City to Hire New Parking Enforcement Officer

Facing a decision of whether sign a five-day or seven-day contract with a private parking enforcement company or hire a parking enforcement officer, the city has opted to hire the new officer.

The City first discussed the possibility of a contract to enforce its overnight parking rules with a company called  Inter-Con in April, but later realized that the contract was for just five days a week rather than seven, according to the city's staff report.  The issue was discussed at a July meeting but deferred until a later date.

Ultimately, the city opted to hire a full-time officer rather than have a five-day contract or pay more for a seven-day contract.  The issue was voted on at a Council meeting Tuesday.

Currently, the city has been enforcing parking with its police officers, who have indicated they don't have time to write as many tickets as there are potential violators, according to the city's staff report.  The report indicates the city writes about four tickets a day but could up that to 16 with more consistent enforcement

The city is spending $64,000 maximum on the parking cadet hire, about the same it would have for the five-day Inter-Con contract.  The seven-day contract would have been more than $83,000.

Editor's note: Contrary to previous reports both in Patch and other media, the city did not have a signed agreement with Inter-Con going back to April, but rather voted to get an Inter-Con contract proposal to potentially bring them in as enforcement.