[Ord. No. 2040, 3-23-2021; Ord. No. 2503, 12-9-2025]
A. 
The Board of Alderpersons hereby approves the "Contract for Municipal Court Services" between the City of Moline Acres and St. Louis County, Missouri, substantially in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A (held on file in the City offices) and incorporated herein by reference.
B. 
The Mayor of the City of Moline Acres is hereby authorized and directed to execute said Contract on behalf of the City and to take all steps necessary to carry out the intent of this Section.
There is hereby established in the City of Moline Acres, a Municipal Court to be known as the Moline Acres Municipal Court, a Division of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri". In the event a Police Court existed prior to the establishment of a Municipal Court, this Court is a continuation of the Police Court of the City as previously established and is termed herein "The Municipal Court".
The jurisdiction of the Municipal Court shall extend to all cases involving alleged violations of the ordinances of the City.
The Judge of the City's Municipal Court shall be known as a Municipal Judge of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court and shall be selected by appointment to the position by the Mayor with approval of a majority of the members of the Board of Alderpersons for a term as specified herein.
The Municipal Judge shall hold his/her office for a period of two (2) years. If for any reason a Municipal Judge vacates his/her office, his/her successor shall complete that term of office, even if the same be for less than two (2) years.
A. 
The Municipal Judge shall vacate his/her office under the following conditions:
1. 
Upon removal from office by the State Commission on the Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges, as provided in Missouri Supreme Court Rule 12;
2. 
Upon attaining his/her seventy-fifth (75th) birthday; or
3. 
If he/she should lose his/her license to practice law within the State of Missouri.
A. 
The Municipal Judge shall possess the following qualifications before he/she shall take office:
1. 
He/she must be a licensed attorney qualified to practice law within the State of Missouri.
2. 
He/she need not reside within the City.
3. 
He/she must be a resident of the State of Missouri.
4. 
He/she must be between the ages of twenty-one (21) and seventy-five (75) years.
5. 
He/she may serve as a Municipal Judge for any other municipality.
6. 
He/she may not hold any other office within the City Government.
7. 
The Municipal Judge shall be considered holding a part-time position and as such may accept other employment.
The Municipal Court of the City shall be subject to the rules of the Circuit Court of which it is a part and to the rules of the State Supreme Court. The Municipal Court shall be subject to the general administrative authority of the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court, and the Judge and Court personnel of said Court shall obey his/her directives.
The Municipal Judge shall cause the Court Clerk to prepare, within the first (1st) ten (10) days of every month, a report indicating the following:
A list of all cases heard or tried before the Judge during the preceding month, giving in each case the name of the defendant, the fine imposed if any, the amount of costs, the names of defendants committed and the cases in which there was an application for trial de novo, respectively. The Court Clerk or the Judge shall verify such lists and statements by affidavit and shall file the same with the City Clerk, who shall lay the same before the Board of Alderpersons of the City for examination at its first (1st) session thereafter. The Municipal Court shall, within the ten (10) days after the first (1st) of the month, pay to the Municipal Treasurer the full amount of all fines collected during the preceding month, if not previously paid to the Municipal Treasurer.
The Municipal Judge shall be a conservator of the peace. He/she shall keep a docket in which he/she shall enter every case commenced before him/her and the proceedings therein and he/she shall keep such other records as may be required. Such docket and records shall be records of the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. The Municipal Judge shall deliver said docket, records and all books and papers pertaining to his/her office to his/her successor in office or to the Presiding Judge of the Circuit.
A. 
The Municipal Judge shall be and is hereby authorized to:
1. 
Establish a Traffic Violations Bureau as provided for in the Missouri Rules of Practice and Procedure in Municipal and Traffic Courts and Section 479.050, RSMo.
2. 
Administer oaths and enforce due obedience to all orders, rules and judgments made by him/her, and may fine and imprison for contempt committed before him/her while holding Court, in the same manner and to the same extent as a Circuit Judge.
3. 
Stay execution of any fine or sentence, suspend any fine or sentence, and make such other orders as the Municipal Judge deems necessary relative to any matter that may be pending in the Municipal Court.
4. 
Make and adopt such rules of practice and procedure as are necessary to implement and carry out the provisions of this Chapter, and to make and adopt such rules of practice and procedure as are necessary to hear and decide matters pending before the Municipal Court and to implement and carry out the provisions of the Missouri Rules of Practice and Procedure in Municipal and Traffic Courts.
5. 
The Municipal Judge shall have such other powers, duties and privileges as are or may be prescribed by the laws of this State, this Code or other ordinances of this City.
Should the Municipal Judge determine that there shall be a Traffic Violations Bureau, the City shall provide all expenses incident to the operation of the same. The City Clerk is hereby designated as the Traffic Violations Clerk for said Bureau, if established, and may appoint or designate such persons as are necessary to conduct said office.
All warrants issued by a Municipal Judge shall be directed to the Chief of Police or any other Police Officer of the municipality or to the Sheriff of the County. The warrants shall be executed by the Chief of Police, Police Officer or Sheriff at any place within the limits of the County and not elsewhere, unless the warrants are endorsed in the manner provided for warrants in criminal cases, and, when so endorsed shall be served in other Counties, as provided for in warrants in criminal cases.
The Chief of Police or other Police Officer of the City may, without a warrant, make arrest of any person who commits an offense in his/her presence, but such officer shall, before the trial, file a written complaint with the Judge hearing violations of municipal ordinances.
Any person charged with a violation of a municipal ordinance of this City shall be entitled to a trial by jury, as in prosecutions for misdemeanors before an Associate Circuit Court Judge. Whenever a defendant accused of a violation of a municipal ordinance has a right to and demands such trial by jury, the Municipal Court shall certify the case to the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court for reassignment.
It shall be the duty of an attorney designated by the City to prosecute the violations of the City's ordinances before the Municipal Judge or before any Circuit Judge hearing violations of the City's ordinances. The salary or fees of the attorney and his/her necessary expenses incurred in such prosecutions shall be paid by the City. The compensation of such attorney shall not be contingent upon the number of cases tried, the number of guilty verdicts reached or the amount of fines imposed or collected.
It shall be the duty of the Municipal Judge to summon all persons whose testimony may be deemed essential as witnesses at the trial and to enforce their attendance by attachment, if necessary. The fees of witnesses shall be the same as those fixed for witnesses in trials before Associate Circuit Court Judges and shall be taxed as other costs in the case. When a trial shall be continued by a Municipal Judge it shall not be necessary to summon any witnesses who may be present at the continuance, but the Municipal Judge shall orally notify such witnesses as either party may require to attend before him/her on the day set for trial to testify in the case, and enter the names of such witnesses on his/her docket, which oral notice shall be valid as a summons.
If, in the progress of any trial before the Municipal Judge, it shall appear to the Judge that the accused ought to be put upon trial for an offense against the criminal laws of the State and not cognizable before him/her as Municipal Judge, he/she shall immediately stop all further proceedings before him/her as Municipal Judge and cause the complaint to be made before some Associate Circuit Court Judge of the County.
If, in the opinion of the Municipal Judge, the City has no suitable and safe place of confinement, the Municipal Judge may commit the defendant to the County Jail, and it shall be the duty of the Sheriff, if space for the prisoner is available in the County Jail, upon receipt of a warrant of commitment from the Judge to receive and safely keep such prisoner until discharged by due process of law. The municipality shall pay the board of such prisoner at the same rate as may now or hereafter be allowed by law to such Sheriff for the keeping of other prisoners in his/her custody. The same shall be taxed as cost.
A. 
Any Judge hearing violations of municipal ordinances may, when in his/her judgment it may seem advisable, grant a parole or probation to any person who shall plead guilty or who shall be convicted after a trial before such Judge. When a person is placed on probation he/she shall be given a certificate explicitly stating the conditions on which he/she is being released.
B. 
In addition to such other authority as exists to order conditions of probation, the Court may order conditions which the Court believes will serve to compensate the victim of the crime, any dependent of the victim, or society in general. Such conditions may include, but need not be limited to:
1. 
Restitution to the victim or any dependent of the victim, in an amount to be determined by the Judge; and
2. 
The performance of a designated amount of free work for a public or charitable purpose, or purposes, as determined by the Judge.
C. 
A person may refuse probation conditioned on the performance of free work. If he/she does so, the Court shall decide the extent or duration of sentence or other disposition to be imposed and render judgment accordingly. Any County, City, person, organization or agency or employee of a County, City, organization or agency charged with the supervision of such free work or who benefits from its performance shall be immune from any suit by the person placed on parole or probation or any person deriving a cause of action from him/her if such cause of action arises from such supervision of performance, except for intentional torts or gross negligence. The services performed by the probationer or parolee shall not be deemed employment within the meaning of the provisions of Chapter 288, RSMo.
D. 
The Court may modify or enlarge the conditions of probation at any time prior to the expiration or termination of the probation term.
In any case tried before the Municipal Judge, except where there has been a plea of guilty or where the case has been tried with a jury, the defendant shall have a right of trial de novo before a Circuit Court Judge or upon assignment before an Associate Circuit Court Judge. An application for a trial de novo shall be filed within ten (10) days after judgment and shall be filed in such form and perfected in such manner as provided by Supreme Court rule.
In any case tried with a jury before an Associate Circuit Judge, a record of the proceedings shall be made, and appeals may be had upon that record to the appropriate Appellate Court.
In the case of a breach of any recognizance entered into before a Municipal Judge or an Associate Circuit Court Judge hearing a municipal ordinance violation case, the same shall be deemed forfeited and the Judge shall cause the same to be prosecuted against the principal and surety, or either of them, in the name of the municipality as plaintiff. Such action shall be prosecuted before a Circuit Court Judge or Associate Circuit Court Judge, and in the event of cases caused to be prosecuted by a Municipal Judge, such shall be on the transcript of the proceedings before the Municipal Judge. All monies recovered in such actions shall be paid over to Municipal Treasury to the General Revenue Fund of the municipality.
A Municipal Judge shall be disqualified to hear any case in which he/she is in any way interested, or, if before the trial is commenced, the defendant or the prosecutor files an affidavit that the defendant or the municipality, as the case may be, cannot have a fair and impartial trial by reason of the interest or prejudice of the Judge. Neither the defendant nor the municipality shall be entitled to file more than one (1) affidavit or disqualification in the same case.
A. 
If a Municipal Judge be absent, sick or disqualified from acting, the Mayor of the Board of Alderpersons may request the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court to designate a special Municipal Judge as provided in Subsection (B) of this Section or the Mayor may designate some competent, eligible person to act as Municipal Judge until such absence or disqualification shall cease; provided however, that should a vacancy occur in the office of an elected Municipal Judge more than six (6) months before a general municipal election, then a special election shall be held to fill such vacancy; and in case of vacancy in the office of an elected Municipal Judge within less than six (6) months of a general municipal election, the office may be filled by a competent, eligible person designated by the Mayor of the Board of Alderpersons or as provided in Subsection (B) of this Section.
B. 
The Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court may appoint any other Municipal Judge within the circuit to act as a special Municipal Judge for a Municipal Judge of the circuit who is absent, sick or disqualified from acting. The Presiding Judge shall act only upon request of the Mayor of the Board of Alderpersons for a special Municipal Judge.
C. 
The Governing Body of the municipality shall provide by ordinance for the compensation of any person designated to act as Municipal Judge under the provisions of this Section.
A. 
A person commits the offense of failure to appear in Municipal Court if:
1. 
He/she has been issued a summons for a violation of any ordinance of the City of Moline Acres, and fails to appear before the Judge of the Municipal Court at the time and on the date on which he/she was summoned, or at the time or on the date to which the case was continued;
2. 
He/she has been released upon recognition of bond and fails to appear before the Judge of the Municipal Court at the time and on the date on which he/she was summoned, or at the time or on the date to which the case was continued; or
3. 
He/she has been placed on Court supervised probation and fails to appear before the Judge of the Municipal Court at the time specified by said Judge as a condition of the probation.
B. 
Nothing in this Section shall prevent the exercise of the Municipal Court of its power to punish for contempt.