The Citrus Heights City Council proposed to ban public drinking and camping in the city. The proposed ordinance will be heard at meeting council ’s 7 p.m. at City Hall, 7117 Greenback Lane, hopes Police Department’s anti vagrancy push to add new teeth.

Staff report to the City Council that “In recent months, city residents have complained about unauthorized campsites in the community”. The complaints include concerns about drug and alcohol use, health concerns, unsightly accumulation of bedding and other materials, fire hazards and the presence of drug paraphernalia.

Under the ordinance proposals, the Police Department would have powers to remove unauthorized campsites and arrest or fine those caught drinking in public or in city. An offender could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of maximum $500 and/or up to six months in jail. According to a memo from Jeff Mackanin, a Citrus Heights Police Lt who heads the department’s community-oriented policing project, banning in the city open containers would reduce “reduce the number of calls for service for police, keep unwanted loitering and drinking away from the parks and other public places”.

If there’s no ordinance, the city police officers have no charge against someone caught drinking in public. The ordinance which the city would dispose of property found at transient campsites in order to head off possible lawsuits from the advocates homeless. According to proposed ordinance, items of value such as jackets, bed rolls and duffel bags would be held by the city for 90 days before being auctioned off or disposed lawsuits.

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