Fallsnewspress.com - Village Police required to update traffic citations for new municipal court

by Lauren Krupar
and Phil Keren

Correspondent, Editor

Silver Lake -- The new venue for the municipal court is precipitating an added cost for the communities in the jurisdiction, according to Silver Lake Police Chief Gary DeMoss.

"With the change of the Cuyahoga Falls [Municipal] Court to Stow [in January], our supply of traffic citations will be strapped," DeMoss said, adding the Stow law director has required all villages and cities using the new court to change the citations. Those instructions have also come from the court leader.

In a Nov. 17 letter to Chief DeMoss, Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court Clerk Lisa Zeno Carano wrote, "citations from January 1, 2009 must read 'Stow Municipal Court.' There will be no grace period."

Traffic citations, DeMoss said, are printed with the contact information of the local municipal court.

DeMoss raised this issue during his report to Village Council on Nov. 17.

With the municipal court moving from Cuyahoga Falls to Stow in January, Silver Lake Police will need to include the new information on the traffic citations it issues. Since the citations are printed as a series of carbon copies, stickers placed over the old information would've prevented some of the information from transferring to the other copies, DeMoss said.

DeMoss told the Falls News-Press he expects to know the cost of ordering the citations in the upcoming week, and added the village will have them in time for the court switchover. There are at least two places on the current traffic citations that need to list the Stow Municipal Court information.

DeMoss said there are still about 3,600 of the current citations left. The chief said the department uses approximately "800 to 1,000" citations each year. He noted those tickets will get recycled.

"I hate to waste that stuff," said DeMoss.

The department does not use as many of the citations as it did at one time. The chief said they used to be required to use one ticket for each charge, but now they are allowed to list up to six offenses on one paper ticket.

"That's really reduced the number of tickets we write," said DeMoss.

The municipal court will move from the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Building at 2310 Second St. to a site at the northwest corner of the Steels Corners Road and Route 8 interchange in Stow. The new facility is scheduled to open Jan. 2, 2009.

Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court Judge Kim Hoover said the total cost of the project is estimated at $9 million, which includes the purchase of the land and construction.

About 50 employees will move from the current courthouse in Cuyahoga Falls to the new facility, he said.

The court serves 16 communities: Boston Heights, Boston Township, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Macedonia, Munroe Falls, Northfield Center, Northfield Village, Peninsula, Reminderville, Sagamore Hills, Silver Lake, Stow, Tallmadge, Twinsburg and Twinsburg Township.

Cuyahoga Falls is planning to open a mayor's court in January at the site of the current municipal court.

According to city officials, the mayor's court will take on minor misdemeanor traffic citations, first-time DUIs, driving under suspension, as well as minor misdemeanor criminal cases such as disorderly conduct, open container, dog barking and loud music.

E-mail: fallsnewspress@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3940