By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
SUAMICO – Effective Jan. 1, the village will operate a joint municipal court with two towns in Oconto County.
The Suamico village board voted 6-1 Monday, Nov. 4, in favor of an ordinance creating the joint municipal court with the Village of Suamico, Town of Chase and Town of Little Suamico.
It also approved a resolution authorizing a joint municipal court agreement with the two towns.
Trustee Michelle Eckert cast the lone dissenting vote on both measures.
The idea of forming the joint municipal court was presented to the board in August by Municipal Judge Kevin Rathburn, who said the two towns don’t have the infrastructure to create a municipal court of their own, send all their citations to Oconto County and cannot collect any revenue from the citations issued to offset enforcement costs.
Rathburn said he expects the village won’t incur more expenses than revenue generated with the court.
Upon the court forming, Rathburn will remain as the municipal judge with the court proceedings being held in the village’s municipal building.
When the municipal judge’s current four-year term expires in April 2023, anyone seeking the position will have to run in all three municipalities with any candidate who runs able to reside in any one of those municipalities.
The village board will continue to set the judge’s salary, while all costs associated with the operation and administration of the court will be paid by the village.
Under the municipal court agreement, the towns will pay the village $20 for each citation issued by the towns and handled by the court.
For citations issued by a town that proceed to trial, the town will pay the court an additional $30 for the trial aspect of the prosecution proceedings.
The court will retain the court cost portion of each fine.
The municipal prosecutor, who will be appointed and whose fees will be set by the village, will bill the towns individually for the services provided to each municipality.
The village will collect all forfeitures and disburse funds to the appropriate parties at the end of the month in accordance with state law.
A copy of the monthly financial statement will be provided to each town.
The village will send a monthly invoice to each town identifying the citations and the amount they owe the court.
The towns will each pay for half of a one-time software setup fee of $1,312 and also split the annual software support fees, which currently are $789.
Village Administrator Alex Kaker said the village will be watching the court’s finances to make sure Suamico doesn’t lose money on the joint municipal court, in which any of the three municipalities may withdraw from by giving written notice to the judge by no later than Aug. 31 of any given year to terminate that municipality’s participation at the end of that year.