Cleveland City Council Member Brian Kazy wants Clerk of Courts Earle B. Turner to stop collecting unpaid traffic camera tickets issued more than a decade ago — debts the clerk’s office has continued trying to collect long after Cleveland voters rejected the use of traffic cameras.
Kazy plans to introduce a resolution at Monday’s council meeting that urges Turner to waive red-light and speeding citations issued by automated traffic cameras before November 2014 and “immediately cease all collection efforts” associated with them. The resolution is not a proposed law and cannot force Turner, whose office oversees collecting fines and fees owed to the city, to do anything.
Kazy argues that continued collection of the old tickets violates a 2014 amendment to Cleveland’s charter approved overwhelmingly by voters. The amendment prohibited the city from using automated traffic cameras unless a law enforcement officer was present and personally issued the citation.
Any unpaid camera tickets that would be covered by the resolution are now at least 12 years old and “likely uncollectible,” according to the proposed resolution.
Kazy, who ran unsuccessfully for Cleveland Clerk of Courts against Turner in 2023, did not respond to a request for comment.
Obie Shelton, a spokesperson for Turner, said Turner will review the resolution and discuss the ramifications of ceasing collections with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration. Shelton said the city collected about $100,000 in 2025 from old camera tickets and about $50,000 this year so far.
Old camera tickets used as leverage
The proposed resolution comes months after a Signal Cleveland investigation found that Turner’s office has for years told drivers with unpaid parking tickets that they must also pay old traffic-camera tickets to remove blocks on their vehicle registrations.
Under Ohio law, drivers with multiple unpaid parking tickets can be prevented from renewing their registrations. Ohio law, however, does not require traffic-camera tickets be repaid to clear a driver’s registration.
Signal Cleveland found that employees in Turner’s office told drivers seeking to clear a block on their registration that they needed to pay all outstanding tickets in their names — including old traffic-camera citations.
Records showed employees were expected to enforce the practice. A 2013 internal email instructed employees to seek payment of all outstanding tickets unless a driver specifically invoked the law and said paying only parking tickets was required to clear their registration.
Shelton said Monday that the clerk’s office does not pressure drivers to pay off old camera tickets to clear a hold on their registration.
Cleveland began using traffic cameras in 2005 and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for the city, but the cameras proved unpopular with voters. The voter-approved amendment says the city cannot enact or enforce an ordinance that conflicts with the camera restrictions. Kazy’s resolution says collecting citations issued under the old camera program violates that amendment.
