Baxter City Court Resumes Wed

City Court in Baxter will resume on Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Police Chief Danny Homes said it will be the first time since February the court has met. A large docket is expected.

“I guess we had between 100 and 150 cases,” Holmes said. “Most of them have come in and paid, so we’re down to approximately 50 people. We’re hoping we can get through it.”

Holmes said groups of 10 people at a time will be taken in for their case to be heard. He also said hand sanitizer and masks will be available. City Court is held at Baxter City Hall. City Court typically meets once a month, hearing 20 to 25 cases.

Originally, the plan was to have cars line up and people remain inside their vehicle to have their case heard. Holmes said that plan has changed.

“We’re opening the courtroom,” Holmes said. “Our judge is Judge David Bush. He’s coming by (Monday) and we’re going to discuss exactly how he wants to do it.”

Holmes said a majority of the outstanding cases have been contacted. He said most people have been cooperative to this point.

“You can only go so many months without letting them appear,” Holmes said. “I think we’ve done really well. We told them they can come in. We’ve had a drop box outside, and, as a matter of fact, when we came in (Monday) morning, several more had paid their fine.”

Holmes said through the pandemic, the police department was a little more lenient than usual.

“We have tried to only stop certain people that are deliberately not obeying the law,” Holmes said. “We’ve tried to keep our place as safe as we can. I’ve just told my guys to sit and watch.”

City Courts in Tennessee hear cases involving violations of municipal ordinances. The most common citations are speeding tickets or traffic violations, but they also hear code violations and safety ordinances, as well.