VIROQUA, Wis. – The decision by a local attorney to step down as judge for the Hidden Valleys Municipal Court system is impacting four communities that are a part of that system. Local Attorney Nikki Swayne decided to step down as Municipal Judge for the Hidden Valleys last spring when she did not run for re-election. No one stepped up to run for that seat and the city run Municipal Court has yet to find a someone to replace Swayne, creating a backlog of municipal cases for several communities.
The Hidden Valleys Municipal Court was formed by the city of Viroqua back in 2005 and is administered by the city, but serves a total four municipalities in Vernon County. The Hidden Valleys Municipal Court processes traffic citations, including first time OWI, and ordinance violations issued in the Cities of Viroqua and Westby, and the Villages of La Farge and Cashton. The court does not handle criminal cases, those are handled by the Vernon County Circuit Court.
The city has been working on finding a replacement judge that could fill the seat but so far have not been able to find someone mainly because the two requirements to sit on the bench are limiting the number of potential people that could serve. The requirements in the ordinance that created the court state the judge must be a licensed attorney that lives in one of the municipalities that is a part of the court. That means even attorneys that have an office in one of the towns of villages served may not qualify if their home is outside the village or city. Three of the attorneys that also could qualify are also already a part of the city or the court. City Attorneys George and Stephanie Hopkins (Hopkins and Hopkins) are working for the city and could not fill the seat due to conflict of interest. Another local attorney, Jacob Menn, serves as the courts prosecutor.
The Municipal Court Committee oversees the court and consists of representatives from all the communities served by the court recently raised the idea of changing the qualifications so that a non-attorney could serve in the seat. City Attorney George Hopkins gave his opinion on that to the Viroqua City Council on May 28. Hopkins said he would advise against that approach stating many of the cases could likely be handled by someone without a law degree but said there are a few cases that are fairly complicated and those could end up getting the city in legal jeopardy if they are handled incorrectly. The council ultimately did not to lower the qualifications for the seat and asked city management and the court to continue to look for a replacement or other options.
The lack of available candidates has left the communities that use the court in a bind. The court has not been able to meet and that means cases are stacking up. George Hopkins said he and his wife Stephanie have been working with the district court administrator to find a solution but no one is quite sure how to handle the situation.
“I guess what we are asking council is figure out what you want to do and we will figure out how to do it,” said Hopkins. “Because right now there is no path that is obvious. Every option we have discussed or contemplated is something we are going to have to make ground on. Its not anything that’s been done that we can find.”
Some on the council questioned whether the pay for the position, which is about $8,100 a year, is enough for a local attorney to invest the amount time it takes to run the court. Most of that time invested is in the evening hours.
Since that meeting the district court has appointed Dennis Marcou from La Crosse as Interim Municipal Court Judge and he will start hearing cases in August.
Viroqua City Administrator Nate Torres told the Council in May that one option that city has is to disband the court and turn the caseload back to the county circuit court. Torres said he has been in contact with county court officials and they could handle the extra cases by folding them into the court days assigned to handle similar cases for other communities in the county without their own municipal court.
Viroqua Police Chief Rick Niedfeldt said there is a financial benefit to keeping the court going. Niedfeldt said the amount of traffic tickets is lower if the city has its own court and the amount of money the city keeps from each ticket is also higher.
“We will make significantly more money through the municipal court than through the circuit court,” said Niedfledt. “More of the money stays with us.”
Niedfeldt said currently a speeding ticket in the city is $88 and if this court is disbanded that will go up to $175.30, and the city would make less money off of each citation.
In terms of overall revenue for the city the court has not been a significant source of revenue. City Administrator Torres said when the court is running smoothly will generate somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000. Although Torres said in recent years it has not produced that much revenue due to COVID and personnel changes. But he also said it could produce that again if a judge is found and the court gets back on track.
Torres said Viroqua accounts for 48 percent of the total cases that the court handles and expenses and income are allocated between the communities based on a formula that takes into account the number of citations form each community and populations served.
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