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HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-2003-231-Clerk of Courts Agreement re parking citations RESOLUTION NO. 2003-231 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE PROPER CITY OFFICIALS TO EXECUTE AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT TO BE ENTERED INTO BETWEEN THE CLERK OF COURTS (SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA) AND THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING BY THE CLERK OF COURTS OF PARKING CITATIONS (TICKETS) ISSUED BY THE CITY; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA: Section 1. That the Interlocal Agreement to be entered into between the Clerk of Courts (Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, in and for Broward County, Florida) and the City of Dania Beach, providing for the processing by the Clerk of Courts of parking citations (tickets) issued by the City, a copy of which agreement is attached and marked as Exhibit "A", is approved and the proper city officials are authorized to execute it; Section 2. That all resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict with this resolution are repealed to the extent of such conflict. Section 3. That this resolution shall be in force and take effect immediately upon its passage and adoption. PASSED AND ADOPTED on OCTOBER 1 T", 2003. OB ANT—ON MAYOR — C MISSIONER ATTEST: ROLL CALL: COMMISSIONER CHUNN COMMISSIONER FLURY - CHARLENE JOH ON COMMISSIONER MIKES -� CITY CLERK VICE-MAYOR MCELYE - e- MAYOR ANTON APPROVED ASI FORM AND CORRECTNESS: BY: TH10m S ANSBRO CITY ATTORNEY 1 RESOLUTION NO. 2003-231 1NTERLOCAL AGREEMENT Between CLERK OF COURTS SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA and CITY OF DANIA BEACH Providing_for PROCESSING AND COLLECTION OF PARKING CITATIONS This Interlocal Agreement is made by and between the CLERK OF COURTS, SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA ("CLERK"), and the CITY OF DANIA BEACH, a municipal corporation of the State of Florida("CITY"). The CITY's parking ordinances provide for the issuance of parking citations for violations of the ordinances. The CITY has designated the CLERK as the entity responsible for processing CITY parking citations and collecting fines imposed as a result of the issuance of such citations. The CITY is willing to pay to the CLERK a service fee for the processing of CITY citations and for the collection of such parking fines. IN CONSIDERATION of the mutual terms, conditions, promises, covenants and payments set forth in this Agreement, the CITY and the CLERK agree as follows: 1. SCOPE OF SERVICES. 1.1 The CLERK shall process all parking citations issued and collect all fines due pursuant to the CITY's parking ordinances. 1.2 CITY shall obtain and pay for its parking citations. CITY agrees that the citations shall meet the technical standards promulgated by the CLERK. 1.3 CLERK shall process by data entry all parking citations in a timely manner, not to exceed fifteen(15) working days from the date the citations are received by the CLERK. 1.4 The CLERK agrees to provide, pay for and send the notices to be sent in connection with the issuance of parking citations when and as required by law. 2. SERVICE FEES. 2.1 CITY agrees to pay the CLERK a base service processing fee of $2.50 for processing (by data entry) each municipal parking citation that is issued and received by the CLERK pursuant to the CITY's parking ordinances. CITY also agrees, however, to pay to the CLERK an additional collection service fee of $5.00 (over and above the $2.50 base service processing fee) for each issued municipal parking citation which results in payment to the CLERK of the citation amount, whether or not late fees have accrued and are paid. In other words, issued and paid citations shall result in a net total payment to the CLERK of$7.50 per each such citation. 2.2 CLERK states that it has entered into agreements with other municipalities in Broward County which provide the same services set forth in this Agreement. CLERK represents to CITY that the foregoing fees are identical to those paid by other municipalities. 2.3 The CLERK shall prepare a monthly invoice to cover all service fees for all previously unbilled new citations entered into the CLERK's computer system during the preceding month. Each month the CLERK shall issue a check to the CITY equal to all monies received, less the amount billed and retained by the Clerk for base service processing fees and additional collection service fees. 2.4 CLERK states that the service fee revenues collected and earned by the CLERK are for the purpose of defraying the costs of the CLERK's Parking Citation Unit. 3. SOFTWARE. The CLERK is recognized and shall act as the custodian of the parking citation data as defined in the Public Records Act of the State of Florida. • 4. LOCATION AND AVAILABILITY OF CLERK'S PARKING CITATION DIVISION. The CLERK's Parking Citation Unit is located at 201 Southeast 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 (telephone number (954) 831-5804) although it may be located at such other or additional location(s) as may be agreed upon in writing by the parties. The office will be open to the general public from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on those days that have been established as Legal Holidays for employees of the CLERK as designated by the Chief Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. 5. ARCHIVING FILE RETENTION AND BACKUP. On a monthly basis paid citations, which are six months old, and unpaid citations, which are one year old, shall be archived by the CLERK. This data shall be put on tape, maintained off site and retained in accordance with Florida Statutes. CLERK agrees that all data residing on the on-line system shall be backed-up daily and that a weekly back-up shall be performed and stored off-site. Records shall be maintained in accordance with the rules promulgated by the State of Florida, Division of Archives, History and Records Management. 6. REPORTS. The CLERK shall provide management and financial reports on a monthly basis to the CITY, which provide for, but are not limited to: auditable inventory control of all citations • received by CLERK, numeric sequencing of all citations processed through the system, information indicating citations collected, aging outstanding tickets, and indicating total dollars collected, user fee charges for citations processed and the number of citations collected. 2 7. CLERK'S RESPONSIBILITIES. The CLERK will provide for security of all data processing files in accordance with established security policy standards and guidelines. 8. MATTERS BEYOND THE CONTROL OF THE CITY AND CLERK. Neither the CITY nor CLERK shall be responsible for any failure or delay in performance under this Agreement due to circumstances beyond their respective reasonable control including, without limitation, Acts of God, accidents, mechanical failure, power failures, acts, omissions and defaults of third parties and official governmental or judicial action beyond their control The terms "official, governmental or judicial action for the purpose of this Agreement shall include any action, decision, order, directive or mandate taken by the Board of County Commissioners of Broward County or the County Administrator of Broward County or any person or entity acting on their behalf or any judicial order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction which directly prevents CLERK from performance of its commitments under this Agreement. In the event of occurrences which require the implementation of a Disaster Recovery Plan, the CLERK shall use its best efforts to provide a level of service consistent with the commitments set forth in this Agreement. 9. AMENDMENTS. No modification, amendment or alteration in the terms or conditions contained in this Agreement shall be effective unless contained in a written document executed with the same • formality and of equal dignity with this Agreement. 10. NOTICES. All written notices shall be effected by hand-delivery or by U.S. Mail, certified, return receipt requested, addressed as follows: CLERK: Howard C. Forman, Clerk of Courts Broward County Courthouse 201 Southeast Sixth Street Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 CITY: Ivan Pato, City Manager City of Dania Beach 100 West Dania Beach Blvd. Dania Beach, FL 33004 With a copy to: Thomas J. Ansbro, City Attorney Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Guedes Cole & Boniske, P.A. 3107 Stirling Rd., Suite 300 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312 • 3 1 11. EFFECTIVE DATE AND TERMINATION. 11.1 This Interlocal Agreement shall be effective initially for one (1) year from the • date of approval and execution by the CLERK. This Agreement shall be automatically renewed for five (5) one (1) year terms thereafter, without necessity for re-approval of re-execution unless terminated earlier in accordance with Section 11.2. 11.2 This Interlocal Agreement may be terminated by either party without cause upon ninety (90) days written notice to the other party. IN WITNESS OF THE FOREGOING, the parties have executed this Interlocal Agreement on the respective dates under each signature: HOWARD C. FORMAN, CLERK OF COURTS, SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT and CITY OF DANIA BEACH, signing by and through its Mayor(authorized to execute same by City action taken on /v �- , 2003). CLERK WITNESS CLZICOUR SEJUDI I CIRCUIT Signature By How C} Forman e of Courts • Print Name. 6tU day of 37 r , 2003 Signatur L l AA Print Wame APPROVED AS TO FORM: 2� OC %a( 2 2,-0 3 Office of the County Attorney Broward County, Florida Governmental Center, Room 423 115 South Andrews Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 • 4 CITY City of Dania Beach, a Florida municipal corporation ATTEST: By: CHARLENE JO SON 60B TO CITY CLERK MAYOR-CO ONER B IV O APPROVED FOR FORM CITY MANAGER AND CORREC E S: By: ' DateA��Wr-4/,5�2003 TH MAS V ANSBRO, ESQ. CITY-ATTORNEY • • 5 HOWARD C. FORMAN Lv\S g CD O� "' •,G�� CLERK OF CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURT � n 17TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT Y � y�J Y�C 201 SOUTHEAST 6TH STREET ® BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA 33301 October 31 , 2003 Ms. Miriam Nasser City of Dania Beach 100 West Dania Beach Blvd. Dania Beach, Florida 33004 Re: Inter-local Agreement Dear Ms. Nasser: Enclosed you will find an original copy of the executed agreement between the Clerk of Courts and the City of Dania Beach for your records. We look forward to working with you and your staff, regarding the processing of these parking citations. If your agency needs any assistance in ordering the new parking citations, please let me know. Once you have received your new citations we will be ready to begin. It will be very helpful if we receive copies of your city parking ordinances, prior to approving the new citation format. If you, or any other staff, have any questions or concerns regarding this agreement, please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. Sincerely yours, Uj cam,... Susie Warren - Parking Court Operations Supervisor Support Services Divisions FLORIDA J October 16, 2003 Howard C. Forman, Clerk of Courts Broward County Courthouse 201 Southeast Sixth Street Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 Dear Mr. Forman: RE: INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CLERK OF COURTS AND THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH FOR THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING OF PARKING CITATIONS. On October 14, 2003, the Dania Beach City Commission adopted • Resolution No. 2003-231 approving the above agreement, a copy of which is attached. We are sending two originals of the agreement for execution by the Clerk of Courts. Upon execution, please retain one original of the agreement and return one to me for our records. If you have any questions regarding this agreement, please contact Patricia Varney, Finance Director, at (954) 924-3620. Sincerely, vt�,rt Miriam Nasser Deputy City Clerk Enclosures "Broward's First City' 100 West Dania Beach Boulevard Dania Beach, Florida 33004 Phone: (954) 924-3600 www.ci.dania-beach.fl.us _ Agenda Request Form City of Dania Beach Agenda Item: Date of Commission meeting: 10/14/2003 Description of Agenda Item: Approve an agreement with the Clerk of the Court Commission action being requested: Adopt Resolution or Ordinance ® Expenditure ❑ Award BID / RFP ❑ Presentation ❑ General approval of item ❑ Continued from meeting _ ©ther{Please explain} � M �, Syr Summary explanation and background To enter in to an agreement with Broward County Clerk of the Court for the collection of parking citations. • Attached exhibits,and additional backup materials (Please list): „ w. ... .., Staff Memo, City Attorney memo, Agreement& Resolution For purchasing requests ONLY Department: Amount: Fund: General: ❑ Water: ❑ Sewer: ❑ Stormwater: ❑ Grants: ❑ Capital: ❑ Account Name: Account Number: Submitted by. Date: Department Director. Patricia Varney Date: 10/7/2003 Admin. Services Director. Date: Finance Director: pvarney Date: 10/7/2003 City Manager: Heeds Date: 10/7/2003 Agenda Request Form City of Dania Beach Agenda Item: Date of Commission meeting: 10/14/2003 Description of Agenda Item: Approve an agreement with the Clerk of the Court Commission action being requested: Adopt Resolution or Ordinance ❑ Expenditure ❑ Award BID/ RFP ❑ Presentation ❑ General approval of item ❑ Continued from meeting Other;`(Please explain) ' Summary�explanation and background' To enter in to an agreement with Broward County Clerk of the Court for the collection of parking citations. • Attached exhibits and additional backup materials"(Please list) Staff Memo, City Attorney memo, Agreement& Resolution For purchasing requests ONLY Department: Amount: Fund: General: ❑ Water: ❑ Sewer: ❑ Stormwater: ❑ Grants: ❑ Capital: ❑ Account Name: Account Number: Submitted by: Date: Department Director.' pvarney Date: 10/7/2003 Admin. Services Director: Date: • Finance Director. / pvarney Date: 10/7/2003 City Manager: e� C,�� /��/"G Date: !a* 7,o`2 Gtsr/h 4���'— =_ CITY OF DANIA BEACH DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE MEMORANDUM TO: Ivan Pato, City Manager Memo: DFA-04-001 FROM: Patricia Varney Director of Finance DATE: October 6, 2003 SUBJECT: Parking Violation Collection The collection rate of parking violations for the City is currently around 30 to 35% and it has always been a concern by both management and City Commission to improve this collection rate. During the budget process, Finance has investigated other revenue to collect these citations. Attached is a detailed analysis performed by Ms. Nicki Satterfield. Staff has recommended during the budget process to engage the Broward County Clerk of the Court to perform this function, and the Commission has approved the fees increase as indicated by the County. An agreement has to be entered into before the Clerk of the Court can provide this function. The City attorney has reviewed the agreement and agreed as to form. • o • Memo To: Patricia Varney From: Nicki Satterfield ®ate: October 7,2003 Re: Parking Citation Study Problem #1: Currently the City issues over 6,000 general parking violations and over.100 handicap violations each fiscal year. While our current system is adequate for issuing tickets, we do not have a system in place for collections. The city's current collection rate is approximately 30%-35% percent. This is mainly attributed to the honor system. Further collection beyond this is inhibited because our CSA's cannot follow-up on delinquent citations because they only have a tag number to work with. They are unable to obtain names or addresses for these citations and therefore cannot send repeat notices of any kind. Research: The Clerk of the Circuit Courts— Parking Division provides processing services of parking • citations for most municipal agencies through an inter-local agreement. After speaking with Susie Warren from the Parking Division, I have obtained the following regarding the fees involved. ® A$2.50 processing fee is charged regardless of whether the citation is collected. ® An additional$5.00 is charged if the ticket is collected. A maximum total of$7.50. • A $5.00 dismissal fee is collected if someone cited for handicapped can provided proof of a disabled parking permit with a notarized statement. (Only applies to handicapped citations) o If a case is dismissed only the$2.50 processing fee is collected. o In order to comply with the Circuit Courts system, all citations will need to be payable within 10 days. Failure to pay will result in a$12.00 late fee. This late fees are remitted to the City. The MAXIMUM fees the Clerk keeps is$7.50. In exchange for the fees the Circuit Court will provide the following: • Handle violator complaints and phone calls • Handle all correspondence m Accept collection of citations a Hold hearings if violator contest the citation • 3 Handle all further necessary collections of delinquent citations 1 • Send detailed collection report along with monthly remittance check. The report will show citations, NSF checks, partial payments, etc. • • Submit itemized monthly invoice for the processing fees to be paid by City In order to implement this system the City will need to provide the following. • Purchase our own citations that met certain specifications regarding size, color,wording, etc. • Implement an ordinance specifying all citations are payable within 10 working days and failure to pay results in a $12.00 late fee. (Current software does not allow for different late fees for different municipalities). • Provide a copy of all citations issued within 5 days from date of issue,to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. These citations must include tag number, name, and address of who the car is registered to. Other Considerations: • Susie Warren stated that the current collection rate through the Circuit Court Clerk's Office is 65%-68%. They are hoping to improve this soon. They are implementing an automated system whereby they can link different jurisdictions so this will enable them to see if there are violators with 3 or more general citations within the different jurisdictions. This enables the Circuit Court Clerk to notify the DMV to deny renewal of their tags. • The Circuit Court Clerk is also looking at implementing a collection agency for the con- collectable citations. This will be done on their end with no further cost to the City. • Current range for general violations is $25.00 - $39.00 with the average between $35.00- ® $37.00. • In additional to what we want to charge for violations we must allow $3.00 for handicap violations.. The County is required to collect $3.00 for the Juvenile Justice Fund which is remitted to them. This will need to be included in the dollar amount printed on the ticket. • They will need a copy of all ordinances to make sure they cover all violations we are citing for. Problem #2: Even if we enter into an inter-local agreement with the Clerk of the Circuit Court we still have the problem of the CSA's inability to provide names and address on the citations. Based on my experience I started researching possibilities of obtaining the information directly from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. The result is as follows: Spoke with David Perriman from the Florida DMV. Currently the City can access the DMV records through various mediums. CD, Printout, Mainframe Tape, or FTP. After speaking with Chuck it is determined that the most current data would be accessed through the FTP. Under this system our computer system would be set up to send a list of vehicle id tag#'s or vin#'s to the DMV. The DMV then runs this information into their systems which processes it and sends it back to us. It may however need to be converted to an user friendly format such as excel,which should be no problem. 0 Page 2 Mr. Perriman stated the normal turn around time for this information is 2—2 1/2 hours. There is no limit on the number of request. In fact,while I was speaking to him he indicated he just completed a request for 3,800. Not a problem. Last fiscal year we issued 6,037 general violations and 135 handicapped violations. This averages to approximately 17 violations per day including weekends. Even if the CSA cannot access the database on the weekends we would be looking at a high end of probably 50-60 on Monday when the come in. Of course seasonal times may allow for a higher volume but this is not a problem for the DMV. The best part of all,the cost to the City for the Service is FREE! As long as we are accessing the information for the purposes of traffic or parking enforcement there is no charge to us from the DMV We will however have to make sure the CSA's are able to come in on a regular basis to process the information and record the names and address on the citation before it is sent to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The information does not have to be on the violators copy. They know who they are. The citations can either be hand delivered or sent via some type of courier system if need be. We will need to set something up. Recommendations: ® Increase current general violations from$15.00 to$35.00 m Increase current handicap violation from$250.00 to$253.00(to cover the Juvenile Justice Fee) • Increase late fee penalty date from 48 hours to 10 days to coincide with Clerk of the Circuit Court requirements • Increase penalty amount from$5.00 to$12.00 to coincide with Clerk of the Circuit Court requirements a Update ordinances parking/traffic ordinances required by Clerk of the Circuit Court o Order approved citations as required by Clerk of the Circuit Court o Institute system access with the Department of Motor Vehicles. 0 Page 3 • CITY OF Dt NIA BEACH MEMORANDUM TO: Pat Varney, Finance Director CC: Ivan Pato, City Manager FROM: Tom Ansbro, City Attorney DATE: September 24, 2003 RE: Proposed Interlocal Agreement Between City and Clerk of Courts for "Processing and Collection of Parking Citations" • Attached is a copy of the Agreement adapted for City use from the form submitted by Susie Warren, Supervisor of the Parking Citation Division of the Clerk of the Court. I called her to ask for responses to two questions which pertain to matters which are not addressed in the Agreement: 1) I asked about people who "appeal" their tickets. She advised that staff are assigned (four persons) to hear "appeals" of citations, so there will be no need for the City to handle any requests of that nature. 2) I asked about the system (Florida Statutes, Section 316.1967(6)) that catches "scofflaws", when they seek to renew their vehicle registrations. She reports that the Clerk has the ability to "track" an offender who receives and does not pay for three or more citations (the Clerk's system actually collects the information about such people from twenty-four various cities and governmental agencies that use the Clerk's system). This will allow for reporting of the name of any such person who meets or exceeds the three-ticket threshold to the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. In turn, that Department will flag or mark the name, and will not issue a license or renewal of a vehicle registration until proof of payment of the fines is received. Based on my understanding from Ms. Warren that the foregoing two issues are addressed, the Agreement can proceed for placement on a City Commission agenda for approval.