(a) There is hereby established for the City of Hart a Traffic Violations Bureau, to be operated by the Police Department. The Bureau shall be under the supervision of the Chief of Police and shall enforce, as hereinafter provided, all of the traffic regulations prescribed by the ordinances of said City and all rules and regulations passed pursuant thereto.
(b) Said Bureau is hereby authorized to grant to any person charged with a violation of any traffic ordinance the option of either paying to said Bureau the fines and penalties hereinafter provided for such violation or answering to a complaint before the District Court of the City of Hart. It shall not be mandatory, however, for the Bureau to grant to such violator the optional choice above provided.
(c) If such violator neglects or refuses to pay the fine or penalty herein provided at said Bureau, then it shall be the duty of the person in charge of such Bureau or some other officer having knowledge of the facts to forthwith make a complaint before the District Court and to bring the violator before the court to answer unto said complaint.
(d) There shall be established by the Chief of Police, subject to the approval of the City Council, a schedule of offenses and penalties, which shall be binding on the Traffic Violations Bureau in all cases which may be settled before it, and no other fines or penalties than those contained in such schedule shall be charged, provided, however, that such a schedule shall not be binding upon any court having jurisdiction under this section in cases where the violator elects or is required to answer to a complaint before such court.
(e) It shall be the duty of the Traffic Violations Bureau to keep a full, complete and accurate account of all violations settled before it and of all moneys received by it and it shall deposit all such moneys with the City Treasurer each month.
(f) If any police officer of the City of Hart shall witness a violation of any of the provisions of this Traffic Code or of any rule and/or regulation made pursuant hereto, it shall be the officer's duty to either arrest the violator forthwith and bring him or her before the Bureau or, if that course is impractical, to give to such violator a written notice, directing him or her to appear before the Bureau within forty-eight hours after receipt of such notice.
(g) If any vehicle is parked on any public street or alley in the City of Hart or parked on any private property in violation of any of the provisions of this Traffic Code, then a notice as above provided shall be affixed by the officer witnessing the violation, to some part of said vehicle, in such manner as to give to the owner or operator of such vehicle the same notice as would be given were the notice served upon him or her personally. The notice herein provided for shall further state the nature of the violation and where it occurred. It shall state that, unless the offender appears before the Bureau within the designated period, a complaint will be made before the District Court of the City of Hart. If such person so summoned fails or refuses to appear before said Bureau within such period, then it shall become the duty of the person in charge of said Bureau to cause such complaint to be made.
(Ord. 3. Passed 2-3-48.)