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Charlotte County will get some help cracking down on speeding around two schools. During their Thursday, Nov. 14 meeting, Charlotte supervisors unanimously adopted a contract with Blue Line Solutions to install their speed cameras in the area around both Phenix Elementary and Randolph-Henry High. 

The vote came after support from both town councils in Charlotte Court House and Phenix. Each group unanimously supported the idea, even voting during their own meetings earlier this month to look into hiring the company themselves if the county refused. Charlotte Sheriff Randy Grissom was also in favor of the plan, as he previously told supervisors his office gets flooded with requests on a regular basis from people to crack down on speeding in school zones. 

And it is a problem in at least one of these two areas. Blue Line was given permission earlier this year to do a speed study. On a given 5-day work week, 3,849 people drive by Phenix Elementary. Out of that number, during the first week of May, 2,021 committed speeding violations, according to Blue Line’s data. At Randolph-Henry High, Blue Line found 10,789 people drove by the school during that first week of May. Out of that number, 736 were caught speeding. 

How will these speed cameras work?

So how do the speed cameras work? The cameras identify if someone is speeding, then that person gets a $100 ticket. Blue Line’s proposal was that for every ticket, $75 would come back to Charlotte County. Blue Line would get $25. Back in September at the original meeting, one of the concerns raised was due to language in the contract. If someone doesn’t pay the $100 fine, Charlotte County is still responsible to give Blue Line their $25 share. During Thursday’s meeting, County Administrator Daniel Witt explained that Charlotte wouldn’t be billed in a situation like this. The county just wouldn’t get as much money each month. 

“When a citation is given, there is a processing fee (from Blue Line),” Witt explained. “The county is responsible for that, but you’re not getting a bill.” 

That fee is just deducted from how much is given to the county from the fines each month. Let’s say one month, there were $700 in fines given out, but one person refused to pay. Blue Line’s portion of that $700 would be $175 and so they just take that out before giving it to Charlotte. It just means Charlotte gets $25 less than the county would have, otherwise. 

Some concerns raised 

Before signing off on the proposal, there were some questions and concerns raised. Back in the September meeting, Supervisor Hazel Bowman Smith had made it clear she wasn’t exactly a fan of the camera system. She questioned the numbers generated in that earlier speed study, asking if the county was sure that matched the reality of how many people were speeding in those areas. Her position hadn’t changed, two months later. Smith wanted an extremely short-term contract, as a result. 

“I know the sheriff is in favor of it, the towns are in favor of it, (but) I still don’t like the camera part,” Smith said. “I would like to be able to re-evaluate within a year’s time.”

She was told however that due to the upfront cost Blue Line would be investing, the company wouldn’t be interested in anything involving a year or less time. 

Instead, the supervisors tasked Witt with negotiating a deal for “as short a term as (Blue Line) is willing to do.” They also changed the grace period involved. The original contract called for a 30-day grace period, to get people used to the cameras. Supervisors voted to approve a 60-day grace period instead. Members argued if someone gets two tickets within a 60-day period, they earned the fine at that point. 

What about the rest? 

To be clear, this is just for the two school zones. If supervisors later want cameras set up at Eureka and Bacon District, they’ll have to put together a new contract, as this one only covers Phenix and Randolph-Henry. 

Also, supervisors cautioned residents that this is just one part of the town, so don’t expect all speeding to drop. 

“I hope the towns realize this is just one spot,” Board Chairman Gary Walker said. “I know we’ve got problems on practically every road but this is one spot. It’s not for the whole town.”