Municipal court offers ‘safe harbor’ for outstanding Class C warrants

Municipal court offers ‘safe harbor’ for outstanding Class C warrants

People with outstanding warrants for Class C misdemeanors can wipe their slates clean starting Aug. 17 by appearing at municipal court to take care of their court fees and fines, or sign up for community service, Interim City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon said.

“If you have a warrant and you want to take care of it, if you come into municipal court you will not be arrested,” Ms. Pagsuberon said. “Those warrants will be recalled, and you will be given a court date to speak to the judge about your case, without fear of being arrested.”

Municipal Court Judge Stan Mahler will be sitting at Olney municipal court on Aug. 17 starting at 9 a.m. The judge will discuss options for people facing legal obligations for traffic violations, possession of drug paraphernalia, or possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor and other infractions, she said.

“If anyone has an outstanding citation or an outstandingwarrant, come to court and discuss with the judge their options to satisfy their court fine and fees,” Ms. Pagsuberon said. “This [offer] isn’t just for this time, this is always. This is not ‘pay or you go to jail’ options.”

Citizens who make an effort to take care of their outstanding fines and warrants can discuss setting up a payment plan, doing community service in lieu of fines or, for the indigent, having the fines waived, she said.

Those who choose community service “will be working outside doing manual labor … mostly trimming, mowing, cleaning up and helping people from Public Works with whatever project they are working on,” she said.

Adults can choose to work eight hours a day, five days a week until they satisfy their obligation. Juveniles are limited to fewer hours and will not be allowed to operate heavy machinery, she said.