Student leaders were disappointed by action taken by the Carbondale City Council to postpone further consideration of conversion of city ordinance violations into community service.

The council discussed a report prepared by city attorney Paige Smith on the possible implementation of community service as a penalty for city ordinance violations at Tuesday evening’s city council meeting. The council moved to accept the report and wait until next year to discuss it.

The mayor recommended that [the student leaders] put the issue off for a year, said Pat Kelly, SIUC student trustee. That disappointed a lot of people.

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We are disappointed, but if we have to make our voices heard in the next mayoral election, we will.

In spite of the disappointment, it was apparent that the issue will resurface before next year.

The best option at this point is to look into cost-effective ways to implement community service; cost-effective in terms of that the program will require minimal additional resources by the city, Undergraduate Student Government President Dave Vingren said. Rather than forking over a lump sum of money for a fine, it is more beneficial for them to do community service.

And the socialization that the individual receives when working with other people doing the work voluntarily is very beneficial.

The council expressed various reasons, based on the report, why the issue of community service was not a favorable one.

The administration of such a program would be very burdensome, City Manager Jeff Doherty said. The city would have to add additional staff, and that would be at a significant cost to the city.

Community service in lieu of fines would be a loss of revenue to the city also.

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The primary opposition to the implementation of community service was financially driven. The cost involved in imposing and enforcing such a penalty, which would require additional man power, along with the loss of revenue for the city from the fines, was the primary concern expressed by the council.

It would be a significant burden on the city, with the people power and the staff time necessary, in addition to the loss of revenue the city would see, Councilwoman Maggie Flanagan said.

The report considered a number of factors involving community service and the positive and negative impacts of the system.

Not all were in agreement with the report, though. The general consensus of the representatives of the student government, was that this was an issue that deserves more consideration.

I thought the report was biased, Kelly said. They (the council) were not taking a lot of things into account.

I have had many community service workers work for me, and it had been a good experience. Presently, there are some workers registering students to vote on campus.

Although the council does not plan to discuss the report again until next spring, the possibility that the issue will come before the council again is probable.

If the student leaders were to present a feasible, cost-effective plan that would not place such a burden on the city, it would be welcomed, Flanagan said.