Sedgwick County district court has moved its traffic court operations to tents outside the courthouse building in Wichita, but the chief judge of the 18th Judicial District is worried that this arrangement won’t be able to continue much longer.

Chief Judge Jeffrey Goering said the outdoor walk-up docket will continue through the end of July.  The outdoor docket has allowed people to resolve cases without having to go inside the courthouse, and Judge Goering said the traffic courts on the 5th floor have been crowded in the past.    With concerns over hot weather and the coronavirus pandemic, the judge is asking county commissioners to consider using federal coronavirus relief funds to help in creating more space in the courthouse.   Judge Goering told commissioners, “I don’t know that we have a place to run the traffic department consistent with social distancing and consistent with the number of people that can be in one space at one time.”

More than 4,800 cases were scheduled in the time between March 16th, when dockets were suspended, through the resumption of traffic court operations on June 15th.   Traffic Court officials said the response to the outdoor docket has been good, with more than 900 cases resolved or set to a new court date in the fall.  Judge Goering said more than 800 other cases were resolved by people phoning in or logging on through the internet to pay their fines and tickets.

Commissioner Jim Howell suggested setting up another location where people could go to attend a virtual traffic court via remote, without having to go into the courthouse.