MUNICIPAL COURTS STAY BUSY

Efforts to Reduce Circuit Court Congestion Boost Workload

Waukesha - People who work in any of the 16 municipal courts in
Waukesha County can easily sum up a current trend: They are increasingly busy.

Development, legislative changes and special grants for
law-enforcement crackdowns all have had an impact on municipal courts
in the county, officials said.

Last November, the Waukesha County Board voted to decriminalize
marijuana possession cases for first-time offenders. Those defendants
now report to municipal court and face a maximum penalty of $1,000.
Previously, all such cases were handled as misdemeanor offenses in
Circuit Court, punishable by up to six months in jail.

Milwaukee County and several municipalities already have
decriminalized first-time possession as a way to ease punishment for
offenders, relieve Circuit Court congestion and keep any revenue from
fines in the county.

Cases involving criminal damage to property also have been moved to
municipal courts as an ordinance violation, longtime Brookfield
Municipal Judge Richard Steinberg said.

"Municipal courts have an enormous amount of work," Steinberg said.

Busy County

These courts handle a variety of cases, from graffiti to drug cases
to zoning violations, issues dictated by the local police department
and municipal government.

Wisconsin has about 250 municipal courts. The 16 in Waukesha County
combine to be the third-busiest in the state, handling nearly 36,000
cases a year. Only Milwaukee, the state's largest municipal court
with three full-time judges and three part-time court commissioners,
and Dane County handle more. Milwaukee's court took in 197,000 cases
and Dane County had 57,000 in 2005, the most recent data available.

Starting in May, the joint North Prairie Municipal Court will convene
twice a month instead of once, Eagle Police Chief Russ Ehlers said.
The Town of Mukwonago and the Village of Eagle are the largest users
of the court, each sending about 100 tickets per month to court, he
said. Just about five years ago, Eagle sent about a dozen per month,
he said. The court serves North Prairie, Eagle and the towns of
Mukwonago, Waukesha and Eagle.

Growth in the community impacts municipal court, said Oconomowoc Lake
Police Chief Don Wiemer, who is chairman of the administration
committee for Lake Country Municipal Court, one of the largest joint
municipal courts in the state.

"You put a shopping center in, you are going to have a growth in
tickets," Wiemer said.

The 16 communities belonging to the Lake Country Municipal Court do
not pay a fee to be a member. Users pay for the court operations,
which include two full-time and three part-time staff members and one
part-time judge, Wiemer said. They handle more than 18,000 citations a year.

Lake Country Municipal Court was formed in 1988 as the first shared
multi-jurisdictional municipal court in Wisconsin. It started with
nine members: Oconomowoc, Chenequa, Hartland, Lac La Belle, Nashotah,
Oconomowoc Lake, and the towns of Merton, Oconomowoc and Summit.

Traffic, Quality of Life

Judge Douglas Stern describes municipal court as "traffic and quality
of life" court. When he was first elected 12 years ago,
three-quarters of the total citations processed were traffic and the
rest were quality-of-life tickets such as vandalism, dogs at large
and worthless checks.

The court has changed over the years. Today, quality-of-life
citations make up a third of the court traffic.

Citations have also become more complicated and take more time to
process, Stern said. The courts are also seeing more juveniles in court.

"The most important function that we provide is to try to give some
direction to the kids in our community," Stern said.

Dousman joined in 1999, followed by Lisbon in 2001, Sussex in 2002,
the Town of Delafield in 2004 and the Village of Merton in 2007. The
court serves the northern and western portions of Waukesha County, as
well as Ixonia in Jefferson County and Erin in Washington County,
which joined in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Police Work

Municipal courts also experience a flurry of activity when police
departments receive grants such as those for speeding patrols or seat
belt violations when officers can saturate an area of concern. Town
of Brookfield Municipal Clerk Lisa Steinborn saw a spike in citations
during the second half of last summer, she said.

City of Pewaukee Municipal Court Clerk Barbara Vick said grants the
police department received in 2007 resulted in a 44% increase in
citations from 6,154 in 2006 to 8,883 in 2007.

Vick, who has been a court clerk since 1999, said the Police
Department is very proactive, has a good relationship with the
community and wants to ensure that the City of Pewaukee is a nice
place to live. Those goals can increase tickets. She has seen an
increase in citations for drug violations, violations of the escort
license permit, drunken driving and underage drinking.

Big Bend Municipal Court Clerk Gale Vogel has been with the court
since it started in 1997 and reflected on the changes in the court.

"We've just gotten busier," she said.