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In a marathon meeting last night, city council only spent about one minute addressing the Missouri Supreme Court ruling on how the city issues tickets from its red light cameras. KSMU’s Royal Yates was there and has this report.
City manager Greg Burris announced at the city council meeting that Springfield officials are asking the state Supreme Court for a re-hearing.
“We are currently in the process of requesting a re-hearing of the court’s decision. . . A re-hearing is not an appeal. Instead the request will ask the court to re-consider specific portions of their decision.”
Burris said the cameras were disengaged within minutes of the court’s original ruling. Over 1,695 pending tickets were immediately dropped. Those tickets would have brought thousands of dollars into the city’s budget.
However, Burris continues to stand by Springfield’s decision to use the camera system. The Supreme Court ruled that using administrative hearings for the red light violators was unconstitutional.
“From the very beginning the red light camera program had a single purpose – that was public safety. Our staff believes the camera system is helping the city grow safer. However, we will respect the court’s decision until you and the public can decide how to proceed with this program.”
A local attorney has filed a lawsuit against the city asking that it repay the over $800,000 it has already collected by using the traffic cameras.
The city council spent part of the evening presenting which projects would receive money from the Capitol Improvement Sales Tax. Many of those projects included repaving roads and updating signage along Springfield’s streets.
For KSMU News, I’m Royal Yates.
