(a) A person who is personally or constructively served with a parking ticket charging the commission of a parking infraction may answer the charge by appearing personally before the Parking Violations Bureau or by mail. An answer shall be made within fourteen days from the date of the infraction, and shall be in one of the following forms:
(1) An admission that the person committed the parking infraction, by payment of any fine arising out of the parking infraction;
(2) An admission that the person committed the parking infraction, with an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the parking infraction;
(3) A denial that the person committed the parking infraction and a request for a hearing relative to the infraction. If the person desires the presence, at the hearing, of the law or parking enforcement officer who issued the parking ticket, the person must request his presence in his answer.
(b) (1) A person who admits that he or she committed a parking infraction shall, and a person who admits that he or she committed a parking infraction with explanation may, when he or she makes his or her answer, pay the fine arising out of the infraction to the Violation Clerk of the Parking Violations Bureau as instructed.
(2) A person who admits that he or she committed a parking infraction with explanation shall submit evidence to the Parking Violations Bureau that explains the circumstances surrounding the parking infraction. The evidence may be submitted in person or, to avoid the necessity of personal appearance, may be sent as affidavits and other documentary evidence, by mail. When the hearing examiner receives an answer admitting that a person committed a parking infraction with explanation, he or she shall promptly determine whether the explanation mitigates the fact that the person committed the parking infraction and notify the person, in writing, of its determination.
(3) If the hearing examiner determines that the explanation mitigates the fact that the person committed the parking infraction, the Parking Violations Bureau shall eliminate or reduce the amount of the fine arising out of the parking infraction. If the fine is eliminated or reduced and the person has previously paid the fine, the amount paid in excess of the revised fine shall be returned to the person; if the fine is eliminated or reduced and the person has not previously paid the fine, the person shall pay only the amount of the revised fine. If the Hearing Examiner determines that the explanation does not mitigate the fact that the person committed the parking infraction, the person owes the entire amount of the fine. If a person admits that he committed a parking infraction with explanation and the person fails to pay the amount of the fine due within ten days after receiving notice of the Hearing Examiner's determination, unless the amount due has previously been paid, the Hearing Examiner's determination and the amount of the fine due shall be considered a judgment and shall be treated as if it were a judgment rendered subsequent to a hearing held pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 357.07.
(4) A person who denies that he or she committed a parking infraction shall be granted a hearing concerning the infraction. The Parking Violations Bureau shall set a date for the hearing and notify the person, in writing, of the date, time and place of the hearing. The hearing shall be conducted by the Hearing Examiner in accordance with Section 357.07.
(Ord. 01-03-2021. Passed 1-19-21.)