City officials brainstormed with students last night about a possible addition to the city’s Code of Ordinances.

At last night’s Undergraduate Student Government meeting, city council officials discussed the possibility of adding a civil code to the city code.

Visiting city officials included Mayor John Quinn, Second Ward council member Mike Zickar, Prosecutor Matt Reger, and At-Large council member John Mura.

Prosecutor Matt Reger said a civil code could resolve complaints more quickly. The complaint system is a slow process as it exists currently, Reger said. For example, if a student were to complain that they fell on the ice on a resident’s property, the incident might not be resolved until warmer weather melted the ice, he said.

A civil code would decriminalize minor offenses — such as not shoveling snow off sidewalks, keeping a barking dog outside, or parking cars on the grass. City employees or police would have the option of giving a warning or ticket for the first offense. Multiple offenses may still be punishable with criminal charges.

The campaign to add a civil code has caught some controversy. Zickar said he received an e-mail from a permanent resident of the city, who was worried the council was letting students off too easy. She worried that an offense like rape or illegal drug possession could become punishable with only a ticket. But Zickar said he assured her that was not the case.

“We’re only talking about low level offenses,” Zickar told those present as the USG meeting.

Zickar said he and other city officials are open to student suggestions about the idea of a civil code, and encouraged those present at the meeting to contact him with any questions. No one has drafted the language that would be included in the civil code yet because council is “still in the brainstorming stage,” Zickar said.

The idea of a civil code is modeled after a similar code in another college town. Oxford, Ohio — home of Miami University — has been a model for the city of Bowling Green, Regar said. A group of council members even visited the city to discuss the code. Oxford’s civil code was meant to clean up litter in the town, but once that problem was solved, the civil code was expanded, prosecutor Reger said.

“This is a quality-of-life issue,” councilman Mura said of the issue.

Zickar called a civil code “a win-win legislation.”

Zickar also suggested that a civil code could be expanded in Bowling Green to help lesson charges against violators of the nuisance party ordinance.

To date, 46 people have been cited for violations of the nuisance party ordinance. Most of those were cited at the beginning of fall semester, when the weather was warm and law was still new. Since November, only 2 people have been cited, Reger said.

Prosecutor Reger suggested that students throwing parties should contact their neighbors to avoid being cited under the nuisance party ordinance.

Citations are based on complaints from neighbors, Reger said.