A request from the City of Carroll to have the County Treasurer’s Office collect unpaid city parking tickets was declined by the Board of Supervisors Monday on a four-to-one vote. Treasurer, Jean Seidl, said for several years, former Police Chief, Jeff Cayler, and current Chief, Brad Burke, have asked her office to consider a 28E agreement for parking fine collections, as is done in some other counties.
The county would receive an administration fee of $5 for taking on collections. Seidl added that County Attorney, John Werden, had reviewed the document and said he had one suggestion if the county elected to take on the joint venture.
The plan would be to have the list submitted monthly and then the Treasurer’s staff would flag the records with a stop sign—this would also appear on their registration notice. The resident would be sent to the city to pay the fine before registration could be completed. Supervisors, Gene Meiners, Dean Schettler and Rich Ruggles, voiced their trepidation about the proposal.
There are situations where Iowa Code does come in to play. A resident may have the stop sign on their registration if they owe back taxes or a clerk of court fine. Chair, Neil Bock, said the one good thing he could see about the contract was an option for either party to withdraw with a 30-day notice. Supervisors asked Seidl about her feelings in having her department not only take on the added workload, but the potential confrontation that would likely occur when people find out they are unable to register their vehicles because of fines. She said she has no opinion one way or the other. However, they do already deal with many upset people.
A motion was made to not approve entering into this agreement. Schettler was the sole vote against the motion, saying he thought it needed some more debate.
