- The last time a ticket appeal was heard in Justice of the Peace Court was July 15, 2022.
- Wilmington says they’ve received three requests for JP Court hearings since last July, which are pending with the court because of planned changes for processing appeals.
- Because of delays with responding to constituents’ requests for appeals, Wilmington dismissed 495 tickets last year and refunded drivers a total of $115,700.
Wilmington will mark one year Friday since it sent any parking ticket appeals to court, but city officials say that’s because Delaware’s largest city is on the cusp of change.
Wilmington parking appeals were last heard in Delaware Justice of the Peace Court on July 15, 2022, court administration confirmed Wednesday, and nothing has been sent to JP Court 20 to warrant holding hearings on Friday.
Cases are usually scheduled on the third Friday of each month, but Wilmington must send cases to JP Court for hearings to be scheduled.
Mayor Mike Purzycki’s Deputy Chief of Staff John Rago said Thursday the city has been in discussions with DELJIS and court officials over the last few months to revise its process by which ticket appeals are delivered to the Justice of the Peace Court.
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Around September last year, Rago said Wilmington decided to dismiss 495 parking tickets that people had appealed because “we felt that we hadn’t handled any of their concerns in a timely manner.”
Drivers who had paid fines and fees also were refunded a total of $115,700, he added.
“We know that our parking and towing system can always be improved, and we base that largely on the constituent’s experience with the system,” Rago said. “We have been involved now over the last several months in making changes — and one of them involves revisions to the appeals process.”
Wilmington hopes to announce the new approach in the next few weeks.
Parking advocate draws attention to lack of appeals
The city’s appeals process has been riddled with issues for years from miscommunication to no communication to tacking on late fees when a ticket has been appealed. Promises of reforms have often followed, but problems persist.
Parking advocate Ken Grant held a news conference – complete with balloons and cupcakes – at Wilmington City Hall Wednesday to draw attention to the lack of scheduled court hearings on appeals, but was kicked out of the building by the mayor.
Wilmington officials said the lobby of the city government building isn’t a “traditional public forum like the sidewalk or a park,” and Grant didn’t have permission to be there, which is why he was asked to leave the building.
According to a Delaware Online/The News Journal analysis of data from the city and JP Court, the percentage of appeals sent to court dropped by more than half, from an average of 3.9% sent to JP Court from 2012-15 to 1.2% from 2016-21.
Of the 50,055 parking tickets issued last year, Rago said only 11 cases were appealed to JP Court.
Grant fears Wilmington may be ignoring drivers’ requests for their appeal to be heard in JP Court. He requested copies of the forms people submit to request a court hearing and was told the city doesn’t keep those records.
“It’s been a year since the last time the city took a parking appeals case to JP Court, which is part of everybody’s constitutional due process rights, and the city doesn’t seem to really care about those due process rights,” Grant said Wednesday outside city offices.
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Rago said Wilmington has received only three requests for appeals to be heard in JP Court since last July when hearings were held on parking appeals. The intention is to schedule those hearings once the new appeals system is in place, he said.
“Even though they are sort of in the system, they are not in the court yet because we are still working on this mechanism with DELJIS to transfer these over,” Rago said.
Scrutiny of city parking enforcement policies
Wilmington’s parking enforcement policies and procedures have been under scrutiny since a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed in September 2021. The suit argues that Wilmington is violating drivers’ constitutional rights by allowing companies to tow cars, scrap or sell them and keep the proceeds.
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While the federal suit doesn’t target the city’s appeals process, parking advocates and aggrieved drivers have continued to highlight discrepancies with the city process.
Wilmington attorneys previously blamed the pandemic, which temporarily closed courts in 2020 until hearings could be conducted virtually, as well as staffing issues for delays in appeals being sent to Delaware’s Justice of the Peace Court.
Rago said the city lost two employees who were responsible for handling parking ticket appeals around the same time last year, prompting the city to dismiss nearly 500 tickets that drivers had appealed.
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The employee tasked with handling appeals now has helped Wilmington get back on track, he said, and has helped clear up confusion and questions from constituents who reach out.
“Consequently, I think we’re seeing fewer appeals in part because of her work in answering constituents’ concerns,” Rago said.
Got a tip? Contact Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com, or by calling or texting 302-598-5507. Follow her on Twitter at @mandy_fries.
