Virginia Law

A. Appeals in general.

1. The procedures provided herein apply to all Virginia Museum of Fine Arts staff, volunteers, contractors, visitors, and others who use agency parking facilities. This procedure is designed to assist the museum's chief operating officer in evaluating the parking program, to highlight problem areas, to provide an avenue to correct enforcement errors, and to provide a means of redress.

2. The chief operating officer has the responsibility of monitoring the policy and directing creation of new or revision of existing policies and procedures.

B. Appeals procedure.

1. Requests for an appeal may be done in person within 10 calendar days of the issue date of the citation.

2. Head, Risk Management and Protective Services will normally function as the appeals officer, the chief operating officer in his absence.

3. The appeals officer will carefully review each appeal. The appeals officer will base his decision on this regulation and on the information presented. The appeals officer may approve the appeal (dismiss the citation), deny the appeal (uphold the citation), or downgrade the violation to an appropriate lesser violation.

4. The appellant can appeal the decision of the hearing officer (see subsection G of this section, Parking Appeals Board). Any fines due after the appeal has been heard must be paid within 15 days of notice of the decision.

5. Failure to pay will result in the accumulation of late fees and the individual's outstanding account being turned over to a collection agency, the Virginia Department of Taxation Division of Set-Off Debt Collection, and credit bureaus. If the account remains unpaid, the individual becomes responsible for the payment of all additional agency costs. Collection costs may be as much as one-third of the balance due.

6. Any staff, volunteer, or visitor may appeal in person or fill out a parking citation appeal form within 10 calendar days of the citation. Forms are available from the Parking Services Manager. Contact the Parking Services Office for office hours and location of hearing officer.

7. Fines associated with appealed citations need not be paid until the appellant is advised of the decision. All appeals must be submitted with the appellant's name, address, and telephone number. Appeals submitted without this information will not be processed.

C. Hearing officer decision guidelines.

1. The citation and fine is presumed valid. It is the obligation of the appellant to present information that would invalidate the ticket.

2. Reasons that might warrant invalidation of the ticket are evidence of illness that necessitated the violation, mechanical breakdowns that were handled in a reasonably expeditious manner, documented erroneous information given by a Parking Services Office employee, or other circumstances that are unusual enough to warrant special consideration.

3. Reason to warrant a downgrade of the ticket are when further information that was not readily available to the citing officer is provided to the reviewer as a justification for the downgrade, valid misunderstandings regarding ambiguous parking areas in the judgment of the reviewer, etc.

4. A specific reason for denial need not be given. A general statement can be made that a sufficient reason for reversal was not made.

D. Time limit on filing appeals. Failure to file an appeal in 10 calendar days of the issue date of the citation will result in the addition of a late fee of $10 to the fine in accordance with this regulation. No appeals will be considered more than 30 calendar days from the issue of the citation.

E. Final appeal, parking board of appeals. Hearing officer determinations may be appealed to the appeals board. Notification of a determination will provide information stating if an additional appeal process is available as an option. A request for reconsideration of denied appeals to an appeals board must be made within 10 calendar days from the time a decision was made by the hearing officer. For an appeal to be reconsidered by the appeals board, the appellant must schedule a hearing and be present at that hearing. The appellant will have the opportunity to present his case directly to the board members. The decision of the board members is final.

F. Parking citation and fine liability. Ultimately, the registered owner of a vehicle is responsible for all citations and fines issued to said vehicle whether or not the owner was in fact the driver. In addition to the registered owner of the vehicle, the holder of a VMFA parking permit may also be held financially responsible for citations and fines issued to the vehicle for which the permit is registered.

G. Parking appeals board. A parking appeals board will be appointed monthly and convene twice a month to hear parking citation appeals and advise the chief operating officer on parking related matters. The board consists of three VMFA staff members rotationally selected by the Office of Human Resources.