Chehalis parking tickets out of step with Washington courts

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The city of Chehalis discovered it’s been assessing a delinquent penalty after only 72 hours on parking tickets even though a state court rule say cities must allow recipients a 15 day grace period.

The fee for not responding timely to a parking infraction is $25.

Chehalis Municipal Court Administrator Becky Fox said a review in July of legislative changes and the city’s ordinance is what brought it to her attention.

Fox said since learning the city was out of compliance, they have not charged people the delinquent fee until the appropriate amount of time has passed.

The issue was brought before the city council last night, which voted to revise its ordinance to bring it into line with what is required. Fox said they have an approved and updated form now, ready to use.

A standard parking ticket is $5, according to Fox. Certain types are more, she said.

The Washington State Court Rules Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction provide that a person served with a notice of infraction must respond within 15 days of the date the notice is personally served or, if the notice is served by mail, then within 18 days of the date the notice is mailed.

Fox said she doesn’t know how much the city has collected from those who were penalized even though they responded within 15 days. She said she’s not certain how long the city has been out of compliance.

There are no plans to reimburse anyone.

The city contends its local ordinance trumped state court rules and there was nothing incorrect or illegal about the way it imposed charges or penalties.

The memo to the city council about the issue, from Fox and Police Chief Glenn Schaffer, reported the parking infraction form being used was also out of compliance because it had not been reviewed by the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts.

The new ordinance passed unanimously last night by the city council. The council suspended the usual requirement for two readings – two subsequent votes – on the measure.

The Washington State Court Rules’ IRLJ govern the procedure in courts of limited jurisdiction – municipal courts and district courts – for all cases involving infractions. Infractions are noncriminal violations of law defined by statute.

The newly adopted city ordinance also added a prohibition against one vehicle taking up two parking spaces.

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7 Responses to “Chehalis parking tickets out of step with Washington courts”

  1. Anglo Saxon Pride says:

    Yes its a fact Lewis County is over run with illegals and the police do nothing about the problem. Just goes to show who they really work for. Its not for the American people. Seems like they are given orders to catch and release. We should have a community meeting about the illegals here and do something about it. Maybe we should form a posse since the police we pay taxes too wont enforce the law. I hope the polive read Lewis County Sirens.

  2. what do you expect? says:

    In Lewis co if you call the police you or a family member will get screwed. That’s just the way it is. I was fixing a backhoe and getting pissed I was yelling at it ( after I smashed the shit out of my hand.the police show up and try to tell me that my wife of 28 year and I were having a domestic dispute?? I told him to get the fk off my property, my wife told the douche bag that we weren’t , and to leave. They kept on pushing the subject until my wife got our attorney on speaker,we don’t need the cops , if you fk with me or my family I will take care of it , no cops needed!! Here’s a idea for ya ,our town is over ran with illegal aliens. Just being here is breaking the law ,uphold that maybe we start getting a little respect for cops till then…f.o

  3. Bo Rupert says:

    Anglo Saxton Pride,
    I have repeatedly showed the citizens of that community video evidence of numerous government employees, officials, police officers, judges, and many more blatantly violate peoples rights, civil liberties, and break numerous laws. When I show them this evidence I am called a fool, an attention seeker, and many other choice names. I agree with you wholeheartedly, but the majority of the residents/citizens of that community are very spineless.

  4. Anglo Saxon Pride says:

    It not that their spineless Bo, when you make waves in this county you get harassed by the spineless law enforcement officials with no body cameras that just make up incidents as they deem useful for a rubber conviction. The whole community knows something is wrong here. Yet there’s nothing we can do to fight back. You just end up in their jail and get beaten to a pulp. Then they say the recording device malfunctioned. Lewis County needs an audit by a outside agency to dig through their Files. Until they have body cameras and dash cameras they are just a band of rouge gang members. And if the SHTF here they will be in hiding like the Girl Scouts they really are.

  5. CrazyOldMan says:

    $25 late fee – that’s as bad as the fricken banks.

    Yes, it is illegal not to reimburse the ticket payers for those overcharges. If they don’t do it in 72 hours they should have to pay an extra $25 late fee.

    Since we have very diminished resource industry, the police, court system, lawyers, jails and all of the peripheral counselors and other leeches are the biggest business in Lewis County. They are always looking for new revenue opportunities.

  6. Bo Rupert says:

    I am glad they fixed the problem. However, what they were doing was clearly illegal. They should be forced to reimburse everyone they illegally collected money from. These courts and other government agencies appear to be involved in a pattern of racketeering. It is also completely false, state court rules completely trump little municipal courts, cities, and their rules. The only reason they got away with this for so long, is because the citizens of that community and surrounding areas were and are too spineless to call them out on it.

  7. Anglo Saxon Pride says:

    It’s always nice to see the real court system to keep the local Kangaroo Courts in check. There is a real problem with the court systems in Centralia and Chehalis. The fact that their not reimbursing the fine money says a lot about the court system also.