MONROE — Starting Jan. 1, Monroe will have its own municipal court to handle traffic citations, parking tickets and misdemeanor cases.
Work has been under way for two years to create the one-stop shop for local court needs, said Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis, who was on the planning team. It will be the only municipal court in the county along the U.S. 2 corridor east of Everett.
“We’re very excited to provide this service for the citizens of Monroe and surrounding areas,” Willis said.
The court administrator, Pam Haley, brings with her 24 years of experience from working in Snohomish County district courts.
The court will be open normal business hours at 806 W. Main St., on the same campus as City Hall and the police station. Hearings will be held once a week in the City Council chambers.
The court will process all of the traffic and misdemeanor filings from the Monroe Police Department.
Monroe officers file up to 600 misdemeanor cases a year, Willis said.
The most common offenses include drunken-driving, fourth-degree assault, shoplifting, theft, malicious mischief and car prowls.
The court will have two full-time staff members and a part-time judge, Mara Rozzano, who is also a Snohomish County deputy prosecutor assigned to the appeals unit.
Rozzano checked with county Prosecutor Mark Roe, the state Administrative Office of the Courts and the Washington State Bar Association before taking the judge’s position, to make sure there wasn’t a conflict of interest, she said.
She was given the go-ahead and she can’t decide any cases that would end up in county court, she said.
“There should not be an overlap,” she said.
Rozzano is a fifth-generation Washington resident who followed her grandmother’s footsteps to law school at the University of Washington. She has worked in the county prosecutors office about 20 years.
She was drawn to the municipal court because it offered the opportunity to work more closely with people in the community and to address quality-of-life issues, she said. She also has longtime family ties in the Monroe area.
It’s important to her that everyone who walks into the court be treated with respect, she said.
“We judge the act not the person,” she said.
Rozzano’s swearing-in ceremony was held this week..
The court’s budget for 2015 is $289,000, which includes a position moved over from the police department budget, Haley said.
Contracts for prosecution and public-defender services are still being worked out, Willis said. The court is expected to process about 2,200 filings a year.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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