(A) Any violation of this Chapter shall be deemed a non-criminal violation for which a civil penalty of $100 shall be assessed and for which no points shall be assigned by the Illinois Motor Vehicle Code Point System for License Suspension to the owner or driver of the vehicle. If this civil penalty is not paid in full or contested in writing or in-person within 30 days of the notice of violation, a final determination of violation liability shall occur and a $100 penalty will be assessed in addition to the original $100 fine.
(B) Appeals shall be heard through the Administrative Adjudication process as established by the Berwyn Code of Ordinances and all rules of procedure, costs, fees and fines applicable to that process shall apply to violators processed through this chapter. The strict rules of evidence applicable to courts of law shall not apply to administrative appeals heard hereunder.
(C) A hearing officer appointed by the Mayor shall hold the administrative hearings. The hearing officer shall determine whether a preponderance of evidence establishes that a violation occurred and that the person who received the notice of violation is liable for the penalty set forth under this chapter.
(D) A certified copy of the notice of violation alleging the violation along with a copy of the image that served as a basis of the notice of violation shall be prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein and shall be admissible in a proceeding alleging a violation under this section.
(E) If a prima facie case has been established as set forth in division (D) of this section, the hearing officer may consider the following affirmative defenses, as to which the vehicle owner identified in the citation will have the burden of proof:
(1) That the operator of the vehicle was issued a uniform traffic citation by a police officer for the same incident as captured by the automated traffic enforcement system;
(2) That the violation occurred at a time during which the vehicle or its license plate was reported to a law enforcement agency as having been stolen and the vehicle or license plate had not been recovered by the owner at the time of the alleged violation;
(3) That the vehicle was leased to another, and within 60 calendar days after the citation was mailed to the lessor, lessor submitted to the city, the correct name and address of the lessee of the vehicle identified in this notice of violation at the time of the alleged violation;
(4) That the vehicle was an authorized emergency vehicle or was yielding the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle;
(5) That the vehicle was lawfully participating in a funeral procession;
(6) That the facts alleged in the notice of violation are inconsistent or do not support a finding that a violation occurred;
(7) That the respondent was not the registered vehicle owner, lessee or renter of the cited vehicle at the time of violation.
(F) Should a person who received a notice of violation pursuant to this section fail to pay the stated fine and fail to contest the basis of the notice either by writing or by in-person hearing, a default judgment shall be entered against that person and that person shall be responsible for the citation penalty of $100 plus the additional fine of $100 for failure to pay the fine within 30 days.
(Ord. 11-25, passed 6-28-2011)