Beginning in October, Crystal City will no longer operate its Municipal Court at City Hall.
The Crystal City Council voted unanimously on March 24 to eliminate the court and have associate circuit judges with the 23rd Circuit Court of Jefferson County hear cases involving violations of Crystal City’s municipal ordinances. The Circuit Court is held in Hillsboro.
The change will take effect Oct. 1, 2025.
The Municipal Court primarily handles cases about ordinance violations, including traffic violations and zoning and building code violations.
Crystal City Administrator Jason Eisenbeis said by having an associate circuit judge in Hillsboro hear those cases, the city will be able to eliminate the Crystal City Municipal Court and save money.
Eisenbeis said the cost of maintaining the Municipal Court is almost $100,000 a year. Some of those costs include the pay for Municipal Court Administrator Rene Perry, for the Prosecuting Attorney Natalie D. Pigg and for Municipal Court Judge Forrest K. Wegge.
The city budgeted $58,280 for the 2024-2025 fiscal year for the Court Administrator position, which included Perry’s salary, vacation, pension and Social Security. The city also budgeted $33,000 for costs associated with the payment for legal services, judge salary and meeting and travel expenses.
Wegge has served as Crystal City Municipal Court judge for the past six years. It is an unelected position. Wegge was appointed to the position by then-mayor Tom Schilly. Perry has served as the Court Administrator for 16 years.
The Crystal City Municipal Court is held the second and fourth Wednesday of each month in the City Council Chambers in Crystal City Hall, beginning at 6 p.m. When cases go to the Circuit Court, they will be held during the day, instead of the evening.
Eisenbeis said the main driver for the closure of the municipal court was the passage of Missouri Senate Bill 5 in 2015, adding that the bill has made it more expensive to keep the Municipal Court open. The ruling required courts to use the new Show-Me Courts software, and changing software meant clerks had to get new training.
“Rather than the city of Crystal City having to keep up with the updates for the court software, the computer programs and the requirements for the Supreme Court – the management of the court – we won’t have any of those expenses or responsibilities anymore. Instead, everything gets filed directly to the Circuit Court and is handled by an associate circuit judge.”
Not only are there new requirements for software, but the city is required to have a dedicated clerk at City Hall for 30 hours per week to take payments for tickets and other municipal violations.
Eisenbeis said the ruling also prevents other city clerks from helping the court clerk, so when the court clerk goes on vacation or is out sick, the city is out of compliance with the bill.
“We have four other office clerks who are not allowed to assist the court clerk with her normal operations,” he said. “If the court clerk’s on vacation or out sick, the other clerks can’t go back there and assist people who come to make payments, take phone calls, etc. The court has to be separate from all other operations of the city. When people come in and can’t pay, they leave frustrated. Hiring additional staff isn’t feasible. The city doesn’t use the court as a revenue generator. It’s certainly not enough revenue to hire another person for the court office.”
Eisenbeis said he believes Senate Bill 5 was put in place with the intention of eventually pushing small Municipal Courts to close.
“I think our judge and court clerk have done a fine job for as long as they have. This is exactly the mode of operation that Senate Bill 5 was intended to put in place, and we’re seeing it happen now for us,” Eisenbeis said. “Ten years later, you’re seeing what was always the true intention of Senate Bill 5, at least in my opinion, and now our court is a casualty of that legislation.”
Eisenbeis said once a municipality elects to have its cases heard by an associate circuit judge, the Circuit Court does not have the option to decline and must take those cases. While Senate Bill 5 requires the Circuit Court to take those cases, it does not provide any additional funding or staff to do so.
“The unfortunate part is the 23rd Circuit Court has to take them without a say. But they are not given any more people or funding to take on these cases; at least that is my understanding,” Eisenbeis said. “I think there’s only two or three municipal courts left in Jefferson County that haven’t gone to the Circuit Court, but they don’t get any more help.”
Eisenbeis said Missouri law requires a six-month transition period for the city to transfer the court to the Circuit Court.
“It’ll take every bit of that to wind down old files and warrants while they currently still run business and have court.”
Eisenbeis said that until the Municipal Court closes in October, the city will focus on transferring current court records to Hillsboro and disposing of old records.
Eisenbeis said Perry will stay on as court clerk until the Municipal Court closes later this year.
He said he has not heard of any pushback about the closing of the court from either City Council members, city employees or police officers.
“The police are on board. We’ve reached out to other communities that have done this all across the state as part of this process of looking into what this looks like and what it takes to transfer,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of due diligence to see if this is beneficial for the community and we believe it is.”
The city of Herculaneum eliminated its Municipal Court at the start of the year.