Jefferson contractor says the parish was obliged; parish says both Watch video
If 100,000 stoplight camera tickets issued in Jefferson Parish were ignored by the alleged violators, just who was obliged to track down these motorists to force them to court? The contract between the parish government and the Sheriff's Office with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. is not explicit on this point, and responses to the question were inconclusive Thursday.
A Redflex spokeswoman put the burden on Jefferson Parish. The parish attorney said it depends. A Sheriff's Office spokesman said it wasn't his agency. And Parish Council Chairman Chris Roberts, who disclosed the number of scofflaws at a council meeting Wednesday, wouldn't venture to say.
The perceived inequity between those who ignored citations and the 180,000 who paid the $110 fine is the latest wrinkle in the 6-year-old camera story, which began with a vow that automated ticketing of stoplight violators would improve traffic safety but devolved into a public backlash, lawsuits and the shuttering of the cameras. The Parish Council decided Wednesday to refund what's left of the $19.7 million in fine revenue once it resolves litigation with motorists and Redflex.
The council chose Redflex for the camera program in 2006 and ratified the written agreement Jan. 24, 2007. The council chairman at the time, Tom Capella, and then-Sheriff Harry Lee signed it, as did Redflex Vice President Aaron Rosenberg.
Roberts said he wasn't on the committee that put together the camera program and, therefore, wouldn't point the finger at anyone for not enforcing the 100,000 uncollected tickets.
But a Redflex spokeswoman, Jody Ryan, was firm: "Jefferson Parish was responsible for pursuing violators and managing the parish's collections on issued citations."
Parish attorney Deborah Foshee, however, said the obligation depended on how long the citation had been outstanding. She cited one contract section that says the parish "shall diligently prosecute citations and the collection of fines" and another that says, "Redflex will be responsible for handling the collection of delinquent citation fines and court costs."
"But for the lawsuits," Foshee said, "Jefferson Parish would have been responsible for the prosecution and collection of fines initially. After the fines became delinquent, it would have been the responsibility of Redflex to collect."
A Sheriff's Office spokesman, Col. John Fortunato, said that agency's role in the camera program was limited to reviewing camera images to advise Redflex whether to mail a citation and to receiving the fines paid by motorists. All duties in between, including finding motorists who ignored the citations, belonged to other parties, he said.
