The city of La Salle is amending its process for certifying non-highway motor vehicles, including golf carts, utility task vehicles and side-by-sides. It has removed the requirement that the vehicles must be certified by an ASE-certified mechanic.

The decision was made at the Monday, April 27 meeting of the La Salle City Council.

“We revised the ordinance so that it doesn’t have to be an ASE certified technician,” First Ward Alderman James ‘Diz’ Demes said. “It can be any mechanical or automotive business that has insurance, and does any kind of golf carts or any kind of motor vehicles.”

La Salle City Attorney James McPhedran added that any sales dealer for a manufacturer of any particular non-highway motor vehicle would qualify for the certification as well.

Before the city amended the ordinance, La Salle residents had a difficult time certifying their vehicles for operation on city streets as the original ordinance prescribed, as Fourth Ward Alderman Jordan Crane noted at a previous council meeting.

“The day after the council passed this, we had people lining up at local businesses here in town waiting to get inspected, just to find out that they could not be inspected because we don’t have the proper certifications in those businesses,” he said.

McPhedran pointed out at that meeting that several local mechanics were at one point ASE-certified, but had since let their certification lapse.

“It was an oversight on our part,” Demes said.