(A) Administrative Adjudication: This section concerns administrative adjudication of violations of traffic regulations concerning the standing, parking, or condition of vehicles.
1. The provisions of 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/11-208.3, as amended from time to time by the legislature of the state, is hereby adopted and incorporated herein as if fully set out herein, and any provisions of this section which conflict with said statute, as amended, shall be made to conform, interpreted and enforced in conformity with 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/11-208.3.
2. State law reference municipal adoption of codes and records act, 50 Illinois Compiled Statutes 220/0.01 et seq.
(B) Penalties:
1. The fine for any parking, standing, or compliance violation, shall be as provided in the city of Momence fine schedule in section 1-4-1 of this title. Payment is to be received by the adjudication system administrator, police chief, or his designee, within fourteen (14) calendar days from the date of the violation notice. After such fourteen (14) day period, the fine shall be the amount as provided in the city fine schedule.
(C) Traffic Compliance Administrator:
1. A traffic compliance administrator shall be appointed by the mayor, with the advice, and consent of the city council. The administrator shall be authorized to adopt, distribute, and process parking and compliance violation notices, and other notices required by this section, collect money paid as fines, and penalties for violation of parking and compliance ordinances, and operate an administration adjudication system. The traffic compliance administrator may also make a certified report to the secretary of state under 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/6-306.5, as amended.
(D) Content; Payment; Hearing:
1. Content: The following information shall be on a violation notice:
(a) A parking, standing, or compliance violation notice shall specify the date, time, and place of the violation;
(b) The particular regulation violated;
(c) The fine that may be assessed for late payment provided by the city of Momence fine schedule in section 1-4-1 of this title;
(d) The vehicle make and state registration number;
(e) The identification number of the officer issuing the notice.
2. Payment:
(a) The violation notice shall provide that the payment of the indicated fine, and of any applicable penalty for late payment, shall operate as a final disposition of the violation. The notice also shall contain information as to the availability of a hearing in which the violation may be contested on its merits.
3. Hearing:
(a) The violation notice shall specify the manner in which a hearing may be had.
(E) First Service Of Violation Notice:
1. Service of the parking, standing, or compliance violation notice shall be made by affixing the original, or a facsimile of the notice to an unlawfully parked vehicle or by handing the notice to the operator of a vehicle if he or she is present. Any police officer, or the chief of police, of the city of Momence, is authorized by this section to issue and serve parking, standing, and compliance violation notices, and shall certify as to the correctness of the facts entered on the violation notice by signing his name to the notice at the time of service. The original, or a facsimile of the violation notice shall be retained by the traffic compliance administrator, and shall be a record kept in the ordinary course of business. A copy of the parking, standing, or compliance violation notice issued, signed and served in accordance with this section, a copy of the notice shall be prima facie correct and shall be prima facie evidence of the correctness of the facts shown on the notice. The notice, copy, or computer generated record shall be admissible in any subsequent administrative, or legal proceedings.
(F) Hearing:
1. The registered owner of the vehicle cited in the parking, standing, or compliance violation notice, shall be given an opportunity for a hearing in which the owner may contest the merits of the alleged violation, and during which formal or technical rules of evidence shall not apply; provided, however, that under 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/11-1306, as amended, the lessee of a vehicle cited in the violation notice likewise shall be provided an opportunity for a hearing of the same kind afforded the registered owner. The hearing shall have the audio recorded and the traffic compliance administrator, or his designee, shall be empowered to administer oaths and to secure by subpoena both the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and the production of relevant books and papers. Persons appearing at the hearing under this section may be represented by counsel at their own expense.
(G) Service Of Additional Violation Notices:
1. Service of additional notices may be sent by first class United States mail, postage prepaid, to the address of the registered owner of the cited vehicle as recorded with the secretary of state, or, under 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/11-1306, as amended, to the lessee of the cited vehicle at the last address known to the lessor of the cited vehicle at the time of the lease. The service shall be deemed complete as of the date of deposit in the United States mail. The notices shall be in the following sequence, and shall include, but not be limited to, the information specified herein:
(a) Second Notice Of Violation: This notice shall specify the date and location of the violation cited in the parking, standing, or compliance violation notice, the particular regulation violated, the vehicle make and state registration number, the fine, and any penalty that may be assessed for late payment when so provided in the list of fines in the city of Momence fine schedule in section 1-4-1 of this title, the availability of a hearing in which the violation may be contested on its merits, and the time and manner in which the hearing may be had. The notice of violation shall also state that failure either to pay the indicated fine, and any applicable penalty, or to appear at the hearing on the merits in the time and manner specified, will result in a final determination of violation liability for the cited violation in the amount of the fine or penalty indicated, and that upon the occurrence of a final determination of violation liability for the failure, and the exhaustion of, or failure to exhaust, available judicial procedures for review, any unpaid fine or penalty will constitute a debt due, and owing the municipality.
(b) Notice Of Final Determination Of Parking, Standing, Or Compliance Violation Liability: This notice shall be sent following a final determination of parking, standing, or compliance violation liability and the conclusion of the judicial review procedures taken under this section. The notice shall state that the unpaid fine or penalty is a debt due, and owing the municipality. The notice shall contain warnings that failure to pay any fine or penalty due and owing to the city of Momence within the time specified, may result in the municipality's filing with state of Illinois local debt recovery program (LDRP), or may result in suspension of the person's driver's license for failure to pay fines or penalties for ten (10) or more parking violations under 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/6-306.5, as amended.
(H) Notice Of Impending Driver's License Suspension:
1. This notice shall be sent to the person liable for any fine or penalty that remains due, and owing on ten (10) or more parking violations. The notice shall state that failure to pay the fine or penalty owing within forty five (45) days of the notice's date will result in the city notifying the secretary of state, that the person is eligible for initiation of suspension proceedings under 625 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/6-306.5, as amended. The notice shall also provide that the person may obtain a copy of an original ticket imposing a fine or penalty by sending a self- addressed, stamped envelope to the city requesting same. The notice of impending driver's license suspension shall be sent by first class United States mail, postage prepaid, to the address recorded with the secretary of state.
(I) Final Determinations Of Violation Liability:
1. A final determination of violation liability shall occur following failure to pay the fine, or penalty after a hearing officer's determination of violation liability, and the exhaustion of, or failure to, exhaust any administrative review procedures provided by this section. Where a person fails to appear at a hearing to contest the alleged violation in the time and manner specified in a prior mailed notice, the hearing officer's determination of violation liability shall become final:
(a) Upon denial of a timely petition to set aside that determination; or
(b) Upon expiration of the period for filing the petition without a filing having been made.
(J) Petition To Set Aside A Determination Of Liability Filed By A Person Owing Unpaid Fine Or Penalty:
1. The petition shall be filed with and ruled upon by the traffic compliance administrator with a petition stating the applicable grounds for the setting aside of the final determination is filed with the traffic compliance administrator within fifteen (15) days of the date of the notice of final determination. The grounds for the petition shall be limited to:
(a) The person not having been the owner or lessee of the cited vehicle in question; or
(b) The person having already paid the fine or penalty for the violation in question; or
(c) Excusable failure to appear at or request a new date for a hearing.
2. If the determination of parking, standing, or compliance violation liability has been set aside upon a showing of just cause, the registered owner shall be provided with a hearing on the merits for that violation.
(K) Procedures For Nonresidents:
1. A nonresident of the city may contest the merits of the alleged violation without attending the scheduled hearing by serving the traffic compliance administrator with a written answer to the alleged violation stating all grounds upon which the nonresident claims to be not liable for the alleged violation which the hearing officer shall consider along with all the other evidence at the hearing. (Ord. 775, 1-21-2014)