Solving ticket disputes

Trustees are reviewingthe situation withthe hearing officer.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township trustees will be looking into how parking tickets are disputed here after a woman complained that the process is unfair.
Those who illegally park in spaces reserved for the handicapped in the township return to their cars to find a $50 ticket affixed to the windshield.
Individuals who dispute the ticket can do so before a hearing officer at three separate times a year in hope of having the fine waived.
Salem resident Suzanne Elze told trustees at a recent meeting that the system did not work that smoothly for her.
Elze, a former teacher who was involved in a major car accident 11 years ago and has since had a series of back surgeries, walks with a cane and has the blue handicapped window placard.
She said she went to do some shopping at the Southern Park Mall in June, placed the placard on the rear view mirror -- with a piece of tape to make sure it stayed in place -- and parked in a designated space.
When Elze came out of the mall, however, she saw that the placard had fallen and under the windshield wiper was the $50 ticket. She said she did not fault the officer. How could he have known she did in fact have the appropriate sticker? It was the process of having the ticket waived that made her come to trustees.
First, Elze went to the police department to tell her story, show the placard and see if the ticket could be erased.
Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson explained that the department -- in the interest of remaining fair -- does not routinely take away a ticket once it has been issued.
"Technically, the way the law is written, a person must have a handicapped parking pass and display it," said Patterson.
"We do not void a ticket when there has been an actual violation such as the pass not being displayed. On those rare occasions when a ticket is voided, it is because there was no violation."
The procedure
Patterson said the department, much like traffic court, leaves any reduction of fees or voiding of tickets to the hearing officer. He said the township issues about 800 to 1,000 parking tickets annually and fewer than 100 of those are disputed.
Elze disputed the ticket and in early November went before Atty. William Helbley, who serves as the township's hearing officer for disputed parking tickets. She said her fine was reduced to $25, but she contends two men there the same night had their fines waived.
"Twenty-five dollars is not going to make or break my future, but it is the principle of the whole thing that I think is most important," she said.
"Anybody who actually had a parking sticker should have had the fine waived. We should not have to pay $25 or $50 for a sticker that fell."
Elze said she offered to donate $25 to the police Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in lieu of paying the ticket, because she does not want to admit guilt for something she says she did not do. She was told the DARE donation in lieu of the ticket would not be possible.
Trustees were not aware of the exact procedures used by Helbley in waiving or reducing fines but said they would look into the matter. Helbley was contacted by phone but would not comment on the procedure. He said it was being handled through the trustees.
jgoodwin@vindy.com