DUBOIS – At Monday night’s meeting, the DuBois City Council approved amending its parking meter ordinance, so that it not only enforced consistent guidelines, but also increased the maximum time limit before expiration.
Council members heard Bill 1883 that would set the guidelines for both on- and off-street parking. The uncontested features were that both sets of meters would require payment from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
The ordinance initially had both sets of meters only accepting up to two hours of maximum time. As a result, a motorist who intended to park for longer than two hours would have to refill the meter sometime before the initial two hours expired.
“I think we want to go to eight hours because that is how high the new meters can go,” said City Manager John “Herm” Suplizio.
Suplizio and Police Chief Mike DiLullo explained it would benefit local business employees. Currently, an employee who is parked at a meter needs to leave their job once every two hours during their shift to refill their meter to avoid a ticket.
“Was an inventory ever done on downtown parking and the effect on businesses?” asked council member Diane Bernardo.
Bernardo was concerned that if motorists were allowed to remain parked after paying once for an extended period, they wouldn’t have any incentive to move their vehicles. DiLullo and Suplizio said a motorist could park their vehicle and stay parked in the same spot 24 hours per day, seven days per week, so as long as they paid the meter. She was concerned about how this would impact businesses through customers.
DiLullo said that at the Parking Authority meeting where this had been suggested, the city only asked for consistent hours and guidelines for all the meters. He said that it was the authority’s business-owning members who suggested increasing the time to eight hours.
The voting members present approved the amended parking meter ordinance. Council members Jim Aughenbaugh and Randy Schmidt were excused from the meeting.
The council also approved for DuBois Mayor Gary Gilbert to sign the ESG Program Grant contract for $50,000.