FORT SCOTT — Downtown building owners told the Fort Scott City Commission during their Sept. 1 meeting that the penalties in the city's historic preservation ordinance could push businesses out of the district.
Commissioner Julie Buchta opened the discussion, saying she had spent two weeks visiting downtown businesses after the codes department told her it had been directed to enforce Ordinance 3782 "to the full degree."
The 2025 ordinance created the Fort Scott Historic Preservation and Resource Commission under the state's Certified Local Government program, or CLG.
Buchta read from the enforcement section of the version then posted on the city's website, which made any violation a Class B misdemeanor "punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or six months in jail, or both," with each day a violation continued counting as a separate offense.
"In the hands of someone extreme, this is an absolute sledgehammer to the temple of our businesses," Buchta said. "I know that is a dramatic statement, but this is a dramatic ordinance."