Hi everyone, I'm interested in how everyone is handling code enforcement citations, specifically service. My Code Enforcement issues citations-they do not do personal service. They have been doing receipts 0f mailing as set forth in the nuisance abatement procedure. I do not believe that is sufficient in municipal court. According to my officers they have spoken to code enforcement in other municipalities and this is how “everyone does it”. This is an issue because they want failure to appear warrants. I think we need to do certified mailing, return receipt and delivery restricted. Amanda Mullins The Law Firm of Amanda Mullins PLLC 401 W Chickasha Ave., Suite 405 | P.O. Box 533 Chickasha, OK 73023 T (405) 224-0237 amanda@amullinslaw.com<mailto:amanda@amullinslaw.com> Note: Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message and may be subject to legal privilege. Access to this e-mail by anyone other than the intended is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not use, copy, distribute or deliver to anyone this message (or any part of its contents) or take any action in reliance on it. In such case, you should destroy this message, and notify us immediately. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail or telephone and delete the e-mail from any computer. If you or your employer does not consent to internet e-mail messages of this kind, please notify us immediately. All reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present in this e-mail. As our company cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this e-mail or attachments we recommend that you subject these to your virus checking procedures prior to use. The views, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this electronic mail are not given or endorsed by the company unless otherwise indicated by an authorized representative independent of this message.

On citations, I require personal service. Our municipal judge will not issue a warrant if we do not have personal service. Corry On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 4:29 PM Amanda Mullins via Oama <oama@lists.imla.org> wrote: > Hi everyone, I'm interested in how everyone is handling code enforcement > citations, specifically service. > > My Code Enforcement issues citations-they do not do personal service. > They have been doing receipts 0f mailing as set forth in the nuisance > abatement procedure. I do not believe that is sufficient in municipal > court. According to my officers they have spoken to code enforcement in > other municipalities and this is how “everyone does it”. > > This is an issue because they want failure to appear warrants. > > I think we need to do certified mailing, return receipt and delivery > restricted. > > > > > *Amanda Mullins * > > > > The Law Firm of Amanda Mullins PLLC > > 401 W Chickasha Ave., Suite 405 | P.O. Box 533 > > Chickasha, OK 73023 > > > > T (405) 224-0237 > > *amanda@amullinslaw.com <amanda@amullinslaw.com>* > > > > Note: Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message > and may be subject to legal privilege. Access to this e-mail by anyone > other than the intended is unauthorized. If you are not the intended > recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you > may not use, copy, distribute or deliver to anyone this message (or any > part of its contents) or take any action in reliance on it. In such case, > you should destroy this message, and notify us immediately. If you have > received this email in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail or > telephone and delete the e-mail from any computer. If you or your employer > does not consent to internet e-mail messages of this kind, please notify us > immediately. All reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no > viruses are present in this e-mail. As our company cannot accept > responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this e-mail > or attachments we recommend that you subject these to your virus checking > procedures prior to use. The views, opinions, conclusions and other > information expressed in this electronic mail are not given or endorsed by > the company unless otherwise indicated by an authorized representative > independent of this message. > > > -- > Oama mailing list -- oama@lists.imla.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oama-leave@lists.imla.org > -- *Corry S. Kendall* Attorney at Law 122 N. Oklahoma Avenue Mangum, OK 73554 corry.kendall@swoklaw.com Phone: (580) 482-3355 Fax: (580) 954-0060 www.swoklaw.com

My opinion - this isn't about failure to appear. 11 O.S. §§ 27-115 & 27-115.1 apply when a Cop 'arrests' a person for a traffic or non-traffic ordinance violation only to then cite and release them. The person is deemed arrested when they are seized by the cop, but the statute requires (in most cases) the cop to allow them the chance to sign a promise to appear and, if they sign it, then the cop is obligated to release them. And both statutes provide that, if the person signs the promise to appear and then fails to appear as promised then the consequence is that an arrest warrant will be issued. Unless the code enforcement duties have been assigned to the PD / Cops, then Code officials are civilian employees - meaning that they have no authority to arrest a person (and that the two statutes referenced above do not apply). In my opinion, unless the duties are being performed by a cop, then Code has no authority to unilaterally initiated a criminal prosecution in our Municipal Courts not of record. The proper process for them would be to submit a complaint which would have to be verified before the Judge, the Court Clerk (or Deputy) or a Cop. 11 O.S. §27-115. That would commence the prosecution. And once commenced, the complaint can be presented to the Judge and, if they approve the complaint (i.e. find PC), then they can issue an arrest warrant. *Id*. So boiling it down, Code prepares and signs the complaint having it verified before the Judge, a Clerk or a Cop. Have it submitted to the Judge for approval (for PC) so that a warrant can be issued. Then go serve the warrant. I personally would suggest, for practical purposes, that there be a pause between verification of the complaint and submission to the Judge for approval. We can then mail a copy, whether by regular or certified, or take other steps to try to notify the person both that a criminal charge has been filed and that we have set a Court date for them to appear (or even just asking them to contact the Clerk to set an arraignment date). In many cases, we'd hope that the person would go ahead and appear so that we can get moving with the case. But they wouldn't be legally compelled to appear and, so, if they don't appear we're not talking about whether they willfully failed to appear. We're asking them to voluntarily appear. And if they won't, then we present the complaint to the Judge for approval and, when it's approved, the Judge issues the warrant. The warrant has nothing to do with whether the person failed to voluntarily appear. It has everything to do with the fact that a criminal case was initiated under circumstances where the person was not arrested and allowed to sign a promise to appear. It's a charge filed out of custody, and the warrant is the tool given to us to be able to secure and compel their attendance. Those are my thoughts. Matt On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 4:38 PM Corry Kendall via Oama <oama@lists.imla.org> wrote: > On citations, I require personal service. Our municipal judge will not > issue a warrant if we do not have personal service. > > Corry > > On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 4:29 PM Amanda Mullins via Oama < > oama@lists.imla.org> wrote: > >> Hi everyone, I'm interested in how everyone is handling code enforcement >> citations, specifically service. >> >> My Code Enforcement issues citations-they do not do personal service. >> They have been doing receipts 0f mailing as set forth in the nuisance >> abatement procedure. I do not believe that is sufficient in municipal >> court. According to my officers they have spoken to code enforcement in >> other municipalities and this is how “everyone does it”. >> >> This is an issue because they want failure to appear warrants. >> >> I think we need to do certified mailing, return receipt and delivery >> restricted. >> >> >> >> >> *Amanda Mullins * >> >> >> >> The Law Firm of Amanda Mullins PLLC >> >> 401 W Chickasha Ave., Suite 405 | P.O. Box 533 >> >> Chickasha, OK 73023 >> >> >> >> T (405) 224-0237 >> >> *amanda@amullinslaw.com <amanda@amullinslaw.com>* >> >> >> >> Note: Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this >> message and may be subject to legal privilege. Access to this e-mail by >> anyone other than the intended is unauthorized. If you are not the intended >> recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you >> may not use, copy, distribute or deliver to anyone this message (or any >> part of its contents) or take any action in reliance on it. In such case, >> you should destroy this message, and notify us immediately. If you have >> received this email in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail or >> telephone and delete the e-mail from any computer. If you or your employer >> does not consent to internet e-mail messages of this kind, please notify us >> immediately. All reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no >> viruses are present in this e-mail. As our company cannot accept >> responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this e-mail >> or attachments we recommend that you subject these to your virus checking >> procedures prior to use. The views, opinions, conclusions and other >> information expressed in this electronic mail are not given or endorsed by >> the company unless otherwise indicated by an authorized representative >> independent of this message. >> >> >> -- >> Oama mailing list -- oama@lists.imla.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to oama-leave@lists.imla.org >> > > > -- > *Corry S. Kendall* > Attorney at Law > 122 N. Oklahoma Avenue > Mangum, OK 73554 > corry.kendall@swoklaw.com > > Phone: (580) 482-3355 > Fax: (580) 954-0060 > www.swoklaw.com > -- > Oama mailing list -- oama@lists.imla.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oama-leave@lists.imla.org >