Marathon City OKs Edgar as member of municipal court
Marathon City trustees last week offi cially welcomed the village of Edgar into a joint municipal court system that also includes the village of Rothschild.
During a 15-minute reorganizational meeting on April 18, the board amended its ordinance to include Edgar in the municipal court, which is based in Rothschild. Marathon City joined the court in 2016 as a way of increasing its revenue from traffic tickets while also lowering the overall cost of citations, said village administrator Andy Kurtz.
Kurtz said the village is assessed a court fee by Rothschild as the host municipality, but it’s far less than what the Wausau-based Marathon County Circuit Court charges. In the past, when a $100 ticket issued by a local police offi cer went to the circuit court, the village would only get $5 back; whereas, under the municipal court, it retains $50 or $60, he said.
“So, it’s not costing us money to write tickets,” he said. “If we wrote a speeding ticket before, it would cost us more to write the ticket than we would actually retain in the citation.”
At the same time, the village now has discretion to issue local traffic citations, which cost the offender signifi cantly less than those issued under state or county jurisdiction.
The municipal court only handles minor traffic offenses and ordinance violations, while criminal cases still go to circuit court.
Edgar’s village board adopted an ordinance to join the court at its April 10 meeting, and Rothschild approved a similar ordinance change to admit Edgar as a member. Starting May 1, all of Edgar’s traffic and ordinance violation cases will be heard in Rothschild’s municipal court. Kurtz said it’s unknown how many cases Edgar will be adding to the court, but he’s confident the judge will be able to handle the increased workload during the monthly court hearings held on the second Tuesday of the month.
Edgar voters just missed the latest election for municipal court judge, which was held earlier this month, but they will be able to vote in the next judicial election in two years, Kurtz said.
Other business:
The board approved a four-month lease with Zenith Tech, which will be setting up a field office and laydown yard on village-owned land at the corner of North Ridge Road and CTH 107. Zenith Tech was awarded a bid by the Wisconsin DOT to restructure the CTH 107 bridge and pave the section of highway from the bridge to Maratech Avenue. The contractor will have a construction trailer, equipment and materials on site from April 24 to August 31, paying the village $500 per month ($2,000 total) under the terms of the lease. The project is set to start May 1.
Newly elected village president Kurt Handrick was sworn into offi ce, as were re-elected trustees Mark Ahrens and Connie Ruplinger. Trustee Kevin Sorenson was not at the meeting, but he previously signed his oath of office. Ruplinger was reappointed chair of the public property/street committee, Sorenson was reupped as chair of the fire and police committee and Handrick was appointed to be chair of the finance committee.
Bryan Hilts and Erik Swanson were approved to be new firefighters.
