The Clerk of Circuit Court To Hold Amnesty Week

Mariyana Spyropoulos is the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Photo provided by the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Office.
Mariyana Spyropoulos is the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Photo provided by the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Office.

The Clerk of Circuit Court To Hold Amnesty Week

By Tia Carol Jones

The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office will hold Amnesty Week from April 27th to May 1st. It is an opportunity for people to pay their moving traffic violations, with the fees waived. It does not include red light camera tickets or parking tickets, which are enforced by the municipalities.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, said while Amnesty Week did not take place with the immediate past clerk, it was something that was done in the office previously, and it was successful. Last year was the first time that it had taken place since 2019. She said that when people get tickets and don’t address them within 90 days, it goes to a collections agency and a 30% fine is attached to the original cost of the ticket. With Amnesty Week, people are able to pay the ticket, without having to pay the 30% fine.

“It allows you to take care of your ticket, take care of your business, so it doesn’t go on your credit rating and effect your credit in the future. Especially, if you have multiple tickets, this can make a huge dent,” she said.

Spyropoulos said that people who have outstanding tickets can call the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Office at 312-603-5030 and give their name. They will receive a citation number and can take care of it during Amnesty Week at either the Markham Courthouse, located at 16501 Kedzie Ave.; the Bridgeview Courthouse, located at 10220 S. 76th Ave.; or go to the Daley Center, which is located at 50 W. Washington. People can also go to the courthouses in Maywood, Skokie, Rolling Meadows to pay, or call 312-603-5030 to pay by phone.

Prior to becoming Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Spyropoulos was a Commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for 15 years. She said the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is trying to implement some of the values that she grew up with – accessibility, accountability and hard work. She said she believes the office is making some great strides toward those values. She said when she was elected, she thought about her vision for government, as an elected official. She ran for the office on value pillars -- accessibility, accountability and transparency – which once she was elected, she used to develop programs to support them. She said the Amnesty Week falls under the accessibility pillar.

Spyropoulos said that the goal of Amnesty Week is to give people the opportunity to take care of their moving violation tickets and not have that ticket be a burden to them. She said that oftentimes, the tickets affect certain communities more than other communities.

She said that another way she is making the office more accessible is by having expungement summits. The expungement summits are meant to help people start the process of expunging and sealing their court records. When it comes to transparency and accountability, the office has a data dashboard, where people can see things like how many cases were initiated in a certain year in a certain area of law.

Spyropoulos also talked about the scam text messages that appear to come from the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office, but are not from them. She said it is unfortunate and disappointing. She said that the office would not send a text and ask people to scan a QR Code. She advised people not to click on any links in the text message should they receive it. She said that people can reach out to the call center if they need further assistance.

For more information about the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, visit www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org, or call 312-603-5030.

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