OSAGE, IA-The Iowa Supreme court is weighing in on a decision pitting a religious community against a north Iowa county.
The justices are deciding that a Mitchell County law banning steel wheels from county roads is unconstitutional.
But the fight may not be over.
What the state Supreme Court says is the Mitchell County steel wheel ordinance is too restrictive and that the ordinance, as applied specifically to church members, violates part of the first amendment.
Even with this ruling, the county attorney says they *will continue to enforce their current steel wheel ordinance.
It's been a long fight - and many days spent in court and it's all coming down to this decision.
The Iowa Supreme Court says Mitchell County's 2009 law banning steel wheels on county roads is unconstitutional.
Mitchell County Attorney Mark Walk says, "In other words they said it's possible that a tractor could be driven on the roads without damaging the roads and our ordinance was a flat constitutional ban on all steel wheel traffic."
But Walk says this isn't a total loss for the county.
In 2010 they passed a law with new language saying steel wheels couldn't be used if they are damaging the roads, something that was not included in earlier drafts.
Walk says, "The one issue that they reversed on, was a very limited issue. They said that Mitchell County did not use the least restrictive means possible to enforce the ordinance."
But according to Walk, the law in place now should be constitutional according to what was found in the Supreme Court's decision.
So if the steel wheels are damaging the roads, the county will enforce their codes.
County Supervisor Bob Marreel says, "This doesn’t take away our second ordinance and it hasn’t changed the state law so we can still function under that premise."
They aren't expecting the issue to die down anytime soon.
Walk says the current ordinance will probably be looked at too.
Walk says, "I anticipate we'll be back at Supreme Court arguing if both state law and this are constitutional."
The Iowa code on steel wheel use is similar to the Mitchell County law, it's just worded in a different way.
The Iowa code states that you can drive steel wheels on the roads, if you don't cause damage.
Walk says, "So it's disappointing we didn’t win here cause we are going to have to go through all the steps."
So here are the next steps in this case.
First, it will most likely come up at the next board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday.
From there, two things could happen.
The board can appeal this decision to the United States Supreme Court because the ruling was based on federal law.
Or they can decide not to appeal and give Mr. Zimmerman his ten dollar fine back.
Either way, if someone is caught driving a steel wheel tractor on the roads and it does damage, they will be fined.
Walk says they will keep pursuing this issue because it's worth saving the 16 million dollars they've invested in their roads.
He says it has not cost the county anything to fight for the law.
The only financial hit, might be a couple hundred dollars in court fees.
