Couple kept getting Milwaukee parking tickets for a car they don’t own.

Why an Appleton couple kept getting Milwaukee parking tickets for a car they don’t own; city shifts blame to contractor

After initially pointing the finger at the state Department of Motor Vehicles for an error that led to erroneous notices demanding payment for parking violations, Milwaukee city officials on Friday shifted blame to a city contractor.

Caught in the middle was an Appleton couple who say they haven’t visited Milwaukee in eight years but kept getting notices to pay parking fines on a car they don’t own.

A software glitch within Duncan Solutions Inc., the company that contracts with the city to oversee the Milwaukee Violations Bureau, led to the error, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Sandra Rusch Walton said Friday.

On Thursday, Walsh had said Duncan Solutions’ explanation was that the DMV began issuing temporary plates to motorists that included “incorrect information” starting about June 1.

“Most of the affected plates were motorcycle plates,” Walton said in an email, adding that it was the DPW’s understanding that the error was corrected Oct. 1.

Since Sept. 28, the Milwaukee Violations Bureau — the muscle behind the city’s parking enforcement desk — has been squeezing Bill and Karen Thomas of Appleton for three unpaid parking citations issued to a 2005 Malibu with

temporary license plates.

‘They knew there was a problem’

The plates on the car bore almost the same numbers on the license plate for Bill’s 2007 Suzuki motorcycle, except with an additional letter at the beginning.

“They knew there was a problem. But each time I called to explain, the first thing they’d ask me is, ‘How would you like to pay that today,’ “a frustrated Karen Thomas said Thursday, after spending three weeks mired in bureaucratic muck.

“It’s been a nightmare.”

The nightmare began with the first “notice of impending registration suspension” from the violations bureau that showed up in the Thomas’ mailbox Sept. 28.

The notice demanded $35 from Bill Thomas for an unpaid citation issued to the Malibu in Milwaukee.

The second notice arrived two days later telling him to cough up another 50 bucks for a separate unpaid citation issued to the same car with, again, almost the same temporary license plate numbers as Bill’s Suzuki, DRZ-400SM.

“It’s basically a dirt bike,” Karen Thomas said. “It’s not something we’d

be blazing up and down Highway 41 with to get to Milwaukee.”

Then came the third notice the very next day trying to squeeze another $50 out of him for yet another unpaid citation for the mysterious Malibu with the irresponsible owner.

‘Nobody was willing to help’

But what really spooked Karen Thomas were the threats included in the notices: mounting fines, future registration denial and possible interception of state income tax refunds.

“And they told me I had the burden of proof,” said Karen Thomas, who eventually sent copies of the tickets — which included the VIN number for the Malibu — and a copy of the motorcycle registration to the DMV.

“Nobody was willing to help,” she said. “Nobody was willing to fix it.”

For his convenience, the violations bureau did schedule a date in Milwaukee traffic court for Bill Thomas if he wanted to make the 107-mile trip from Appleton to dispute the citations.

Then, on Thursday, a DOT supervisor called Karen Thomas to assure her that the issue had been resolved and that a court appearance on Monday would not be necessary.

“I wasn’t offered any explanation. I was just told that I have nothing to worry about,” she said.

“I can just imagine how many people are paying for tickets that they don’t owe.”

How it happened

On Friday, after the Journal Sentinel posted a story about the situation, Brian Dunn, vice president of operations for Duncan, said a software safeguard that was supposed to prevent the company from seeking owner information from the DMV on temporary license plates was not operational from June through September.

At the same time, the processing system was randomly dropping the first character from the temporary plate number, which are typically a letter followed by four numbers and another letter.

Many motorcycle license plate numbers are four numbers followed by a letter, Dunn said, with the combined snafus leading to erroneous late notices being sent to 142 people.

“This was a small problem that has been corrected and is indeed our problem,” Dunn said, adding that anyone who believes they received an erroneous notice because of the glitch should call the violations bureau at (414) 3440840.