At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Judge Jim McLaughlin provided the City council members with the annual report for the municipal court which saw a shift in numbers due to COVID-19.
McLaughlin said they had approximately 19,000 cases with a 44 percent increase in cases handled. The number of citations and arrests includes DUIs, misdemeanors, traffic stops and other tickets.
Out of 19,000 cases, 16 cases were appealed and taken to a higher court.
“Pretty proud of that number. That means less than one, one thousandth of the people that we dealt with felt like I did such a bad job they had to take it over the county,” McLaughlin said.
The court also handled a total of approximately 13,000 parking tickets.
McLaughlin spoke about the community service aspect and the Environmental Services program that he reinstated where defendants have an opportunity to work to pay off their fines and court costs.
Approximately 14,000 hours of community service were completed. Almost 9,000 of those hours were completed through the reinstated Environmental Services program where defendants work on a trash truck six days a week for $10 an hour.
During the pandemic, the court shifted to meet three days a week instead of the usual one and a half.
“The purpose was to social distance and reduce the number of people in our court room,” McLaughlin said.
The court adjusted by reducing docket sizes from 100 to 40 people an hour. McLaughlin said as a result the court saw a 56 percent increase in people who failed to appear.
“We got to where if we had 40 people set on a docket, you would have anywhere from eight to 10 people show up,” McLaughlin said. “So, we were having a massive amount of no shows and having to issue a lot of failure to appear warrants.”
The court saw an increase in the amount of paperwork a a result of the increase in cases and those that fail to appear.
McLaughlin said the court is working with the Southern Poverty Law Center and software developer UpTrust to develop a text messaging system to remind defendants of their court dates, payment plan, trial notices and any other reminders.
“It will benefit the citizens because a majority of them don’t intentionally not come to court,” McLaughlin said. “A lot of these college kids have way too much more fun things than going on than paying a speeding ticket or parking ticket.”
One concern from Ward 1 Council member Connie Fitch-Taylor was about people changing their numbers and reporting that to the courts.
McLaughlin said that they will have to have police officers collect the defendants phone number and the court will keep track of updating this information.
The court will continue to mail information and also provides a courtesy court date for those that fail to appear the first time.
Mayor Ron Anders announced the addition of the new police dog, Spectrum, who completed the 12-week training session for K-9s. Spectrum is the new addition to the police force as a result of $10,000 donation from Charter Communications Company.
Council members discussed Edgar Hughston Builder, Inc. Development Agreement which will install bike lanes and a multiuse path for a greenway in The Landings at Academy Drive.
War 2 Councilmember Kelley Griswold wanted this item removed from the consent agenda which allowed council members to discuss the agreement.
“I think any time that the City is providing funding to a developer, we ought to bring it up in public and get a good explanation of it,” Griswold said. “In fact, I think most development agreements, in general, should not be on the consent agenda.”
The development is a result of City engineers recognizing a connectivity issue and extended the infrastructure to keep traffic moving.
The council also approved ordinances that will establish school zones with traffic control signs and devices for Auburn Montessori School, East Samford School and Lee Scott Academy.
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