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<br />said, the City has a cost of doing business and they are trying to recoup their costs through things <br />like fees or permits. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen expressed his dissatisfaction with the court system being filled with petty <br />issues like speeding. He pointed out that these fees would only relate to speeding violations that <br />are less than ten miles per hour over the speed limit. The officer will still have discretion on <br />whether to issue the administrative fine or move the violation into the court system. If it is an <br />issue of whether the fines are legal, the City could keep the fines in a fund and not tap into it. <br />Cambridge is an example ofa city that made $60,000 to $70,000 in two years of the program. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look stated if you are breaking the law you need to pay for that, although there <br />is some discretion if the speed is five miles per hour over the speed limit, and then you are <br />usually let go. He agrees with Councilmember Elvig in terms of this being a revenue generator, <br />but that it offsets expenses. The City has a real cost of putting officers on the street. As far as <br />the quotas, he thinks people believe there are quotas regardless of whether there are or not. <br />There has been substantial work done on trying to find if there is a relationship between tickets <br />and accidents, and they have not found one yet that he is aware of. Some people are in the <br />wrong place at the wrong time and get tickets more often than others. The State Auditor and the <br />Attorney General are not the authority on this. He stated he understands that the cities do not <br />have power short of what the State gives them, so he is concerned about that part of it. But other <br />communities are doing it, and it is a successful program, and it offsets expenses. they have as a <br />community. They are looking at bringing reason to government, and he thinks this is a <br />reasonable attempt to try to achieve that. He would be in favor of that. It would be great if they <br />finally get on the ball and decide they want to tackle it at the State level. But as a community, <br />with funding that is continually cut back, it is somewhat reminiscent of an unfunded federal <br />mandate. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen expressed concern with individuals having the ability to pay to keep <br />a driving offense off their driving and insurance records. She stated her concern would be with <br />people that are habitual speeders and put others at risk through excess speeds and reckless <br />driving. This involves a safety issue and it creates a moral dilemma. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen stated he has been in the legal system for 20 years. Drivers that are <br />habitual offenders and who get DWI's drive without insurance. His goal is to have as many <br />people have insurance as possible. As far as the people that continually speed, that can still be <br />tracked. <br /> <br />Police Chief Way explained the City will be going to a new system called Ticket Writer that <br />automatically sends the information off and does not require anything to be done in the City <br />office. Any ticket like this will have to be a handwritten ticket made up by the City that would <br />be in a separate system. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen questioned who would not appreciate this. He stated it will keep cases <br />out of court that clog the dockets for more serious cases. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / July 17,2007 <br />Page 4 of 12 <br />