Little Wolf seeks to join municipal court
The town of Little Wolf will start the process of joining a municipal court in order to crack down on traffic violations.
At a meeting of the Committee to Work with Little Wolf Wednesday, May 24, Manawa and Little Wolf mutually agreed this is the first step to issue citations on a problematic road.
The issue that will ultimately be addressed is on County Yard Road.
During the meeting, Manawa Mayor John Smith said he received numerous calls from the few residents on that road regarding speeding, cutting corners and not obeying the stop sign.
“With County Yard Road, the county will not touch that. They will not write a citation. That’s why we need a municipal court – because it’s a town ordinance for a six-ton weight limit,” Little Wolf Clerk Jackie Beyer said.
The town would need to join Manawa, Iola, Marion and Clintonville in Northern Waupaca County Joint Municipal Court.
From there, it can work with Manawa on having police officers patrol the road and issue citations for violations. Those violations would then go to the municipal court.
Beyer said 10 hours a week would be a good starting point, but that number could increase or decrease once word gets out about violators facing citations.
“If there’s a couple citations written, and I speak of one particular, then word gets out quickly and then people don’t want to pay them,” Beyer said.
Currently, one half of County Yard Road sits in Manawa, and the other half sits in the town of Little Wolf.
Once the town has completed the process of joining the municipal court, then the groups will meet and discuss more particulars relating to compensation for the Manawa Police Department.