O-2006-2949 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM Agenda Date Requested December 11, 2006 Requested By: CIty Attorney Appropriation Source of Funds: Department: City ^ttgme~"~ Offi~e Account Number: Report: Resolution: Ordinance: x Amount Budgeted: Amount Requested: Exhibits: Proposed Ordinance Budgeted Item: YES NO Exhibits: Copy of Statllt~ SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION This item was reviewed with City Council at the November 6th Workshop. Council requested this item be placed on a future agenda. In the process of issuing citations to motor vehicle operators for parking violations, it is frequently the case that the vehicle itself is unattended and it is thereby impossible for the officer to locate the offender and personally issue the vehicle operator a citation to appear in court. In these situations the current practice of the City is to issue citations to "owner/operator" and to leave a copy of the citation attached to the vehicle. While this policy is legal it can complicate efforts at prosecuting parking violators, particularly when a case is contested in court and the State must proffer evidence that a particular person, whether it be the registered owner or not, was actually culpable. Section 545.308 of the Texas Transportation Code addresses this potential problem by providing that the governing body of a local authority can by ordinance or other order establish that in prosecutions of parking offenses there is a legal presumption that the registered owner of the illegally parked vehicle was the operator of the vehicle when the offense was committed. This is a relative new statute, added by the Legislature in September of2001, and as worded should help make prosecution of parking violations more effective - and efficient - by shifting to ticketed parking offenders the burden of overcoming the presumption that the registered owner was the actual violator. Proposed for your consideration is an ordinance amending Chapter 70, "Traffic and Vehicles", of the Code of Ordinances to add a section creating the presumption that the registered owner of a vehicle was the operator at the time of the offense, in the case of parking violations under the Subchapter G of the Transportation Code, as prescribed by Section 545.308 of the Transportation Code. Action Required bv Council: Recommendation is to approve ordinance amending Chapter 70 of the Code of Ordinances establishing presumption as to operator of illegally parked vehicles. }'r~/Ot; D~e