§ 62-1. Bond clerk division; duties and authorities of bond clerk.

(a)

There shall be created a division known as the bond clerk division within the violations bureau of the municipal court. The appointment of the head of the division, known as bond clerk, shall be made by the judges.

(b)

It shall be the duty of the bond clerk to collect and enforce all collections of appearance and certiorari bonds given by persons either to appear or to abide final judgment in all courts.

(c)

The chief of corrections shall not accept cash bonds on any offenses under the jurisdiction of the Atlanta Municipal Court except as set forth in section 62-31 (b), (c), (d) and (f) of this chapter. For the bail requirements of offenses under the jurisdiction of the Atlanta Municipal Court, the corrections chief shall implement the provisions of section 62-31 (a), (b), (c), (d) and (f). The chief of corrections or designated representative shall accept all appearance bonds on standard forms provided by the department of corrections, and shall deliver to the proper court the coupon stubs of these bonds. The chief of corrections shall deposit with the revenue collection administrator all sums taken on bonds, which sums shall be kept in an account and fund to be designated by the chief financial officer.

(d)

The bond clerk shall keep and record all bonds received from the chief of corrections in a ledger known as the bond ledger and shall file the bonds by court date. If a case is bound over to a state court, the bond clerk shall release any bond relating to that case to the solicitor of the municipal court or the solicitor's assistant upon presentation of the receipt thereof.

(e)

The clerk of the municipal court shall advise the bond clerk in writing of the action taken by the court on each case.

(f)

The bond clerk, upon written notice from the clerk of the court, shall adjust records accordingly. If a trial is reset, the bond clerk's bonds and records are to be corrected to show the new trial date, etc. For a forfeiture and the issuance of an execution, the bond clerk is to collect the face value of the bond within ten days from the date of the execution. The bond clerk shall in no way have the authority to extend the ten-day payment period nor shall the trial judge, except in extreme cases, have the authority once a bond has been forfeited and an execution issued thereon to change the date or the time of payment of the bond. Upon failure of the surety to pay the face value of a bond after executions have been issued and within the prescribed time, the bond clerk shall notify the chief judge, and the chief judge shall in turn notify the chief of corrections of the failure of a surety to remit the value of the bond. The chief of corrections is to take the action of suspending the permit of a bondsperson as prescribed in this Code.

(g)

The bond clerk shall collect all forfeited bonds of the court for which executions have been issued and shall deposit any collections with the revenue collection administrator's office daily with a written, detailed report to the municipal revenue collector's office of these collections.

(h)

Where applicable, the bond clerk shall refund all bonds upon appearance of the principal at the time set for trial and the completion of the trial of the principal or upon the dismissal of the offense for which the bond was set. Any bond so refunded shall be refunded by direct payment to the principal or by mailing it to the principal within ten days of the completion of trial or the dismissal of the charge; provided, however, that when a bond is consummated by check, the bond clerk shall have a maximum of 20 days within which to make the refund. The 20-day period shall begin with the date of the bond or the date of the check, whichever is later. The bond clerk at the election of the principal may remit part of the bond to the particular court involved in payment of the fine and remit the balance of the cash bond to the principal. Nothing in this section shall in any way limit or prohibit the bond clerk from refunding any forfeited bond when the prisoner is produced prior to the issuance of an execution.

(i)

Within 24 hours after a surety has surrendered its principal, this surety must give notice of this surrender to the bond clerk.

(j)

All bonds shall be securely kept by the bond clerk, upon a bond being satisfied. The bond clerk shall mark the bond satisfied and enter it in the bond book.

(k)

The bond clerk, at the end of each calendar month, shall make a full and detailed report in triplicate on the status of all bonds, and a detailed explanation is to be given in the report as to the reason the bond has not been collected. A copy of the report is to be submitted to the court, to the chief of corrections and to the chief financial officer.

(Code 1977, § 3-1043; Ord. No. 2002-71, § 71, 9-16-02; Ord. No. 2005-03, § 4, 1-10-05; Ord. No. 2018-03(18-O-1045), § 1, 2-6-18 )