HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9127 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9127
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council October 13, 2009
Page 1 of 2
SUBJECT, STATUS OF THE PROCESSING AND COLLECTION OF CITATIONS
41 WITHIN MUNICIPAL COURT
The purpose of this informal report is to respond to the full Council on questions raised during the
September 22, 2009 and October 6, 2000 City Council meetings regarding the status of the
Municipal Court's projects and collection efforts.
Phase H Financial Reconciliation Project
On December 2, 2008, the City Council approved M&C C-23194, which authorized execution of a
contract with NashWest, LLC, for staff augmentation associated with reconciling the Municipal
Court Services financial accounts. The Phase I project under this contract identified numerous
issues specific to the financial processing of citations in the CourtView case management system.
The key concern was inaccurate distribution of accounts for some citations resulting in the
incorrect calculation of fines and fees owed to the State, Municipal Court and to citizens. Among
the identified sources of the problems were pre-existing mainframe errors in the distribution of
accounts and the processing of payments, conversion errors in the distribution of accounts and
pre and post go-live errors in the setup of financial related codes.
Most of the Court's required financial reports were included in the Phase I contract along with
cleanup of some major account balances. Those items and the remainder of the scope of work
for the Phase I contract were all successfully completed. However, certain tasks were
intentionally omitted from the Phase I scope of work so that efforts could be focused on higher
priority items. These remaining tasks are necessary for the Municipal Court to complete the
financial reconciliation process and include reports relating to the Office of Court Administration
and End-of-Year as well as the cleanup of escrow accounts and a few other incidental items. On
September 22, 2009, the City Council approved M&CC-23786 which authorized the completion of
these under the Phase II Reconciliation project.
External Collections Contract
Curing Y2008-2009, the Municipal Coin Services Department has selected and negotiated a
contract with Linebarger Sampson Goggan & Blair i Linebarger for third party collections
services. The original date for implementation of the contract was August 1, 2009. In order to
transmit the delinquent cases to Unebarger from the Municipal Court, an additional moduie is
needed for the CourtView (CourtView) case management system. Implementing the module also
requires a change to the existing support and maintenance agreement, as the module is not
covered in the existing City contracts Due to challenges associated with agreeing to the terms of
i the agreement with Code* Justice Solutions, Inc: ` �
.� St, formedy MAXl MU5 Justice Solutions
("'MR, Division M X I U the Depaidment was unable t o m the onginal implementation date,
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I TH T T T AS a
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9127
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council October 13, 2009
jJJJ1� j
„�,� Page 2 of 2
SUBJECT: STATUS OF THE PROCESSING AND COLLECTION OF CITATIONS
WITHIN MUNICIPAL COURT
CJS acquired MAIMUS in October of 2008. During the transition, CJS has provided cost
estimates that are not part of the original City agreement that is valid through December 2011.
As the Department has stressed the importance to CJS on the start of the project, they have
provided the City with a resolution that complies with our original agreement. The City Council
approved M&C C-23828 on October 6, 2009 authorizing an amendment to the existing support
and maintenance agreement. This amendment will modify the existing agreement to include the
collections module that is required to transmit the cases identified as delinquent to the third party
collections vendor.
The anticipated date to "go-live" with the transmission of cases is currently set for November 16,
2009. Staff will rovide an updated r
P p report three months after the
P actual 9 olive date.
Current Collections Initiative Project Timeline
Phase II Financial Reconciliation Project October 19, 2009
Collections Interface De Io ment October 13, 2009
Third Party Collections November 16, 2009 - Tentative
Western Union Speed Pa (E—Payments November 30, 2009 - Tentative
Scofflaw To Be Determined
Omnibase Janua 12, 2010 - Tentative
A formal briefing of these topics as well as the status of Municipal Court technology initiatives will
be scheduled per the request of the City Council during the October 27, 2009 City Council
meeting.
If you have any questions concerning this report, please contact Deidra Emerson, Municipal
Court Services Director at 817-392-6711.
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4—Dale Fiss 1 r
City Manager
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ISSUED BY THE CITY FORT WORTH, TEXASi