Impact
WARD: Citywide
COMMITTEE: Human Resources & Court Services
$ IMPACT:
Title
Approve the amendment to the City of Smyrna's Code of Ordinances Chapter 34 entitled Courts, Section 34-38 (a) and (b) to amend the Municipal Court Technology surcharge amount to $6.50 per citation.
Body
ISSUE: Court Software is in need of an upgrade due to difficulty with response time during Court and for the clerks when entering information. The upgrade will take all court related information from a city server to the cloud where it will be maintained by Courtware. The information will accessible by court services personnel. The new surcharge will be $6.50 per offense. The current surcharge is set at $5.00 per offense. This software processes court fines, fees and surcharges, it also is used by probation for fees as ordered by the judge. Reports for court services, police department and probation are obtained through this software.
Moving Courtware to the cloud will release space on a city server, which is currently occupied by court files to relieve other areas in the city. The Information Technology staff will no longer have to oversee the software maintenance and upgrades. Courtware will maintain and provide assistance for any software issues.
BACKGROUND: The Municipal court technology fund was established in April of 2006 to enable Court Services to purchase Court Software. An ordinance was drafted for a surcharge to be in addition to all fines, fees, and surcharges imposed by the municipal court and documented in the bond/fine schedule. There was an additional $1.00 per paid citation allocated to this fund for ongoing technology needs. This amount funds other technology needs in the court/council room and court services.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: Recommended by the Clerk of Court and the City Clerk