Jeannette officials eye doubling fines for quality-of-life violations

The cost of quality-of-life violations in Jeannette could double, depending on how city council votes later this month.

A motion to increase the fines from $25 to $50 could be on the Jan. 25 agenda after Fire Chief Bill Frye said $25 wasn’t enough.

“It was barely covering costs” to write the tickets and follow up, he said.

The issue was initially planned to be on Thursday’s voting agenda, but was pushed back to allow for more time to examine the ordinance.

Council on Thursday approved a contract with a collection agency that could bring in thousands more. Chief fiscal officer Ethan Keedy said there are 1,360 outstanding quality-of-life tickets totaling $34,000 since 2017.

“There’s some in there that have hundreds,” he said.

He had been examining a potential contract with Creditech to collect the delinquent fines from the tickets that are aimed at property maintenance violations, such as furniture in yards and junk vehicles. An 18% fee will be passed on to the violator.

“This would allow them to start going after people,” Keedy said.

A 2017 ordinance established the ticketing process and eliminated the need for notices to be sent before citations in an effort to have the problem remedied quicker. In the years following, the tickets were issued by various city officials, which Frye said might result in issues with violators claiming their situation was resolved.

“I don’t care what they say; it’s in black and white,” Mayor Curtis Antoniak said.