Friday, October 10, 2003

FORT PIERCE -- All the contingency plans, worries, fears and promises of Armageddon were forgotten long ago. But in the traffic division of the St. Lucie County Clerk of Courts office, the Y2K bug really did bite -- or began feasting, really -- in 1999.

That year, and every year since, computers in the traffic division have failed to notify the state if drivers did not pay their traffic fines. By the time the mistake was caught in May of this year, 8,000 drivers had to be notified that unless they paid up within 20 days, their licenses would be suspended.

Those letters -- from the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles -- landed in mailboxes sometime last week. And disgruntled drivers have been streaming into the clerk's offices in Fort Pierce and St. Lucie West ever since. Weary clerks, who begin taking on the onslaught of questions, demands and colorful verbiage around 8 a.m. each workday, are working overtime.

A spokesman from the motor vehicles department said they have sent workers to help out. But still, he said, those tickets have to be paid.

"Just because there was a delay doesn't give us the latitude to ignore it," said Robert Sanchez, department spokesman.

Sanchez also said the department has not had this problem with other counties.

The glitch was caught after an FDLE investigation into impropriety in the traffic division of the clerk's office. Two clerks are now awaiting trial on charges they helped family members bypass the system -- protecting them from paying fines or accruing points on their licenses. A third clerk, a traffic division supervisor, also was fired, although no criminal charges were filed against her. She has sued to get her job back.

When asked why the motor vehicles department didn't realize dramatically fewer people were paying traffic fines in St. Lucie County, Sanchez said the department had been receiving some case information -- so his department, just like the clerk's office, didn't realize there was a problem.

Now, it seems like everyone in the world is aware of the problem -- and they are all standing in line outside a cashier's window in the traffic division.

The clerk's office has been unreachable by phone, said Jill Wummer, who works at her husband's security firm in Riviera Beach. "One time it rang 60 times. I just let it go."

Wummer swung into action the moment she got her letter from the state. Two and half years ago she was stopped for speeding in St. Lucie County, and to keep points off her license she enrolled in driving school. Six months ago, she threw away the certificate saying she completed the course -- thinking she'd never need it again.

"Who knew?" she asked.

And to make matters worse, the driving school where she had taken her course has since closed. Now she can't get another certificate.

"This whole thing just floored me," she said. "I thought one of my friends was playing a trick on me."

When she finally reached the clerk's office, she was told the best thing to do was take the points and pay her fine.

"No way, I am not letting that happen," she said. "Why am I paying for a mistake that happened on their computer? We're going into 2004 and they are bothering me for something that happened in 2001? This is a joke, right? But they were very adamant."

Wummer is hoping that a letter from a man who owns the business next door to the old driving school will prove that the driving school has closed and she can't get another certificate.

Christina Sgambato of Port St. Lucie braved the line Thursday for her brother -- who couldn't be there himself. He had a broken tail light and a broken headlight a couple of years ago. Those fines had been paid, she insisted, and showed off the documents to prove it.

"My mom keeps everything," she explained.

But with all the late fees and whatnot, the state now wanted roughly $200 in fines.

"I could buy a chandelier for that," said Christina's father, Ralph. "It's ridiculous. We already paid."

Another man in line, who declined to give his name but freely admitted he thought he had gotten away with something, said "I tried beating the system," and laughed. "When do the statute of limitations expire?"

Actually, they don't, said attorney Richard Barlow. The state can come after you for traffic fines for as many years as they want, until you pay. But after hearing Wummer's story, he said incidents like show why people don't trust or like government.

"It's unfair the shifting of the burden onto people who have already complied," he said. "The individual is being punished for government's failure to do its job."

According to the clerk's office, the glitch happened like this: The old computer system in the traffic division was archaic in 1999 and needed to be replaced to address possible Y2K problems. An outside vendor was hired to create a new system. That vendor failed to write the software so that it communicated with the Department of Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee. But the St. Lucie County clerks didn't know the problem was occurring because the information was stored correctly in its computer system.

Since the error was discovered in May, clerks have been working day and night to repair the glitch in their system, update their files and send information off to Tallahassee.

"Our staff has been wonderful," said Assistant Clerk of Court Martha Hornsby.

Hornsby said the clerk's office has employed a new software program from the Florida Association of Court Clerks called TCAST, which should keep an error from ever happening again. Now, she said, all the traffic dispositions are being downloaded to Tallahassee every night.

In the meantime, she said, "We're trying to work as hard and as fast as we can. Some people are furious and take it out on our staff."

More than 2,200 tickets have been processed sinwce people began pouring into the St. Lucie County clerk's office Friday -- paying more than $200,000 in fines. That money will be divided like this: the county will get 56.4 percent; the state will get 43.1 percent; and 0.5 percent will stay with the clerk.

Palm Beach Post

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2003