DOT denies county's speed camera permits

"COUNTY LESS SAFE"

Everything we did we did lawfully. We issued tickets until June 17 - that's my understanding. There may have been tickets sent out after that but none for any violations after June 17. And our county is less safe today”

Stacy Weber, Lee County Sheriff

LEE COUNTY – The speed cameras are coming down.
The Iowa Department of Transportation handed down decisions today that said Lee County’s six speed camera locations are not approved due to them not having issued tickets prior to Jan. 1, 2024.
Lee County had the cameras up prior to the deadline set in new legislation signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May, but they were not issuing tickets until the new year started.
That decision has caused the DOT to pull the permit for Lee County and Sheriff Stacy Weber said the company who owns the equipment will be coming to get the automated traffic enforcement apparatus.
Weber and Lee County Supervisor Chairman Garry Seyb said Tuesday they are looking forward to an appeal process.
“They were turned off immediately,” Weber said. “They are not gathering information at this point and we will follow the law. I’ve been in contact with State Rep. (Martin) Graber and State Sen. (Jeff) Reichman and they are encouraging me to work through that process.”
What that process is is still an unknown.
“No one can tell me what that looks like,” he said. “I don’t know if they know what the process is yet. I don't know what that looks like, but we will cooperate with that and, if given the opportunity to appeal, we'll do that.”
Seyb said he too has been in contact with local state officials about the decision and how to appeal it.
“Supposedly there is one, but the person we have to ask that question to is, interestingly enough, on vacation,” Seyb said.
“We’re going to explore all options, and they do serve a safety function. Since those have gone in, we have had no fatalities in those intersections. They seem to be slowing traffic down. If they are slowing down at those intersections, those are safer roadways.”
Weber said he wanted motorists to realize the cameras are no longer working and to be mindful as people may migrate back toward higher speeds around those intersections when the news gets out.
“We encourage citizens using those intersections to be mindful the devices are now off and traffic will likely speed up in those areas,” Weber said.
Short of a successful appeal, the county would have to wait until July 1, 2026 to possibly reinstate the cameras, if an application is approved at that point.
“Everything we did ,we did lawfully,” Weber said. “We issued tickets until June 17 - that's my understanding. There may have been tickets sent out after that but none for any violations after June 17. And our county is less safe today.”
Seyb said he was made aware unofficially of the decision on Monday afternoon.
“I’m disappointed the DOT has made that decision because they were part of us putting those in. A multi-disciplinary team that included state officials put those out there. It was not without their consultation,” he said. “Now I get that this is a different section of DOT due to legislation the governor signed on May 17.”
The state DOT received 348 applications for the traffic devices and approved 154, or less than half of the requests. In the city of Des Moines, 41 applications were received and 25 were approved. Click here now for this week’s FREE Pen e-Saver. #$hop&$ave
Of the 348 applications, 209 were for mobile units and only 66 mobile until applications were denied.  Of the 139 fixed, or stationary, cameras, only 11 were approved, a statistic that wasn’t lost on Seyb.
“It is interesting they only approved 11 stationary cameras in the entire state. If they are looking at the statistical impact, it does make the road safer,” he said.
“And that’s where my heart is at. It has very little to do with revenue. We have not put those funds into any budget process. I believe we’re still going to have to get an ordinance in place to track the funds and dictate how those funds are going to be used.”
He said since the county followed all the rules per the DOT in setting up the cameras and followed all laws since then, there is no concern around having to issue any refunds.
“People are still required to pay fines that were issued prior to when we stopped issuing them. No reason to believe that we would be required to refund anything as directed by DOT,” he said.
Seyb said it’s also interesting in the many, many calls he’s received from people upset with the citations that not one person said they weren’t speeding.
“They have said they don’t think a camera should be able to issue them a citation, but no one has denied speeding.”