Correspondent
CANTON — Canton Borough’s Code Committee’s meeting on Aug. 2 opened with codes officer John Raub discussing a recent SWEEP Appeals hearing.
Raub felt unsatisfied with how appeal hearing was held and thought that a change of format was necessary to prevent what is essentially a non-court trial from turning into a public meeting.
Committee members agreed with Raub that a resolution could be passed to “codify” the format of the meeting to keep it orderly while giving people their chance to appeal any SWEEP citations they receive.
Raub also recommended using a stenographer for such hearings, which the board agreed with. Amy Seeley said she would look into arranging stenographer times.
Next, Raub discussed how the Codes Office prosecutes violators at the magisterial court level.
During a recent training exercise with other municipal codes authorities, Raub was made aware of a different process than the one currently employed in Canton.
Currently in Canton, if the Borough’s Codes Office feels the need to prosecute a citizen for egregious codes violations, the individual is named in a private criminal complaint and potentially charged with a misdemeanor crime.
It was brought to Raub’s attention “there’s a better way than what we’re doing.”
Raub was advised to file on behalf of the Codes Office for an ORI (Originating Agency Identification) number that would allow him and any future Codes Officer to issue non-traffic citations to bring someone to magisterial court.
ORI numbers are issued to many levels of law enforcement from district attorneys to local police departments and they help the FBI track crime data. The change would also lower the severity of offenses citizens are charged with, as some now are charged with misdemeanors. Instead, the change would mean any violation that goes to magisterial court will simply be a “summary offense.”
This change will require solicitor David Brann to make some changes to certain code ordinances in order to better reflect the new enforcement protocols.
When asked for public comment, local business owner Alex Schrader expressed concern with the scale of certain fines issued by the Codes Office.
Schrader argued that some offenses don’t warrant a fine as high as $150 and that he had spoken to several other property owners and wanted to make sure “we want citizens to know we have their back.”
The committee took Schrader’s concerns under consideration.