By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
One candidate for municipal judge wants to take a wait and see attitude on change, while another wants change immediately.
Theodore "Ted" Elo tells a candidate forum hosted by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce there is not much that he would change immediately.
"I want to become completely familiar with the running's of the court, so that I then know what the list of things that I have under consideration can actually work," Elo says.
Attorney Terri Lowdon wants immediate change, with her top priority being the warrant and collections systems.
"Currently for minor traffic violations, if somebody doesn't pay the fine, they issue a warrant, we take a police officer off the street to serve that warrant," Lowdon says. "That police officer needs to remain on the street to protect and serve us."
While both candidates say changes need to be made to the current probation system, while one says it's running somewhat effectively, the other says it's broken.
Theodore "Ted" Elo says the current system isn't working, but it is running as effectively as it can.
"The prosecutor does issue a motion to show cause and mails them out to people," Elo explains. "Which doesn't have the benefit of giving them to a police officer to serve a warrant."
Attorney Terri Lowdon says the system is broken, and tha the problem runs deeper than the current police shortage
"It's not just about the lack of law enforcement officers on the streets to serve the warrants, it's much deeper than that," Lowdon says.
Candidates for Municipal Court Judge want to show the community that the position is bigger than they may think
Terri Lowdon explains the Municipal Court Judge is a service to help people, and that when you help people, you help the community.
"The municipal court is really like your neighborhood if you're looking at the court system," Lowdon says. "And we all know how your neighborhood goes, is how the rest of the city goes, how municipal court goes affects how the other courts and state court go."
Theodore "Ted" Elo says the public may see Municipal Court as just warrants and traffic tickets, but it's so much more than that
"And as the community becomes aware of that we can hopefully use the court to make the cities appearance better, and make the city better," Elo says.
Both candidates will be on the April 5th election. Click HERE to hear the entire candidate forum.