Dunkirk will now handle its own traffic ticket prosecution.

The Common Council on Tuesday agreed to a six-month pilot program for the prosecutions. The move is spurred by increased workload at the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s office, which used to handle the cases.

It’s similar to a program the city of Jamestown recently started, also in response to staffing issues at the DA’s office.

The council went into an executive session before voting on an amended version of the measure Tuesday.

The amendment offers 40% of traffic violation fine income to the city attorney, Richard Morrisroe, and 10% to his paralegal. In the previous version of the resolution, Morrisroe was to get 50% and the paralegal wasn’t mentioned.

Dunkirk will keep the other 50%. The resolution states Dunkirk gets about $25,000 in fine income annually from traffic violations.

The issue led to another dispute between political opponents Mayor Wilfred Rosas and Councilwoman Nancy Nichols.

Rosas said he was not involved in the discussions for the amendment but would not veto the measure because it is in the city’s best interests. He said having a six-month pilot program was his idea, and the city shouldn’t commit to a precedent without trying it out.

Nichols responded that the program was actually Councilman James Stoyle’s idea.

“That is a lie,” Rosas declared. “The proposal came from me. Every council member was there.”

The council then voted unanimously to accept the measure, after councilman-at-large David Damico told them, “We didn’t agree when we started, but we did come up with an agreement here, I hope.”

After the vote, the meeting adjourned. Directly after adjournment, Nichols said, “I don’t appreciate being called a liar. I thought the mayor would have enough class not to do that.”