TOWN OF GALLATIN. TENNESSEE

AGREED-UPON PROCEDURES REPORT

FOR THE PERIODJULY 1, 2012 TO JUNE 18, 201

Ncs JOBE, HASTINGS & ASSOCIATESo Certifred Public Accountants Donna K. Hastings, CPA, CSEPr

y. y` 74i SOUTIi CF3URCIi STREGT - dL'L tONT P: RK James R. Jobe, CPA0;.. .;' y P. O. AOSIIT NRf' RF.ESBORO,"[\ 37133- 117i oe1H. Jobe(/ 94-? 006)

CPA5 Gli) 893- ii77 P: LY:( G15) 89G- i990wnna.jobehascings.com

IA'DEPENDENT ACCOIJNTANT' S REPORTON APPLYING AGREED-UPO\' PROCEDURES

fa or and Cin Council

Ciry of Gallatin, Tennessee

We have performed the procedures enumerated below, which were agreed to by you, solely to assist you with theinvestigation of certain erievances of the staff of the City Recorder' s office of the Cin of Gallatin, Tennessee, asthey relate to the functions of the City Court, for the period from Juh l, 2012 to June 18, 2014. This aereed- uponprocedures engaeement was per(ormed in accordance vith the attestation standards established by the AmericanInstitute of Certified Public Accountants. The sufficiency of the procedures is solely the responsibility of the Alayorand the City Council of the Ciry of Gallatin, Tennessee. Consequendy, we make no representation reearding thesufficiency of the procedures described below either for the purpose for which this report has been requested or forany other purpose.

Our procedures and findines are as follows:

Procedures Perjormed-

The scope of the eneagement is from Juty I, 2012 to June 18, 2014.

The following stalf of the Ciry Rewrder' s office. vere intervie 5ed:

Connie Kittrell, Ciry RecorderKathv Sre+ an, Coun Cierk

M11isty Cow en, Customer Service ClerkSonja Burton, Customer Service Clerl:Marcella\ 1' eese, Lead ClerkMarianne ludrak, Customer Service ClerkTradessa Harris, Customer Service Clerl:

Each staff member uas asked to describe her position in the Ciq Recorders office in order to establish anunderstanding of each person' s duties and responsibilities.

in additioq each staff member H as asked the followine:

1) In the alleeations, it mentions that there is approximately 580,000 in seat belt fines that should havebeen remined to the state. Nhat are your view s/ understanding of this?

2) 1' ho prepares the reminance advice to the state and what is available for backup? 3) \\' hat can you tell us about the amounts that should be charged for child restraint violations?4) What is your understandine of the process for suspending licenses for lack of insurance and when is

the S50 fine charged?

4avor and Cirv Council

Page 2

Procedures Perjormed( continued)

Connie Kittrell and Kathy Stewart were also asked the following additional questions:

1) Do you have to manually enter the information from Incode into b1unis each day? Does anyone checkthe enm for accuracy?

2) \\' hat is your policy for depositine checks received from customers? Are checAs ever held? If so, forwhat reason?

3) N'ho in your oftice has anended training? Nhat type of trainine did they attend? \ 1' hat is the processof pusing information leamed at the trainine to other people in the office?

4) Are there any concems or areu of . eakness that mieht gire way to opportunities formisappropriation?

See Exhibit A attached which summarizes the responses to the above questions by the stafT in the CityRecorder s office.

The following detailed procedures were perfortned based on the grievances of the staff intervieHed and toim estigate the allegations as they relate to the function of the ciry court.

I) Staff provided infortnation out of the Incode system for the followine offenses: Seat Belt, ChildRestraints, Driver' s License, and Reeistration. Information was initially provided for the periodOctober 2008 through June 2013. Ne then requested and received the same information for the period

July 1, 2013 through June I8, 2014.2) \ Ve sorted and summarized the seat belt and child restraint violations bp n pe and amount. ( See

Eshibit C).3) R' e also obtained reports used to submit the State' s portion of the various iolations. R' e selected one

month of repons and matched the repon from the Incode system to the disbursement voucher eiven tothe Citv' s Finance Department and to a' Department of Revenue retum if applicable. All agreed.

4) There was a note in the seat belt reports stating that the seat belt money was not remined until July2013. This note was prepared by Kathy Stew an. This appears to confirm the allegation made. TheIncode seatbelt report sent to us for the period October 2008 through June 2013 agreed Kith the reportfiled in the erievance that showed total seat belt fines of 583, 427. 10 for this time period.

Certain procedures of the Ciry Recorder' s office were tested and the results are outlined as follows:

Two dates were selecced within the period aereed upon ro perform walkthroughs of the cash receipts

process as it relates to the city coun and ciry recorder' s office. Supporting information was providedby the finance director, ciry court and city recorder' s ofTices. Each deposit tested was adequatelysupponed by reports from [ ncode and lunis. No errors H ere noted.

Inquiries were made of Karen Blal: e of Municipal Technical Advisory Sen ice ( 1TAS) as a result of theinterviews with the staff and other procedures perfortned. Those questions as ell as her responses areattached in Eshibit B.

Mavor and Ciro Council

Paee 3

Findings and Recommendations-

The following is a list of findings and recommendations for improvements in the Ciry Recorder' s office buedon the results of the above procedures performed:

The allegation that the amounts collected for seat belt fines prior to July 2013 ha e not been remitted to theState of Tennessee is true. Each person interviewed and the documentation of the first remittance inAueust 2013 for July 20li supports this alleeation. \\' e recommend that leeal counsel be consulted u towhether past due balances should be remitted to the state. Verification of the total amount due to the statein Ihe allegations is be ond the scope of the aereed- upon procedures.

The allegation that incorzect amounts were beine charged for child res[ raint violations is true. Perinteniews with Ciry Coun staff, they became aware of the incorrect rates beine charged in the fall of ZOlifall of 2012 per Kathy Stewart); howevec the rates Here not changed in the system until May of 2014.

Esamination of the Incode reports for the child restraint violations suppons this allegation. R'e recommend

any changes or corrections to Citq procedures that may be required by law or reeulation be acted uponpromptly and communicated ro all City Court staff in a timely manner.

The allegation that a suspension fee is beine chareed for non- suspendable iolations appears to be true.Based on intervieH s with staff and review of a suspension fee listing by code violation, that was providedro us by the Information Technology Department, it appears that the S50 suspension fee was added rocitations ( or failure to pay for non- suspendable violations ( excludine seat belt violations). This as

cortected in June 2014. Ve were unable to verify whether the license as actually suspended with thecharee. \ Ve recommend that the court clerl: and other staff inembers attend trainine to bring them up todate on any new laws that afTect the ciro court and its procedures.

An allegation as made that a separate coun date is not being set for the S50 suspension fee. Theallegation is true. How e er, it appeazs that a separate court date may not be required. Per an ITASmemo, reference number. MTAS- 31 I:

Ciries may adap ordinances making ajailure to appear a separate ordrnance violation.ja ciry has st ch an ordinanre, a neiv crtation, } vhich may be sen ed persona(!y or bycertrf+ed mail, may 6e iss red mhen the dejendant jails m appear. The dejendant isentirled m a hearing an the jaihve to appear charge bejore rhe Si0 frne is assessed. lnthase situatrons, rhe dejendam has a separare citarion pendrng in the court to xhich thecourt rosls and li iga(ion taxes may atmch."

It does not appear, based on the review of Chapter 6 of the City of Gallatids municipal code that the Cinhas such an ordinance. \ Ve recommend that the Cin Attomey research this maner further.

e made inquiries regarding the amount charged for seat belt of(enses. In panicular, . ve asAed Hhy themajorin of 2 offenses were for S 10 inscead of 520, as stipulated. The response was that the amount is setby the officer writing the citation. The officer uses information from the state reporting system rodetermine whether the current violation is the offender' s I" or 2nd offense. The ciry court clerks ma}change it in the system to show a 2nd offense if it is determined that the offender has been previously citedunder the seat belt law. However, in these cases, the dollar amount of the citation is not changed. 1' erecommend that staff folloH up and determine ways to make this procedure more consistent.

Mayor and City CouncilPage 4

Fii:dinys and Recommendalions( con im ed)-

In eeneral, it appeared that the understanding of various requirements and procedures among different staffmembers eas somewhat inconsistent. 1Ve recommend that clearlv defined lines of communication be

developed to disseminace infortnation regazding any changes in laws or in procedures required as a result ofchanees. For esample, the City Recorder mi ht conduct periodic meetines to discuss chanees inrequirements and procedures. The information discussed at the meetings should be documented as well asthe anendance to ensure that all staff inembers are infonned and undentand the chanees. N'e alsorecommend that specific roles and lines oC authority be established or reaC(imied. For example, multiplecontacts from dif(erent department staff with MTAS reearding the same question can lead to confusion andmisunderstanding. This might bc alleviated by assigning the role of researching a question to one person.The results alon with any diffcrent vie s could then be diswssed in a staff meetine with the eoal ofaereement and consistency in appl}' ing procedures in the department.

During the course of the aereed-upon procedures engagement, additional questions arose for which we were not ableo determine a resolution. The answers to these questions may have an effect on the alidity of some of thealleeations and are as follo s:

Is the suspension fee of 550 that was char ed for non- suspendable violations in reality a" failure to appear"fine; and therefore, allowable7

It appears chat the suspension fee of S 0 is bcine attached to multiple violations per citacion. Is it cocrect tocharge the fee per violation instead oCper citation?f the suspension fees were charged incorrecd}', are the amounts overcharged due back m the violators?

Ve were noc engaged to, and did not, conduct an audit or examination, the objective of chich would be anexpression of an opinion on the imestigation of the grievances of the staff of the Ciry Recorder' s office of the Ciryof Gallatin, 7'ennessee, as they related to the functions of the Ciry Court, for the period from July 1, 2012 throughJune 13, 2014. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion. Additionally, re rere not eneaeed to, and did not,perform any procediues or conduct an audit or examination oC any portion of the grievances related to workplaceenviromnent issues. Had we performed additional procedures, other matters mieht ha e come to our anention thatwould have been reported ro you.

This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Mayor and City Council of the Ciry of Gallatin.Tennessee and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than this specified pam.

ol. .Cenified Public Accountants

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

luly I8, 2014

Staff Intervie r sExhibit A

Page 1

Question -

In the allega[ ions, it mentions ihat there is approsimatel $ 80, 000 in seat belt fines that should

have been remitted to the state. What are your vie s/ understanding of this?

Responses -

Marcella Veese Her mderstnnding is only from what she has heard in the office:first offense S1Q second offense 520, and then chrJd resrrain depending on age. Sheis not sure which offenses go to the state. ( Hotivever, some portion shou(d go to thestare). Reporls were prepared at the first of each month these tivere done prror to2008.

Sonja Burton - Chrld restraint 0- 8 rs S143..i0 of tivhrch a portron goes to stare ( S.iOplus 13. 7.i+1. 00). Chrld restrarnt 9- l.i is SS0. 00 anc! she thinks al! goes to s ate. ! 6-

1 i years of age S20 nray a!l go to state, and 18 and up is S 10 and goes to the state.The 2id vrolarron rs S? 0.

Misq Cowan - 11 isry' s mderstnndulg is that nll seat be( frnes ( 18 and : p) are to go10 the state. Karen Blnke fran ,1T1'AS recendy bro: rght to their anen ion fines thatshould be sent to Ihe state. She (, 14rsq) tivill get a copy oJ he f1TTAS letter. In fllarchthe child restrarnt violation charges vere chnnged lo the correct anrotmt as n resub

of receiving d1e informa ion from ATIAS. Karen Blake was here in the jall of 1013and sard thn the dejendant is supposed to have an addrtronal hearing jor the S.iOcontempt charge. The S. iO is called a conte p! fee 6ut it is coded as a suspension jeern the computer. No relroaclive pnyments of the delinquent seat be( t fines have beenmade. Tradessa brought this o the attention oJthe Ciry Recorder.

Tradessa Harris - In Z013, Tradessa balanced the coemt account, # 1. i33, to the

amotmrs thal sho Jd have 6een senr to the state. Kathy prepared the reports and gm ehem o Tradessa and Tradessa reconcrled them to the general ( edger. During he

summer of 2013, they tivere made mvare that they were supposed to be sending seatbelt citations o the state. 7tile inquiring regardrng anrounts charged by other citresfor other citadons, it ivas discovered hat rhrs amount shoidd have been senr m the

state srnce 2007. Upon this discovery, Kathy ceased to 6ring the reports o Tradessato reconcrle ro the 21. i23 acco:rnt. A(( customer service clerks have access to , tlunisthe general ledger sys em). Incode and, t unrs are not connected so they are keyed

from he ba(nncrng reports rnto 19unis. Tradessa arid A4arianne ai one trme recordedhis injormation in A mis. Connie now enters the Incode rnfornmtion into A4tmrs.

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 2

This change occzrrred sometrme in 2013J. Connie pulls each customer servicesbalancing report ogether or gn es m Kathy ro do. As jar as Tradessa knox s, no / areor delinquent amounts have been transmrtted to the srate. The ATT 1S website shox s

rhar this became ejfective in 2007 and iras communica ed a a court derk meeting.Kudry nornla/(y atlends he , tT/'AS meetings. Knthy ivas the cotrr clerk in 2007. InOctober of 2013, Tradessa receii ed an email from Kathy asking her Io balance rheaccount. She replieci that she would have o huve approial from Connie to do thrs

and the approval wns never received. To her knowledge i7o one is looking at thrsaccount anymore. Due to the em ironment and tensions in the office, Trndessa feltshe neecled approva! from Connie rn order to tnke on thrs responsrbrliry.

Marianne Mudrack - She is not directly mvare oJthe rssues bur tivas rold that one ofthe other clerks drscovered that the Ciry had not been remining taxes. , Llarriane didreseardi sonre charges for sajery schoo! and tniked to another court derk. She wassenr the information from thrs court clerk and gave that injormntion to Connie but mher kno+ ledge no hing has occurred.

Connie Kittrell - Kathy conm o icated his o her after attending her court clerktraining and they began rernitting this at hat tirne.

Kathy Stewart - In ZOO.i, she never smr that seat belt money x as supposed to be sento the state so she contrnued ro treat the seat belt fines in the same manner ( i.e. notremitted ro the stnJe). At her court clerks trarning she found out thal the Ciry shouldhave been sending thrs to the state her training was rn A4ny 2013 und beganremitting them in J dy 2013. Drrving record points tivere submitted electronrcally in2008 to the Departmen of Safety. This is rhe data bnse the officer a ses ro write theticket If he systenr rs dotivn, they xai e it as frrst offense. Yi' hen the carstomer serviceclerk eniers Ihe infornvation rnto the s} stem, Ihey may resenrch it and change rt lo ofjense in the system, but they cannot change the amount. The nunaber is probablyaccurate basecl on ivhat she knox s about seat belt vioJations.

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 3

Question -

Vho prepares the remittance advice to the state and hat is available for backup?

Responses -

Marcella 1' eese - Connre nnd Kath t Reports are nlaintained by Kathy she believes.

Sonja BuRon - Reports and checks are cione at the firsl of the month. Knthy prrnts themonthly reports oul of the Incode system and prepares the report for the state. Kathyprepares a disbursemenr voucher for finance to send with the report. Kathy keeps afolder ofcopies of tlars in her desk Kathy gives Connie the disbursement voa cher andConnie sencis it to the finance deparrment for payment. Sonja has only done themonthly reports once or nvice.

Misry Co an - Kathy the court clerk prepares the monthly reports the frrst of themonth.

Tradessa Harris - Kathy prepares i from the reports from Incode. She keeps copies ofthe reports.

Marianne Mudrak - Kathy Stetinart has ahvays done thrs. She nttends certifrcatronc/ asses ( 2- 3 days) every year and shoidd recerve emails updating her on thepartrcular lmvs. Incode reports shoul l be used o generate the reports.

Connie Kittrell Kathy does thrs. The Department of Revenue month(y jorm isavailable for backup.

Kathy Stewart - Kalhy prepares the remittance achrce ro the state. There is no jormfor Department ofSafery on which to report seat belt, registratron, child restraint anddrirer' s Ircense. She sends the print-out fron the Incode system.

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 4

Question -

1Vhat can you tell us about the amounts that should be charged for child restraint violations?

Responses -

Marcella '' eese - Arew Im+ ns to what is chnrgedfor each age.

Sonja Burton - Child restraint 0-8 is 51=13.. i0 of ivhrch a portion goes to state ( S.iOplus 13. i.i+1. 00). Chi(d restraint 9- l.i is S.i0.00 nnd she hinks al! goes to state. 16-17 years of age S20 may nll go to stnte, and 18 and up rs S! 0 and goes to the state.The 2nd violation rs S20.

Misty Co an - Severnl months passed before rhe ci ation amounts were changed tothe correct amounts jor the child restraints. They just started chargrng the correctamounls for this in A arch 1014 as a result of receivrng injormatron from 1TI'AS.Hotirever, diey knew this should hm e been changed a ivhile ago.

Tradessa Harris - The child restraint fees irere on the same Jlowchart that was

provided by the other Ciry. Thrs came to their atten ion at the same tinre as the nbovebut ti+ as not chmiged in the sl stern until 2014. Ages 0- - 51=13.. i0 and 6- 16 - S.iOwhich ore smte fees. These omoamts are due to back to the state. She is not mvare asto tivhy his began on this pnrticular rlate. She received nn enmi! dated. i-.i-20l=1 fromConnre Kittre/( statrng that dte chrld resrrarnt anromts had been updated in hesystem.

A4arianne Mudrak - / : rsed to be 5 18for n cer ain age group and S20for odlers. Thischanged b u she does not know tivhen this changed.

Connie Kittrell - ! i'hen Karen Blake + d h ATI'AS came she made them mvare oj thechanges in the fees. Connie is not sure when Karen came early 201 l? Child

restrainr fees changed in hlarch or d4ay of20! 4.

Kathy Stewart - Kathy becume mvare of the change in rhe child restraint fees rn , 14ayoj2012 and thrs iras researched and put in place in Alnrch of 201=1.

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 5

Question -

1Vhat is your understandine of the process for suspendine licenses for lack of insurance andwhen is [ he S 0 fine chareed?

Responses -

A9arcella Veese - Failure to appear le lers are sent he first of the fol(otining monthgiving them nno weeks. At the end of the month if they hm e not comp( red a S.iOsuspensron fee rs charged. /f they bring proof oj insurance within 30 dnys of dtecourt date the violation is dismissed. Suspensions are done at the first of eachmonth? S ate Imv requires you to have insurnnce on the dale you were stopped. Ijnoinsurnnce a date ofvrolations, then you must pay thefine ofSIOS.

Sonja Bur[on - Ijthey come to court and cannot produce the evidence, Judge KittrelJnmy reduce the frne, and if they can' pay they are given 30 days. They are givenunril the end ojtl e month before rt is repor ed io the state. First of the month it rsreported to the s u e at its orrgrnal trcket prrce plus S. iO contempt charge. The sta ethen sends a lelter nnd gives them 30 days m pay the ticket. /f not paid at that imethe stnte suspends Ihe license and then rhe state adds iis reinstatenrenl jee. No 5.50charge jor non- movrng violations (not a suspendnble event).

Suspendab( e offenses( ack of insurance, moving vrolntrons, expired registrntion etc.

A'o second court date. Ho rever, they can reschedtde one ime if they cnll rn.

Misty Cowan - Court date If they farl to appear, cilatron goes into a drmver. At thefirst of the fol/oiving month the defendan is sent a failure to appear letter. Thecitalions are move i to another file and they nre given until the beginning of the nextmonth. If they do n'ot come in to pay their tickets, Kathy rakes the file nnd sendsever} thrng m the state electronically and he license rs se spended and adds a S.iOcharge. Up un il the first ojJune 201 a, rhe S. 50 tivas added to a!/ suspended crtationsexcept for sent belt and chrld resmaint ( including address changes and loud nx src).She is not mnnre of vhat triggered the correction in June. ln June 2014, they ceaser!to diarge the S. iO fee for a non- serspendable trnnsaction. Misp brought this to theatten ion of Kathy and Connie. Freda x ith the sta e emarled her a copy of wharcons itutes a suspendable nnd a non- suspendab/ e offense. She rs not sure rf i + ouldnmke any difference ijit x as a " contempt" fee instead oja suspension fee. Solutia iss ill collecting old amoun s ivrth the S.iO fee added to non-suspendable charges priorto June 1. She descrrbed the ci ntron process as follows: Court date /A status, does

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 6

not shox to cottrt FTA ( failure to appear) s atus crtation can strll be drsmissed rfevidence rs obtained, as offirst of next rnon h rt goes to FTP (failure to pa}) statusat this point the citatron cannol be drsmissed it is nlready reported. Kalhy changesd e status and suspends Iheir Ircense and puts it in FTP s atus.

Tradessa Harris - Tradessa used to suspend licenses. A the time of szrspension, sheaddedfrne ojS.iO. dTTAS came a fetiv months ago and told them that the SSO shouldnot be charged untrl they have nno her court daie. ( See , 1T!'AS tirebsite) Sonja, 11/ ispand Kathy tivere n(( present when this was brozrght ro therr attenNon. Connie was nothere. Connie asked Kathy rf there x as anythrng they rere doing x rong and Kathyindicated dmt everything was berng done correc ly ( thrs tinas told io Tradessa byerther Sonja or A4ist}).

Marianne Mudrak - A contempt charge was charged afier a certain trme and the

information was sent m the state and the srate sarspended d7e lrcense. Recently theyfounc! out that a hearing date had to be set before he S. iO could be charged. ( perone ofthe c/ erks in the o ce). Sonre people are sent to the state before they shouldhave been and the jee has been chnrged. The Coamt Clerk is responsible jor this.

Connie Kittrell An inquiry x as made ojFrieda Cnmeron and Li ayne Deason fromthe Department oj Safery about x hat to do if you can' t suspend a license rn thesystem. Per Ka hy, Karen Blake ivith dl7'AS said that you probably should notsuspend rn the system, nnd they stopped chargrng the suspension fee al this time. SheConnre) is nor m+are of anythrng regarding the " d court da e needed prior lo

charging the S.50 suspensionfees.

Kath Ste art - The ojficer u rrtes the icket, d e ticket is loacied nnd given a courtdate. / jthe defendant has proper insurance they cnn bring rn the prooJof insurance

T nnd have it dismissed. Ijthey fai( to appear, notice rs sent for farlure to appear andhey are giren l.i days to pay the fine. Fi' hen they go to the state at the begrnnrng ofIhe following month ('jnot paid) rhey are chnrgecl Sl.i ( SIO.i + S.iO suspension fee).As ojJune 1, 101 1, they nre not chargrng a suspensron fee on a non- suspendableticket ( lo: d music, registrntion, etc.) There is nor a second court date. Earlrer in thesprrng when Karen B(ake visited at Joe Thompson' s reguest, she was highlycomplementary of rhe procedures. Karen made the suggestions at thnt time. Shepu! led up information andjormsfran the MTi1 S ti+ ebsrte at this time. Per Ka hy, S.iOis daarged jor multiple ofjenses. / t altaches to each offense ( not including non-suspendable beginnrng June 1, 2014). Aro neiv court date established. Ka hy called

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 7

different courts and asked about the court dnte issue. They x ere no doing rt erther.The person thar she rnqurred of from a different ciry court said that the jee isdocuneented on the ticke.

Additional Questions - Connie Kittrell and Kathv Ste art

Do you have to manually enter the information from Incode in[ o Munis each day? Does anvonecheck the entrv for accuracv?

Connie Kittrell - Entered manirally each day by Connie or ,Llarcella from Incode andMunis and sent ro financebn(nnced daily.

hat is your policy for deposi[ ing checks recei ed from customers? Are checks ever held?If so. for hat reason?

Connie Kittrell - YVorking up deposits is performed by Connie or, Llarcella and deposrtsare stored rn the vault overnighi. Once a check is received hat is delinguen, they can' taccept partial payn enl, so he check vay be held to get it corrected.

Kathy Ste vart - Finance makes deposits. Drmrers are balancecl by edch person and thebnlancrng repor s are grven to Connie tivho pid/s the infonnatron toge her nncl enters rrnro h4imis. Annette fran finance picks up the deposil infornration from the vn dt. Theytell customers that they can' t pos date checks and checks cannot be held. All out-of-balances are to be reported to Connre even rjthe difference has been fowad.

ho in your office has attended training? Nhat type of trainine did they attend? '' hat is the

process of passine information learned at the training ro other people in the office?

Connie Kittrell - Connie urtei ds ciq recorder rarnrng tivrth , 14arcella Reese. Kath)Steivart attends coe rt clerk training. Connie does not hm e a fornval procedure ofcommunicaring to the stajf. Usually important changes are communicated by memo.A4arrrane has rererved trainrng as an nrchrvist.

Staff InterviewsExhibit A

Page 8

Kathy Stew art - Kathy nttends court derk training ench year. There rs a lack of trust byenrployees so the informntron that is passed doi+n from Kathy is often checked out by theemp(oyees by going online or cn! ling the stare. Kathy rres to upda e the staff andConnre of changes rhar she ( earns nbout. Las chunge ras brought to Connre' s attentronand then passec! a/ong lo d1e ladies on the court side.

You attend court derk trainine each vear. V1' hen is that trainine?

The Iraining tivhere she learned abo: rl the seat belt issue was in ,t ay of?013.

Are there any concerns or areas of veakness that might gi e va} [ o opportunities for

misappropriation?

Connie Kittrell - Severnl years ago IT came to her nnd told her thar Tradessa an i: 11rstwere changing d7ings in the Cour1 Sys em ( offrcer' s nnme, etc). They were changingemployee number to badge nemrber for o cers taking citatrons. At this time, saneadministrative rrghts i+ere taken mt ay. Traclessa and, Llisty thought they were correctinglhings. Connie was not to/ d. They go o Alarcella jor informa ion rather than Connie.Also, there is a ! ot of cnsh thnt comes in. Ench person has herr oivn drmver. ! f they donot balance, they are ro tell Kathy, 1larcella or Connie that they do not balance. Sherecentfy just changed to huving d7em only rell her ( Connie), hox ever, Connre is still notbeing told. 14arrrane nnkes many mistakes balancing but does not take receipts rn courtanymore. Also, they i+ere getling behind on frlrng crtations etc, so claanges were nrade tostaJfing to accomrnodate this and certain people tivere no (onger Io do certain tasks suchas f+ling. Certarn staff inembers ( fl4isty, Traclessa and Dlarrinne) disappear for severalhours at a time without her knowledge. For example, this morning Marriane x as gonejor 4.i minutes inithoul her knotivledge. Three employees are the ones doing this.

Exhibit B

Cih of Gallatin

Questions for A1TAS

e preface our remarl:s below by suggesting that our Cih Attorney is in. the best positionto assess vhether Gallatin' s current ordinances and internal court processes present the

issues you raise below and to ad ise you accordinglp.

Suspension/ Failure to Appear Fine -

Is the S 0 suspension fee beine chareed by Gallatin [ he same as a failure to appearcharged allo ed by TCA y 16- 18- 306?TCA y 16- 18- 306 pertnits a judee, in his/her discretion, to punish for contempt of court.Often, [his statute is used hen a defendant does not appear if a city does not ha e aseparate ordinance creating a separate violation for Failure to Appear. It reads,

Tlotwithstanding any law to the contrary, con[ empt of a municipal court shall bepunishable by fine in the amount of fifty dollars ($ 0. 00), or such lesser amountas may be imposed in the judee' s discretion." Tenn. Code Ann. 16- 18- 306

1' est)

Is the laneuage included at the bottom of the citation reeardine failure to appear or makepayment sufficient to satisfy the leeal requirement ro charee the $ 50 suspension/ failure toappear fee? Gallatin does not appear to be issuing a separate citation sen ed personally orbvi ceRified mail and eivine the defendant another hearine on the failure to appear charee.Vithout seeing the particular citation that Gallatin uses, it is not possible to tell. nlost

cities use a Uniform Traffic Citation printed by the state ( TRICOR). You can view thelatest version at https// w tn eo/ safeh/ driverlicense/ T\ UniformCitationEsamole.pdf

We are not a are of any successful challenges to the statutoril- based laneuaee.

lf a $ 0 suspension/ failure to appear charge is added, is it correct to add $ 0 to each

charee on one complaint? ( i. e. $ 50 added to speedine charee and $ 0 added to financial

responsibility charge)

Your question mati be one concemin, contempt and judicial discretion, as discussedabove. In addition, e sueeest you re iew Tenn. Op. r tn. Gen. \ o. 99-0 6 ( 1999) thatstands for the " one case, one set of court costs ' principle. \' e are not a are of am case

challen in_ a municipal courtjud e' s imposition of contempt in the manner you indicate.

If Gallatin had erroneousl been appl ine the $ 0 fine; would the City have a duty torefund those defendants?

The ans er to that question vould be up to a court; ho ti e er, it has been lone settled inT.C. A. 16- 18- 307 tha[ once the 10- day appeal period has run on a ci[ation, the

I

Exhibit B

judement is no[ appealable. This is but one of several principles that vould indica[ ethose past fines ould not have to be refunded.

Seat Belt

Gallatin remits the Seat Belt and Child Safety fines collected to the State by sending acheck and a report out of their [ ncode s stem. [ s this the correct vay to remit thesefunds? Is there a report that should be submitted?

Many cities use coun soft vare that au[ omatically reports not only to the Department ofRevenue ( e. e., litieation taxes), but also to [ he Department of Safen. So lone as the statereceives ihe reports and the amounts due in a timely fashion, the city would be correct inits process. \ 1' e cannot comment whether NCode (?)-- or any other softH are proeramdoes so accurately or inaccurately. An esample of the form accepted by the state can befound at

hnp/hvw-. mtas. tennessee. eduh e62012. nsf/CitvAdminlVeb/ 7081363035 37EC68 2 7AD3004D6331/ FILE/ fines fees report.pdf

Also; the statutes governing seat belt and child restraint laws can be quite complicated.MTAS has created [ he followine document to assist clerks that may be useful to ou:http:/ h ti. mtas. tennessee. edu/ ae62012. nsf/CityAdminWeb/OCA2F0 28D7 F6778 27AD300dD 6EF/ FILE/child_restraint. pdf

The Citv retains 5% of the amount collecred as a commission. Is this correct?For seatbelt and child restraint iolations, it appears so, as stated at the bottom of theDoS Form.

Gallatin beean remittine the seatbelt fines collected to the State for fines collected in Jul20li. Does the City have a leeal liability to remit amounts collected before July 2013 [ othe State?

11' e are unable to determine the answer to your question. Your City Attomey` s Office isin the best position to answer that question.

Child Restraint

Gallatin recendy changed the fines beine charged for the child restraint la vs. Is there anyleeal liability/oblieation for the City for the previously erroneousl charged rates?Ve are unable to determine the ansaer to your q estion. Your City Attorney' s Office is

in [ he best position to ans er that question.

2

Cih of Gallatin

Summarv of Seat Belt and Child Restraint Citations

July 1, 2012 - June 18, 201JExhibit C

of Tickets Amt of TicketsSeat Belts

1 st Offense10 1. 602 16. 020.0020 11 220.00

2nd OffenseI 0 309 3. 090. 0020 128 2560.00

Total Seat Belt Fines 2. 0 0 21. 890.00

of Tickets Amt of Tickets

Child Restraint

Appears to be uniil May 20140 - 3 Years

48 1 48.00

4 - 17 Years10 1 0. 00

20 126 2, 520.00

8 1 48. 00

Appears to begin in May 20140 - 8 Years

0 3 150. 00

9 - I 5 Years20 I 20.00

0 6 300.00

16 - U Years

20 5 100.00

Total Child Restraint Fines 144 3. 196. 00