The city of Benton Harbor could establish a new Municipal Civil Infractions Bureau to better manage minor violations of city ordinances.
Speaking to the city Legislative Committee this week, City Manager Alex Little said when a resident is ticketed for a violation, the matter will often go to the county court, sometimes causing a crime to appear on the resident’s record. He said handing these things in-house could be better for all.
“Especially for some of the more minor things,” Little said. “So the idea here is to create a Civil Infractions Bureau that will enable many of these things to still be enforced, but as opposed to a person having to — especially if the person is willing to correct what’s going on or whatever, they can come here and pay the ticket in city hall and the money stays with the city.”
Little said city leaders have been concerned for some time about fines paid by residents staying mostly with the county. Commissioner Sharon Henderson had questions about the logistics of having a Municipal Civil Infractions Bureau
“Like how? Who would be the person? So it would be the inspector’s office that they would go to, the window on the side? Those kinds of logistics I think is important,” Henderson said.
The matter will require more discussion, though. The committee referred it to the city Public Safety Committee for more review.
