(A) Court bonds.
(1) Any person arrested for the violation, failure, neglect, or refusal to comply with any provision, regulation, or requirement of any ordinance may be admitted to bail by executing a bail bond to the city with good and sufficient security to be approved by the judge, or in his or her absence or inaccessibility, by the Clerk of the Court, in the amount of not less than $2 and not more than $500, conditioned that such person shall appear upon the day named therein (no later than 30 days from the date of the bond), before the Court and await the trial upon the charge against him or her.
(2) Every bail bond shall be filed forthwith with the Clerk of the Court by the officer taking the bond, provided that no attorney, police officer, or any officer of the city, whether elected or appointed, shall be taken as security upon any bail provided for in this chapter.
(3) In lieu of sureties on the bond, the judge or in the judge’s absence or inaccessibility, the Clerk of the Court, may permit the posting of a cash bond, and the Chief of Police or any officer in charge of the Police Department shall state on the bail bond the receipt of the cash deposit.
(4) The city shall in no manner be responsible to any depositor of a cash bail bond. However, the person receiving the cash deposit shall be prosecuted by the City Attorney or other proper officer for failure to account for and pay over the deposit.
(B) Failure of defendant to appear.
(1) If a defendant giving a bail bond on cash bond shall fail to appear when and where the case is called in the court, the judge may order the defendant to be apprehended and brought before him or her, or the judge may render a judgment or forfeiture for the full amount of the bond or deposit at which time the bond or deposit shall be forfeited.
(2) If a bail bond has been given, the amount of the judgment thereon shall be collected from the defendant and his or her sureties according to law, including the issuance of execution.
(a) If a cash deposit has been made, and the deposit is declared forfeited, the deposit shall at once be delivered to the Chief of Police, who shall make an entry of its receipt as part of the record of the case and shall hold the money for four days, at the end of which the Chief of Police shall deliver the money to the City Clerk.
(b) The judge may, for good cause, set aside the forfeiture at any time within four days from the date of forfeiture.
(C) Payment of standard fine and costs in lieu of court appearance. Except for those cases as designated by the Municipal Court that require the appearing in court by the defendant or for any other offense that the officer who has written the citation indicates that the defendant must appear in court, a defendant charged with a municipal ordinance violation may pay the standard fine and costs, as approved by the judge, in lieu of a court appearance, provided that the payment is made to the Court Clerk prior to the scheduled court date.