City of M.L. increasing parking and traffic enforcement

With the recent hiring of a new officer, the city’s bylaw department is strengthening its enforcement with new parking tickets. 

Residents parking in two-hour zones may have seen the recent addition of orange warning tickets on vehicle windows. Cars parked longer than posted times will start receiving notice of violations as of Monday, Aug. 21. The fine for being over the time limit is $25 with a reduction to $15 if it is paid within 96 hours. The period for the warning ticket system will end this coming Friday, Aug. 18.

Joe Hallahan, the city’s Community Safety Officer and Bylaw Manager said the new employee, named Tracy Chuckrey, started working on Aug. 1.

“Her duties include parking enforcement with a focus in the downtown core, as that’s been an area where the city’s been asked to do a lot more,” he said. “We’ve started going out and doing walking patrols and we’ve been doing warning tickets for about a two week-period, which is almost up now.”

The areas for the parking zones run from First St. E. to First St. W. on the avenues, down Centre St. to Fourth Ave. The only area of exception is a one-hour parking zone in front of the post office at 201 First St. E.

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Hallahan said the grace period with warning tickets has been an important step for the city to ensure residents are well informed about a new level of enforcement.

“Whenever we start enforcement the city doesn’t want to be totally punitive, it’s supposed to be an educational tool as well,” he said. “Whenever we start something new, we always want to make sure people are as well informed as they can be, posting things on our website and Facebook. With the warnings – makes it a little bit more real when you get a little tag on your window.”

He said now that a second officer has been hired, Hallahan can concentrate more on the community safety section of his role.

“Now that Tracy has started as the bylaw officer, she can take over a lot of the municipal enforcement, and that will allow me to do more of the provincial statutes,” he said. “That includes work under the highways and transportation act, environmental management and protection act, all-terrain vehicle act, cities act, trespass to properties act and mental health services act. So this will basically be a supplement to help the RCMP with high frequency, low risk work.”

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath