No More Court Appearances For Minor Tickets in Seaside Heights Following Council Vote

Gavel (Credit: Brian Turner/Flickr)

Seaside Heights borough council members unanimously approved a slew of measures aimed at eliminating the requirement for people cited for a number of ordinance infractions to make a mandatory physical court appearance. Instead, tickets issued under the ordinance will, in most cases, be payable online.

“Basically, they’re removing the mandatory court appearance requirement that is currently in the ordinance book for these particular violations,” said Borough Administrator Christopher Vaz. “The court, police department and code have recommended that, for these particular violations, people have an option to pay online or pay by check, and not have to make an appearance before the judge.”

Court appearances have long been required by the ordinances in question, and required those accused of violations to physically appear in front of the municipal court judge even if they intended to plead guilty to the summons they were issued and pay the fine required by the ordinance. The ordinances affected include:

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• Garbage and solid waste disposal.
• Vehicle Storage.
• Boardwalk/Beach rules.
• Shopping carts.
• Certificates of occupancy.
• Peace and good order.
• Alarms
• Mercantile establishments.

Officials will still have the option of requiring a court appearance if one is deemed necessary, however the requirement all tickets issued under the ordinances will be removed.

The council was required to modify each ordinance individually, leading to what appeared on the meeting agenda to be sweeping changes, however each ordinance was only modified to the extent that court appearances were no longer required. Second readings, public hearings and legal notice publication in a legacy print newspaper were required for each.

At the council’s meeting last week, members voted unanimously to adopt the modifications to each ordinance.