The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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Residents with unpaid parking tickets have the rest of 2010 to get them paid before new rules take effect, including larger fines, booting and towing.

Early in 2011 the city will crackdown on parking violators, and likely get rid of all downtown parking meters except in the block closest to Emporia State University. Most downtown parking spots will be timed parking.

The exact details for tougher enforcement and meter removal have yet to be worked out but city leaders are on board with both concepts.

The Emporia City Commission amended its parking fine and towing ordinance at a meeting last week. Parking tickets are still $5 but if not paid within 10 days of being issued, the fine will jump up to $10.

If a vehicle has accumulated $100 in parking fines, it will be booted by the Emporia Police Department. The owner of the vehicle has 48 hours to pay the fine or make arrangements. If they don’t it will be towed away, said Blaise Plummer, city attorney.

“48 hours is a sufficient amount of time before towing,” he said.

The vehicle owner would have to pay the cost of booting the car, towing and any impound fees.

“They could easily have to pay $250 plus the price of the tickets,” said City Manager Matt Zimmerman.

City leaders are trying a sterner approach because many people don’t bother to pay their tickets. As of the end of August, there were a total of 2,685 unpaid parking tickets, some dating as far back as 2008. The total fines on the unpaid tickets were $16,558. The city has not taken action against drivers with unpaid tickets at all this year.

Zimmerman said it will take a couple months to put everything in place. The police will have to order new yellow tickets with the updated information.

The police department has one boot so more will likely be ordered. An estimated cost is $200 to $400, said Emporia Police Lt. John Koelsch.

The ticket accumulation totals will be retroactive so 2010 tickets do count, Plummer said. For instance a person with $80 in unpaid tickets in 2010 would just have to ignore two more tickets to have their car booted.

The city is planning to mail letters in December to vehicle owners who have more than $50 in fines to warn them of the new policy.

Yet to be determined is the procedure that owners will have to undergo to get the car out of the impound lot. Also uncertain is where the vehicles will be towed. The city will have private companies perform the towing.

As for parking meters, the Traffic Safety Committee will meet later this month to discuss what time limits to put on spaces once meters are removed. Some could be an hour or two hours. Others may end up being shorter like 30 or 45 minutes, Zimmerman said.

“The real issue will be with timed parking and how long for each space,” he said.

The committee will make a formal recommendation to the city commission at its Nov. 24 work session. The commission will likely hold a public hearing before removing the meters and adding time limits.

City commissioners prefer meters be kept on 1200 block of Commercial Street and on 11th Street between Merchant and Mechanic to discourage ESU students from parking their for classes.