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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgreements/Contracts - BOCC (008)'��� ¢ , Z f�� f„ ' �r Y -1\,Z2--008 INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF EPHRATA AND GRANT COUNTY FOR THE PROVISION OF COURT SERVICES WITHIN THE MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT OF THE DISTRICT COURT THIS AGREEMENT made by and between GRANT COUNTY, duly organized and operating under and by virtue of the Constitution and the laws of the State of Washington, hereinafter referenced to as the "COUNTY" and the CITY OF EPHRATA, a municipal corporation of the State of Washington, hereinafter referred to as the "CITY", for theprovision of court services to the City's Municipal Department of the Grant County District Court, he referred to as 4�municipal department" or "municipal court". RECITALS: WHEREAS, the CITY has previously petitioned the COUNTY toestablish a municipal department of Grant County District Court; and WHEREAS, the organization of the CITY's Municipal Department was incorporated into Grant County's District Court Districting Plan; and WHEREAS, the municipal department for the CITY was created by the COUNTY, known as the Municipal Department of the CITY of EPHRATA; and WHEREAS, the CITY and COUNTY previously entered into an Interlocal Agreement dated December 28, 2004, to utilize the services of the COUNTY'sDistrict Court judges to hear cases on violations of the CITY's civil ordinances, hereinafter referredto as the " 2004 ILA"; WHEREAS, the CITY desires to continue to utilize the services of the COUNTY's District Court judges to hear cases on violations of the CITY's civil ordinances, and no other matters except as conferred by statute; and WHEREAS, the CITY desires to now utilize the services of the COUNTY's District Court clerks to serve as municipal court clerks in order to file and process cases on violations of the CITY's civil ordinances, and no other matters except as conferred by statute; and WHEREAS, the parties desire to enter into an agreement amending the 2004 ILA and further defining their rights, duties, and liabilities relating to the utilization of the COUNTY's District Court judges and clerks to process and hear cases on violations of the CITY civil ordinances and no other matters except as conferred by statute; and WHEREAS, the purpose of this Agreement is toprovide the CITY with Municipal Court services for the adjudication of violations of CITY civil ordinances and establish a basis for identifying costs, revenues, fines, fees and responsibilities of both parties hereto and WHEREAS, the Municipal Court services to be provided by the COUNTY are expressly restricted to the provision of a District Courtjudge and Municipal Court clerk. Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 1 of 8 NOW, THEREFORE, for and in consideration on the mutual covenants, agreements, and stipulations contained herein, the CITY and the COUNTY hereby agree as follows: 1. DEFINITIONS, "Case" — A Notice of Infraction filed with a unique citation number for a violation of the CITY's civil ordinances. 2. MUNICIPAL COURT SERVICES. Commencing from the time this Agreement is executed, the COUNTY shallprovide timely and efficient court services in the CITY's Municipal Court for all civil municipal court cases. a. The COUNTY's Responsibilities. .0 The following court services shall be provided by the COUNTY under this Agreement. - 1. Municipal Court Judges and Presiding Judge. The District Court Judges, the Presiding Judge, and the Commissioner shall continue to preside over the Municipal Departments cases pursuant to RCW 3.46.060. Costs contemplated by RCW 3.46 et'seq., and the Grant County District Court Districting Plan 2013 are included in the costsprovided for in this Agreement. 2. Court Staff. The COUNTY shall provide court clerks necessary to timely and efficiently process all civil municipal cases filed by the CITY. Court clerks will not be considered CITY employees. 3. Supplies and Forms. The COUNTY shall provide all court forms and paperwork necessary for the processing of the CITY's municipal court cases. 4. Language Interpretation. The COUNTY shall provide and pay for all language interpretation services for the CITY's municipal court civil defendants. 5. Collection and Remittance of Fines and Collection for Nonpayment. The COUNTY will collect, receipt, and remit all municipal infraction fees, fines, assessments, and penalties to the CITY on a monthly basis. The COUNTY will, through the same collection process used for the COUNTY District Court cases, collect all fin es, fees, and assessments for the CITY's Municipal Court civil cases and remit those fines, fees, and assessments to the CITY on a monthly basis. Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 2 of 8 6. Property. The cost of all real and personal property used in the performance of the COUNTY's duties under the terms of this Agreement shall be the sole responsibility of the COUNTY. 7. Court Scheduling. The scheduling of court proceedings for the CITY Municipal Court is controlled by the COUNTY District Court and the Presiding Judge. However, g the COUNTY District Court agrees to schedule the CITY's civil matters separately from similar matters instituted by other jurisdictions and court proceedings shall be scheduled at least once per month. 8. File Management and Retention. The COUNTY District Court shall manage and retain court case files for the CITY's Municipal Court for all cases filed under this Agreement. Files shall be managed and retained in accordance with procedures established by the Supreme Court Rules, Judicial Information System policies, Washington State Archives and District Court policies. 9. Facilities. The COUNTY District Court agrees torovide facilities at the COUNTY OUNTY District Court facilities for CITY Municipal Court civilroceedin s. P g 10. Miscellaneous. The COUNTY shall provide services that are required b law for the function - y of the CITY Municipal Court. b. The CITY's Responsibilities. 1. Prosecution. The CITY shall be responsible for providing andPay g in for all prosecution services for all cases filed on its behalf. 2. Notice of Infractions. All Notices of Infraction issued by the CITY must be filed with the COUNTY District Court pursuant to IRLJ 2.2(d). See also IRLJ 1.2(a)—(b) (definitions for "Infraction Case" and "Notice of Infraction"). 3. Receipt for Remittance Upon receiving the remittance from the COUNTY, the CITY shallrovide P a remittance receipt to the court within thirty (3 0) days. 4. File Management and Retention Infraction Cases Prior to Agreement, All infraction records under GR 31 and GR 31.1rior to this Agreement shall P g 1 be managed and retained by the CITY. Files shall be managed and retained i g n accordance with the procedures established by the Supreme Court Rules, , Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 3 of 8 Judicial Information System policies, Washington State Archives and District Court policies. 3. COSTS AND REVENUE, a. The COUNTY District Court will send invoices to the CITY for each quarter. The quarters being January—March, April—June, July—September, and October—December. The COUNTY District Court will send the invoice for a quarter within 45 days of the end of a quarter.. The CITY will be responsible to pay the invoice within 30 days of receipt of the invoice. b. For the year 2021, the fee schedule currently in place will remain the same. Any payments made by the CITY for the months of July, 2020, through the time of execution of this Agreement (during which time municipal court operations were suspended) shall be credited against future invoices beginning at the time this Agreement is signed. c. *Starting January 1, 2022, the CITY shall pay the COUNTY District Court at the rate of $30.00 per case filed. The COUNTY District Court shall bill the CITY in accord withparagraph 2(a) above and shall note on each invoice the number of infractions for which the CITY is being charged. The Fee may be reviewed and renegotiated by the COUNTY and CITY on a yearly basis after the first year. If fees are not agreed upon, then using the Dispute Resolution process hereunder, fees must be negotiated, in October starting October 1St d. All fines, fees, costs, and assessments shall be collected and accounted for by the COUNTY District Court staff in accordance with Chapter 3.62 of the RCW and any other applicable laws and paid to the CITY along with an accounting thereof, monthly. The COUNTY shall provide collection reports to the CITY on aquarterly basis. 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS, a. This Agreement shall not be construed as or deemed to be a contract for the benefit of any third party or parties and no third party orparties shall have any right to action hereunder for any cause whatsoever. b. No agent, em-plovee, servant, or representative of the CITY shall be deemed to be employee, an employee of COUNTY for any purpose and no employee of COUNTY or of the District Court shall be deemed an employee of the CITY. c. Each party to this Agreement shall act in good faith and shall aid and assist the other in accomplishing the obj ective of this Agreement. Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 4 of 8 d. This Agreement, upon execution by all parties, supersedes and amends the 2004 Interlocal Agreement and any other prior contracts and agreements (oral or written) for the District Court's assumption of Municipal Court services between the CITY and the COUNTY. Provided, however, that this Agreement does not affect that Interlocal Agreement Between the CITY and COUNTY for Provision of Services for Misdemeanor Offenses Committed by Adults, executed between the parties in September, 1998. 5. MODIFICATION, No change or additions to this Agreement shall be valid or binding upon either party unless such change or addition is in writing, signed by both parties. In the event the CITY and the COUNTY cannot agree upon issues related to modification or renewal of this Agreement, the Parties shall follow the Dispute Resolution clause hereunder. 6. TERM, This Agreement shall become effective commencing the I st day of January, 2022, and shall continue in effect through the 31 St day of December, 2026. This Agreement will continue in force for subsequent years on the terms specified herein unless other terms are negotiated within 90 days prior to the end of the calendar year. 7. NOTICE, Any notice required to be given by either party to the other shall be deposited in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the COUNTY at: Grant County District Court Court Administrator PO Box 37 Ephrata, WA 98823 Or to the CITY, at: City Clerk City of Ephrata 121 Alder Street SW Ephrata WA 98823 Or at such other address as either party may designate to the other in writing from time to time. All notices to be given with respect to this Agreement shall be in writing. Every notice shall be deemed to have been given at the time it shall be deposited in the United States mail in the manner prescribed herein. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to precludepersonal service of any notice in the manner prescribed for personal service of a summons or other legal process. Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 5 of 8 8. TERMINATION, a. CITY: The CITY may terminate this Agreement by providing the Court Administrator with written notice of its intent to disband its Municipal Department, no less than one (1) year prior to February 1st of the year in which all the COUNTY District Court judges are subject to election. PROVIDED: the CITY may only terminate its Municipal Department at the end of a four (4) year judicial term. b. COUNTY: The COUNTY may terminate this Agreement by providing council for the CITY written notice at least one (1) year prior to the date of the intended termination. c. MUTUAL AGREEMENT: The parties may agree to terminate this Agreement upon mutual agreement. d. Termination of this Agreement shall not affect any case, proceeding, appeal, or other matter pending in the Municipal Court, or in any way modify any right or liability, civil or criminal, which may be in existence on the effective date of termination by either the CITY or the COUNTY. e. In the event of termination of this Agreement any and all funds owed to the COUNTY at said termination date shall be paid by the CITY and all fines and costs collected by the COUNTY shall be paid to the CITY. Should the amount owed be disputed, the CITY and COUNTY agree to use the Dispute Resolution clause hereunder. f. In the event of the termination of this Agreement all cases filed in the CITY Municipal Court shall be returned to the CITY. 9. APPLICABLE LAW, This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Washington. 10. DISPUTE RESOLUTION, If Parties have a dispute under this Agreement, upon one of the parties formally invoking this clause, the Parties must try to settle the dispute through good faith negotiations within 30 days. Upon agreement by the parties, the time for good faith negotiations may be extended. To formally invoke the dispute resolution clause, the Party wishing to invoke the clause must serve the other Party notice via certified mail. The time for negotiations will begin three days after the certified mail is sent. If the Parties fail to reach a resolution at the end of the 30 days, or agreed upon time, for negotiations, the disputed matter(s) must be submitted to mediation. The Parties must try to settle Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 6 of 8 the dispute in good faith through mediation within a 60 day period. The partie s may agree to extend this time for mediation. Costs related to mediation shall be mutually shared between the Parties. If after 60 days, or the time agreed to by the Parties, forgood faith mediation the Part' fail to reach a resolution, the Parties may proceed to litigation. les 11. JURISDICTION AND VENUE, Any litigation arising out of this Agreement shall be submitted to the Superior Court of the State of Washington for Kittitas County. 12. INDEMNIFICATION, a. Each party shall indemnify and hold harmless the other, its officers, agents, judges elected officials, appointed officials and employees from all liability, loss of damage, including costs of defense they may suffer as a result of claims, demands, actions, damages, costs of judgements which result from each party's own intentional or negligent acts relating to services provided pursuant to this Agreement. b. In the event that both the COUNTY and the CITY are negligent in a matter arising out of the activities of the partiespursuant to this Agreement, each part shall be liable for its contributory share of negligence for any resulting suits, actions*, claims, liability, damages, judgments, costs and expenses including costs and reasonable attorney's fees. c. The CITY also agrees to fully indemnify the COUNTY and the COUNTY District Court for any and all State and Federal audit finding(s) for activities that occurred prior to execution of this Agreement and/or for any audit finding(s), including costs to defend any audit operations that occurredprior to the implementation of assumption of court services by the COUNTY District Court on behalf of the CITY. 13. INVALIDITY, Any provision of this Agreement which shall prove to be invalid, void or illegal shall in no way affect, impair or invalidate any of the other provisions hereof and such other provisions shall remain in full force and effect despite such invalidity or illegality. Ephrata and Grant County District Court ILA 2022 7 of 8 EXECUTED this 6��Ik day of 12022, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS GRA E� COUNTY, WASHINGTON ),j Al� Danny -E -Sone', 00CC Cha r 41 -47hair /gb Cindy Carter., Member 2., Date ATT 0 �ESTI* . It Bar Vasquez, Date Clerk of the Board, CITY OF EPHRATA, WASHINGTON1. jr APPROW AS TO FORM* ine Kath Kentson, # 18076 C It ��� fty Attomey City of Ephrata Rebekah M. K tor, 4 53257 Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Grant County Prosecutor's Office F,Phrata and or -ant counky MIStrict Court ILA 2022 Date