(Spirit Lake)– On the surface, it appeared as if the Spirit Lake city council Tuesday had approved the first two considerations of an ordinance that would regulate cage fighting in the city. The vote was three-to-two, with council members Steve Balm and Clyde Ihrke in opposition. But under law, waiving the first two considerations of an ordinance requires a three-quarter majority vote, meaning it needed atleast four yes votes. As a result, the proposed ordinance will have to go through three readings before it can be officially adopted.
A motion was then made for the first consideration, which was approved on the same three-to-two vote.
The ordinance will come back for a second reading at the council’s next regular meeting.
Councilman Steve Balm again expressed his concern over even allowing cage fighting in the city, saying…quote “We’ve had health professionals, we’ve had mental health professionals, we’ve had our law professionals. They’ve all told us that this is not a positive experience for our community. We’re choosing to ignore their recommendations.”
Balm added “We’ve had incidents out there, we’ve had our own Police Chief tell us this isn’t something that he can enforce, we are ignoring his recommendations on this.”…unquote.
Balm continued…”In the past we have indicated to the school district and the citizens and to the students of our school that we are concerned about the safety at the school, about bullying, about violence up there. This is contrary to that. We have gone as far as to pay for an officer to be up there. I think we’re all proud of that. This is contrary to that as well”…unquote.
