The Magnolia City Council began consideration on how best to fill the vacant warrant officer position during its monthly City Council meeting Oct. 12.

Rather than fill the position, City Manager Paul Mendes is implementing a new plan which he hopes will encourage citizens to pay their tickets and take care of their outstanding warrants, as well as save money for the police department.

The new plan will include the use of flyers and post cards being sent to the ticket holders reminding them to pay their tickets or informing them that they have warrants for their arrest.

A brightly colored flyer that states what the person has outstanding with the police department is what city council and the Magnolia Police Department hope will have a better turnaround rate, rather than an officer solely dedicated to arresting offenders.

“For the younger crowd, this may be something their parents will see and could possibly get them involved so their kids will take care of their tickets. For others, it is basically a harsh reminder,” Mendes said.

In recent years Magnolia utilized a marshal position which included the duties of the warrant officer. The marshal would search for citizens with warrants and bring them to the police station to pay their fine or be arrested. Mendes said this approach was not “cost effective.”

“In most cases the warrant officer is not cost effective because they end up spending half the day trying to get one person,” Mendes said.

Last year, the City of Magnolia saw two of its marshals resigned. First, longtime marshal Jeri Carpenter left the city in May 2009. Later that year, Robert Elkins was hired and resigned just a few months later.

Meanwhile, Mendes added that the city allocating a position for a marshal leads to spending more time and money once the police take the alleged violator to the police department and discover they cannot afford to pay the warrant.

In addition to the changes in how citizens are notified about their outstanding tickets and warrants, the Magnolia municipal court is changing its hours to evening hours so those needing to take care of their tickets have a larger time frame to do so.

“Hopefully this helps, because now they will have time to pay it before it becomes a warrant,” said Mendes.

The police department is doing this in hopes to keep expenditures down. The department currently employs five reserve officers who will also help with warrant situations when they are needed. Mendes explained that Magnolia’s brother city, Shenandoah, released its marshal because statistics are showing that the position is not bringing in the numbers they would like to see.

Chief of Police Domingo Ibarra told City Council he would send monthly reports to show how this new tactic is working.

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