor. City Zoning Administrator Dan Delgehausen will bring the contractor estimates and any update on the Renken property to the council in the future.
