Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco has exercised his power to veto an ordinance before it goes into effect.

The Ames City Council adopted Ordinance #3662 on Tuesday. The ordinance prohibits the placement of indoor furniture outdoors or on unenclosed porches in rental housing. Wednesday afternoon, Tedesco sent the council members a letter vetoing the “couch ordinance.”

“First of all, this ordinance discriminates a bit,” Tedesco said. “It should include owner-occupied properties as well as rental units – which it doesn’t. The other thing is that this ordinance was framed on a few complaints of long-term leaving of furniture

– like a couple of weeks or all winter.”

The ordinance reads: “Occupants shall not place or permit to remain on yards, any upholstered furniture, or other furniture, manufactured for use indoors, or permit to remain overnight on open porch areas any upholstered furniture, or other furniture, manufactured for use indoors.”

In a letter to the city council, Tedesco said because of the ambiguity of the ordinance city staff would be required to be “subjective in their inspections of premises,” which would create a greater possibility for litigation.

Tedesco said he thinks ordinances should be more definitive.

“The city hasn’t legally drawn a distinction what is indoor or outdoor furniture,” he said.

“What is the definition of a porch? The inspections department will have to go down and investigate and they don’t have a definition. They’re not real excited about it.”

Tedesco said he also worries about the necessity of policing porches.

“As all government entities and agencies are facing economic distress, is this really a major thing we need to deal with?” he said. “How do you start to justify the expense? We don’t have the `Ames Couch Police’.”

In the letter, Tedesco said the council is in a period “when we are not encouraging citizen communication or neighbors talking to neighbors,” which he believes is not responsible government.

“We seem to be adopting the philosophy of every time a person complains we try to pass an ordinance,” he said. “In blunt terminology, we have the tail wagging the dog. It comes down to a breakdown of communication between citizens.”

In the letter, Tedesco said that he believes the citizens of Ames would be better served by adopting a general nuisance ordinance that pertains to this issue and several others regarding property maintenance – for both rental- and owner-occupied properties.

Ames City Attorney John Klaus said a more comprehensive “nuisance ordinance” has been drafted and is being circulated among city staff.

“We’re waiting for comments from city staff and Inspections staff,” Klaus said. “We want to get input from them and see what they think.”

Tedesco said he hopes that the “nuisance ordinance” explains what exactly requires city action.

“I think we need to define what causes a nuisance – what constitutes garbage, yard maintenance, and maintenance of the physical structure,” Tedesco said.

This is the first time second-term Tedesco has vetoed an ordinance, he said.

The council now has 30 days from the date of the letter to pass the ordinance over the mayor’s veto by no less than a two-thirds vote of the council members.

If the vote passes, the ordinance goes into effect. The fine for violating the ordinance will be $500.