Searching the Yates Center Court Docket
Yates Center publishes no searchable municipal docket database. The City of Yates Center posts the municipal court schedule and jurisdiction instead. Contact details and payment guidance appear there too. For a city ordinance or municipal citation, pull the citation number and call Municipal Court at 620-625-2118. The clerk can confirm the case belongs to the city, give the next court date, and explain how to request a docket entry or record.
A notice naming Woodson County District Court points elsewhere. Search Kansas Case Search under District and Woodson County. That statewide portal is not a Yates Center municipal docket, though. A Yates Center street address alone proves nothing about jurisdiction. The court name printed on the citation controls.
- Read the court name, citation number, and appearance directions.
- For Yates Center Municipal Court, call the city clerk and use the official city schedule.
- For Woodson County District Court, use Kansas Case Search with the county filter.
- Ask what event is set and whether the date has changed.
- Request the exact public record from the clerk who keeps that court’s file.
No Yates Center Online Docket
The city's official court information carries no public name-search or citation-search register of actions. Plan around that gap. Calling the municipal clerk is not a fallback after a failed portal query. It is the main route to a Yates Center city docket entry, schedule, payment answer, or municipal court record request.
Skip the shortcuts. A directory listing or people-search site will not confirm a city case. Neither will a county payment page or Kansas Case Search result. Kansas Case Search covers state district cases only. The Central Payment Center merely routes eligible Kansas court payments. Unless an online source names the city court itself, the citation and the city clerk still govern.
Quick answer: Call 620-625-2118 for a Yates Center municipal matter. Use the state portal only when the record names Woodson County District Court.
Yates Center Municipal Court Basics
Yates Center Municipal Court handles city ordinance violations, traffic matters, misdemeanors within municipal authority, and city code cases. It sits apart from Woodson County District Court. The city names William Lacy as municipal judge. Kristen Cagle serves as deputy city clerk and municipal court clerk. Their roles support local court administration, though the city publishes no searchable case database.
The 31st Judicial District lists the municipal court at 117 E. Rutledge, Yates Center, Kansas 66783. The city gives the court phone as 620-625-2118. It posts weekday office hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Call before you travel. A citation may demand an appearance, a date can shift, and the posted schedule is not a live case-by-case docket.
Yates Center Municipal Court
117 E. Rutledge
Yates Center, KS 66783
620-625-2118
Municipal court clerk: Kristen Cagle
Municipal judge: William Lacy
The official City of Yates Center source is shown in the assigned image below.
The city's official page covers the court schedule, contact, payment channels, jurisdiction, and the named municipal officials.
Yates Center Holds Two Court Roles
Yates Center wears two hats. It is both a city with its own municipal court and the seat of Woodson County. The county courthouse sits at 105 W. Rutledge. The municipal court is listed at 117 E. Rutledge. The addresses sit close together, but the records stay separate. Lisa Page, the Woodson County District Court clerk, keeps the state district file, and Kristen Cagle is the municipal records contact the city names.
The split matters for search, payment, and copies. A city ordinance ticket stays with Yates Center Municipal Court. A state felony, state misdemeanor, civil suit, family case, probate matter, or district traffic case belongs to Woodson County District Court. Send a request to the wrong clerk and the answer slows, or worse, you may conclude no record exists when it does.
| Yates Center court | What it handles | Verified route |
|---|---|---|
| Municipal Court | City ordinance, municipal traffic, misdemeanor, and code matters | City clerk and official city schedule |
| Woodson County District Court | State criminal, civil, family, probate, and assigned traffic matters | Kansas Case Search, courthouse terminal, district clerk |
Court Dates and Settings in Yates Center
Yates Center Municipal Court convenes on the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall, per the city. The published 2026 dates are January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, June 9, July 14, August 11, September 8, October 13, November 10, and December 8. Treat that list as the general schedule. It does not prove any specific citation is still set.
Confirm your own setting with the municipal clerk. A citation may require an appearance. A reset might never reach the general schedule text. Recheck the schedule each year, too. Never carry the 2026 dates into a later year without a fresh city source.
| Date | The city’s published monthly date or the date on the citation. |
|---|---|
| Time | The regular session is listed for 5:30 p.m.; the citation controls an individual appearance. |
| Location | City Hall and the official municipal address should be confirmed before travel. |
| Judge | William Lacy is identified as municipal judge on the city site. |
| Setting type | The citation or clerk can distinguish an appearance, trial, payment deadline, or other event. |
Note: A monthly court date shows only the session. It does not show a case result or confirm that a named matter appears that day.
Yates Center’s County Seat History
Why do local and county court routes meet in one small Kansas town? Yates Center's history holds the answer. Woodson County was organized in 1858. The county seat did not stay put. It went from Neosho Falls to Kalida, and then to Defiance. An 1876 election settled the question and made Yates Center the seat. The courthouse standing today was built in 1899–1900, per the Kansas Historical Society.
That history helps with routing a court docket request. It does not mean every old record is online. Older public district court files may sit at the courthouse terminal or in converted records. Municipal records stay with the city. Court level and current location still control where a docket search lands. That rule holds even for cases that predate electronic systems.
The Kansas Historical Society Woodson profile traces the county's boundary and seat changes in detail.
The official history explains how Yates Center became the county's physical hub for court access.
Traffic Tickets in Yates Center
Start by reading the court named on the ticket. If it says Yates Center Municipal Court, the city handles it. Some tickets need no appearance. Those can be paid by phone, mail, or in person at municipal court. But the citation controls: its appearance instruction and fine decide what you may do. Paying to contest a charge is not a strategy. If you plan to fight it, appear or contact the court rather than send money.
Miss a deadline and the consequences can grow. The city warns that noncompliance can trigger a warrant and/or suspension of driving privileges. That is a general warning, not a ruling on your case. Call 620-625-2118 when a hearing date is near. Use it if an appearance is required or payment instructions confuse you. Keep proof of whatever method and case identifier you use.
A ticket naming Woodson County District Court travels the state route instead. Kansas Case Search can pull up the case information. The Central Payment Center takes eligible balances. The county-wide Woodson County traffic ticket resource walks through that separate system.
Yates Center Citation Checkpoints
Check a few fields before you call anyone. Which court issued the citation? What are the citation or case number, the alleged offense, and the appearance date? Does the paper direct you to pay or to appear? Those details prevent misrouting a Yates Center court record request. Also remember that municipal police activity does not guarantee the case stays in municipal court. A Yates Center mailing address alone never turns a state case into a city case. The case could sit in either court.
- Match the court name to the clerk.
- Use the full citation number when asking for a setting.
- State whether the ticket says appearance is required.
- Confirm the amount with the court rather than relying on a general fee table.
- Ask whether payment resolves the setting before assuming no appearance is needed.
The city runs no photo-enforcement program and posts no local online ticket-search portal. Skip the commercial lookups too. They fill nothing official.
Where Yates Center Cases Go
Every court has limits. City ordinance matters begin and stay in Yates Center Municipal Court unless a lawful review or appeal moves them. State criminal charges and civil actions file in Woodson County District Court, even when the parties and the event are all in Yates Center. Federal cases belong to the federal courts. Neither local clerk keeps them.
Docket flow: Yates Center Municipal Court › Woodson County District Court › Kansas appellate courts, when a lawful review applies
Court level is not an automatic path. A municipal matter does not become a county case just because the stakes feel high. Read the actual filing or appeal notice to confirm where the docket lives. For state-level details, the Woodson County court docket overview covers the district search, terminal, calendar, and clerk.
Yates Center Population Context
Yates Center counted 1,352 residents in the 2020 Census incorporated-place table. That makes it the largest incorporated place in Woodson County. Size helps explain why it anchors the county's city profiles and holds the county seat. It says nothing about the municipal docket itself, though. Population proves neither caseload volume nor the reliability of any court record.
The official 2020 Census place gazetteer appears in the assigned image.
The Census figure documents population only, not court caseload.
Yates Center Federal Case Boundary
Federal matters never land in the Yates Center municipal docket or the Woodson County District Court docket. Federal district records run through PACER and the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Appeals from that court generally go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, a system entirely separate from Kansas state appeals. The Tenth Circuit official opinion search shows how that federal court publishes its work.
That federal source draws the boundary line. It is not a place to hunt city citations or Woodson district cases.
A federal opinion search is not the full federal docket either. The court named on the papers tells you which clerk and database apply.
Yates Center Court Record Access Rules
Know which office holds what. Municipal records come from the Yates Center municipal clerk. State district records belong to Lisa Page at Woodson County District Court. Kansas open-records principles require enough detail to locate a file, though confidentiality laws and court orders still bind both offices. So name the court, give the citation or case number and date range, and identify the exact item: a docket entry, complaint, order, or payment record.
Key rules: Kansas Supreme Court Rule 22 governs public access to state court case information and terminals. Rule 106B limits electronic personal identifiers and warns that an electronic copy may not be the official record. K.S.A. 45-220 addresses procedures and specificity for records requests.
Knowing a number unlocks nothing by itself. Sealed, juvenile, expunged, and other protected material stays nonpublic regardless. The public terminal can surface more state-court information than the internet. Yet it cannot open a closed file. For municipal questions, ask Kristen Cagle's office what the city releases. Staff there can explain how to get it.