Mission Statement
The City of Willard Municipal Court is responsible for providing both a process as well as a forum for ensuring the due process of law. The goal of the Court is to ensure the safety and well-being of the citizens of Willard and to the visitors to the City.
By City ordinance, the Municipal Court was first established in 1975. Presently the City’s Municipal Court is a division of the thirty-first (31st) Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri. The Court is responsible for the following:
Recording alleged violations of City codes or ordinances;
Issuing summons to defendants and subpoenas to witnesses;
Hearing evidence presented in Court;
Ruling on cases;
Recording final dispositions of cases;
Receipting fines and court costs; and,
Distributing such funds to their proper designations.
In addition to City code and ordinance violations, the Court also handles traffic cases, DWI #1 and non-traffic cases. The current Municipal Court Judge is the Honorable David W Doran and the Prosecuting Attorney is Nate Dally. Terry Forshee is the Court Clerk. Clerks are appointed as the Violation Bureau Clerk so, if appearance before the Judge is not required, and the individual wishes to plead guilty, they may simply bring their yellow copy of the citation to City Hall and pay or sign on the back of the citation and mail in with the payment.
If an individual decides to plead not guilty, they must appear before the Judge on their assigned court date. They must also appear on personal injury/property damage (i.e. automobile accidents); alcohol and drug violations; operating a vehicle with counterfeited, altered, suspended or a revoked license; fleeing or attempting to elude an officer; and any other violation which the Judge may order. The Police Officer will hand out written instructions with any citations they issue. The Judge may order a warrant if an individual fails to appear at court.
Court Clerk Duties
On court days, the Court Clerk assists the Judge with any paperwork involved. The Court Clerk has reporting requirements to the City of Willard, the Department of Revenue, the Office of State Courts Administrator, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and to Circuit Court en Banc. The Court Clerk must use his/her best effort to collect all fines and court costs which are assessed and ensure all payments on account are receipted, recorded to the accounts and deposited daily into the court account. The Clerk reconciles bank statements monthly (this process is also done by another individual independent of the Court). At the end of each month the fines, costs and surcharges are remitted to the proper entities. Finally, the Clerk is also responsible for records including open cases, warrants, closed cases, confidential cases, record retention and the proper destruction of such records when required.