I am going to start with a brief summary of the most important items of the December 1st 2025 New England North Dakota City Council meeting.

City Councilman Tom Gorek read aloud his Revisions to the City of New England Ordinances. The condensed meaning is as follows.

The following will be classified as “Junk”, “A Public Nuisance”, and will be hauled away and disposed of at the property owner’s expense:

• ANY Vehicle that has expired Registration for more than 60 days.
• ANY Vehicle that has been inoperable for more than 60 days.
• ANY Equipment.
• ANY Building Materials, including Lumber, Bricks, Blocks, Shingles, Barrels, Tires.

Please Note: There was not one City Councilman that objected to any of these Revisions. It appears that it does not matter whether any of the above items are shielded from public view by a fence, because I did not hear this exemption read aloud. It appears that it does not matter whether any of the above items are located on Zoned Commercial property, because the only exemption that I heard was for licensed Vehicle Repair businesses.

Also part of the Revised City Ordinances, any trailer, utility trailer, travel trailer, boat trailer parked on a person’s property, the same “set back” requirements must be met, as if the trailer were a house. There was a brief mention that this distance may be something like 20′ from the front or rear property lines.

Also part of the Revised City Ordinances, a person may be fined $25 per day for having a vehicle or trailer parked on the street after November 15.

Also part of the Revised City Ordinances, no dismantling of vehicles, no “parts vehicles” on people’s property. Again, I did not hear any exemption read aloud for vehicles shielded from public view by a fence, or Zoned Commercial property, the only exception was for licensed Vehicle Repair businesses.

City Councilman Rebecca Ferderer spoke up and asked the New England City Auditor Jason Jung if he would publish these Revised City Ordinances with the Meeting Minutes. In my opinion, this was done by Rebecca Ferderer so that the public would have the opportunity to read these Revised City Ordinances.

This was the First Reading of these Revised City Ordinances. There was no objection at this City Council meeting by any Councilman or member of the public.

My Opinion:

I did not request to be on the City Council Meeting Agenda to speak, nor did I complete an in-person request-to-speak card at the start of this City Council Meeting because I had no idea that the New England City Ordinances were going to be changed like this at this meeting.

(Note: Hettinger County Commissioner Todd Lutz attended this New England City Council meeting unannounced and as a member of the public. In my opinion, this Hettinger County Commissioner had either been notified by a resident, or he noticed himself, that the New England City Council may have gone too far in trying to prohibit what residents can do on their own private property. In any case, I believe that this Hettinger County Commissioner was able to observe that the New England City Attorney Olivia Krebs, City Councilmen Tom Gorek, and to some extent the other City Councilmen appear to be doing the bidding of City Councilman Chris Fitterer, rather than serving the residents of New England.)

After City Councilman Tom Gorek read aloud the Revised Ordinances, I wanted to ask, or wanted to complain, why can’t a person have some lumber, concrete blocks, bricks, shingles, and tires in their yard? These things are often needed to make unexpected repairs. In New England, a hardware store is 30 miles away. What if a person has these things stacked neatly in their back yard out of view of the public? What if a person’s occupation requires building materials? What if a person’s occupation requires equipment?

In my opinion, one of the biggest things wrong with the New England City Council, is that the majority of the people in New England are rural tradespeople and hands-on agricultural people, but the City Council members are office and business personnel.

The City Council members do not work as tradespeople, they do not keep building materials, equipment, work trucks, trailers on their property, or work on vehicles and equipment on their property. The City Councilmen do not have hobbies that involve building materials, equipment, hobby vehicles, utility trailers, travel trailers, or working on vehicles and equipment.

It is obvious and apparent that the City Council members do not see or understand the worth, value, importance, desirability, purpose, enjoyment of having extra vehicles, parts vehicles, recreational vehicles, boats, trailers, equipment, and building supplies but want to classify these things as “Junk”, a “Public Nuisance”.

Not Allowed To Post This On Facebook New England Community Information Page:

Immediately after the December 1st New England City Council meeting I made a Post to the Facebook New England Community Information Page explaining what had happened at this meeting. Within 30 minutes my Post was completely removed by either or both of its moderators.

Since I was the only member of the public who attended this meeting, besides a Hettinger County Commissioner, a New England City employee, and a reporter from the Hettinger County Herald, isn’t it useful and important for the people in New England to hear what happened at this meeting?

Isn’t this suspicious that the Facebook New England Community Information Page doesn’t want the controversy, debate, discussion, argument, difference of opinions on the Revised New England Ordinances? Why? What is their reason?

If the passage of these Revised City Ordinances requires residents not finding out, not knowing about this, can this be good?