FEATURE Review by DJ Gehrt
Municipal Court Transfers: How Platte City Smoothly Transitioned A Municipal Court To The Platte County Circuit Court Associate Division In the spring of 2017, Platte City decided to close its municipal court and transition adjudication of municipal c o d e v i o l at i o n s t o t h e Associate Division of the Sixth Circuit Court. This article provides the background for making that decision, the process for implementing the transition and a brief discussion of the outcomes of that change after nearly three years of experience. Spoiler alert! The consensus among City elected officials and staff is, that if we had known in 2017 what we know now, we would have made the change years earlier. There have been challenges, and the change was not seamless. However, the City has only received a few negative comments regarding court operations from individuals unfortunate enough to receive a municipal violation. The transition was financially beneficial for the City, simplified city operations and provided an opportunity to increase time and resources dedicated to other city functions. Additionally, the separation of the City’s judicial function from its governing body and appointed officials has improved public perception regarding the impartiality and legitimacy of the municipal court. In the state court system, municipal courts are a component of the state court and are under the direct jurisdiction of the presiding judge of the respective circuit courts. The Platte City Municipal Court operates under the jurisdiction of the presiding judge of the Sixth Circuit Court. It is significant to note that Platte City is the county seat with the county courthouse located a a short distance from City Hall and the police station. While municipal courts operate under the legal jurisdiction of the circuit court, the governing body of the city retains authority over the municipal code and has specific authority to select the judicial venue that will hear cases involving violations of that code. State statute provides the governing body the option of operating its own municipal court or
having municipal violations assigned to the associate division of the circuit court. When the state court system was substantially reorganized in the late 1970s, Platte City, along with a majority of other Missouri municipal governments, elected to organize and operate its own municipal court within the circuit court system. During that reorganization, the City selected the option to designate the municipal court judge as an elected rather than appointed position. After a series of elected judges throughout the 1980s, Judge Greg Dorsey was elected as Platte City Municipal Court Judge in 1994 and was reelected every two years until his death in 2017. The City began reviewing its court operations in 2016 in an effort to become fully compliant with the Office of the State Courts Administrator (OSCA) municipal court operating regulations and to implement statutory changes (commonly called SB 5 and SB 572 changes). Although these statutory changes and the OSCA regulations were intended to enhance credibility and improve the operation of municipal courts, the changes negatively affected the ability of Platte City and other small communities to fund and staff its municipal court. The costly and most operationally challenging issues include: • Requirement to create/fund a civilian bailiff as a new part-time position, due to prohibition on police officers (even in civilian clothes) serving the court in any capacity; • Restrictions on the municipal court clerk’s participation in any other city business with accompanying restriction on city employees assisting with court business; • Increased financial and administrative reporting requirements; • Requirement for separate court administrative facilities and or entrances; www.mocities.com
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