The Columbia Municipal Court will add three full-time positions with appropriated funds in order to aid in the new parking ticket ordinance passed down from the Missouri Supreme Court. The Columbia City Council approved adding these positions and changing the current ordinance to align with the new rules during its Monday meeting.
The Missouri Supreme Court amended a parking ticket ordinance that requires a ticket to have a court date and time printed on the ticket. The court date and time would be 30 days from when the ticket was issued. The amendment went into effect May 1. Parking violators have the option to pay their tickets to avoid attending their court dates, as long as they pay before. If they do choose to appear in court, they have the opportunity to appeal the tickets.
Currently, parking violations are handled by the Violations Bureau through the City, which allows parking violators to pay their tickets outside of court and does not require court appearances.
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