YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS ONE!

Ken Jackson, Magistrate Judge, happened to be in his office the last week and was there long enough to hold court.  Monticello’s Police Chief, Dan Norris, owes over 2 years for his curbside pick up and has refused to pay.  (We will note that Mr. Norris is notorious for not paying his property taxes on a timely basis either.)  Presently Mr. Norris owes $301.35 for past curbside service and $36 for the present quarter.  From what sources have told us, Mr. Norris has used some “Constitutional rights” argument of he didn’t have a choice in who picked up his garbage, and he doesn’t think he should have to pay his curbside garbage bill.  Believe it or not, Judge Jackson ruled in his favor!  We tried repeatedly to contact the Judge yesterday about the ruling, but he wasn’t in his office--no one was sure where he was.    Again, sources tell us that Mr. Norris argued that he should have the right to choose who he wants for garbage service, and therefore shouldn’t have to pay the bill.  What does this mean for the rest of us?  Why should we have to pay our bill??

 

Questions for Judge Jackson—How many other people have been brought before the Magistrate Court for curbside past due bills?  How many others “got off” for not paying?  Was this ruling made for Chief Norris because he is the City Police Chief?  Has Chief Norris been using the service for the past 2 years and now just decided that he should have a choice?  Who represented the County in this case?  Can it be appealed? 

 

We have also called Curbside to see how much is owed overall to the County by delinquent payers.  They don’t know!  They can look up individual bills, but from what we were told, they don’t have an overall printout of delinquent payers.  How do you collect if you don’t have a printout?  It’s hard to believe our county offices are really run so poorly.  The County Manager has said the delinquent accounts stand at $137,000, but we haven’t seen any figures to back that up. 

 

Again, we say it.  Ken Jackson is getting paid as a full-time Magistrate Judge.  He is rarely in his office.  On top of his regular salary, Jackson was given a $20,000 supplement by our previous County Administrator, Mr. Peevy.  Judge Jackson has hurt the County tremendously with this ruling.  There is no telling how many people will now decide not to pay their garbage bill.  Maybe that’s why the City wants their part of the billing.  By putting it on the Utility bill, there won’t be questionable rulings like this—and the City can go up on the fee whenever they decide to do so.  Think about it!