PRESENTER: Presenter
Val Acevedo, City Attorney
Jeff Jewell, Economic and Community Development Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Approval of the second and final reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 126 of the Code of Ordinances by adopting a civil parking enforcement program that applies to violations related to paid public parking spaces including fines, hearings, appeals, vehicle immobilization or impoundment for delinquent accounts, and criminal penalties for impeding enforcement of this ordinance.
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DEPARTMENT: City Attorney’s Office
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
City Council’s First Reading of Ordinance: 3/24/25
Outcome of First Reading: Unanimous Approval
This ordinance is part of a larger, ongoing effort across city departments to implement recommendations from a downtown parking management study completed in 2023. In the 2023 study, Walker Consultants recommended a series of strategies to operate an improved parking enforcement effort for the downtown area. The plan recommended technological, administrative, and policy changes that would result in an improved end-user experience and more efficient enforcement efforts to better manage downtown parking inventories. Broadly, the report recommended a dedicated enforcement effort that better leveraged technological solutions and expanded revenue opportunities to eventually operate as a self-sustaining city fund. One of those recommendations was the implementation of a civil citation process and a policy for the immobilization of vehicles for multiple unpaid parking citations.
The proposed ordinance changes establish a parking enforcement program that relies on a civil enforcement and vehicle immobilization process for three distinct parking violations. This ordinance reclassifies certain parking offenses from criminal to civil. The proposed change will remove the violations from the Municipal Court’s caseload and streamline the adjudication through an administrative process that will be administered by a third-party contractor, Interstate LLC.
The City Council recently approved an agreement with Interstate LLC to oversee parking enforcement in downtown and city river parks. Interstate will also manage the city’s resident river parking pass program. As part of Interstate’s duties, they will be responsible for civil parking enforcement limited to violations such as failure to pay required fees for paid public parking spaces and related parking violations. It further adopts the procedures for enforcement, citations, hearings, appeals to municipal court, and immobilization of a vehicle that has three (3) or more unresolved parking citations in a calendar year. It creates a criminal violation (Class C Misdemeanor) when a person impedes the citation process or immobilization efforts by the city’s parking enforcement agent, which is Interstate LLC.
ISSUE:
At present, all municipal parking violations are considered criminal offenses (Class C Misdemeanors), which carry required court costs and associated court and other staff to administer. Municipal Court, the Police Department, City Attorney’s Office, and other city staff have had trouble investigating, prosecuting, and collecting fines for parking offenses. Reclassifying certain parking violations to civil offenses will improve efficiency and reduce staff time involved in notification, processing, and collections for unpaid parking violations. The reclassification also lowers the burden of proof required to prosecute a parking offense and allows the Court to focus its efforts on offenses considered to be a greater public safety threat. A widely accepted decriminalized, civil process is also believed to improve customer experience through its proportionate and simplified resolution process. The ordinance will also enable the use of a third-party contractor to act as the City’s parking enforcement agents, as designated by the City Manager.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☐Economic Mobility ☐Enhanced Connectivity ☐Community Identity
☒Organizational Excellence ☐Community Well-Being ☐N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact is expected as any Municipal Court efficiencies from the decriminalization of unpaid parking violations will result in an increase to prosecution of other criminal offenses. The collection rates of unpaid parking violations under the civil process are expected to be no less than those under the existing criminal process.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the second and final reading of this ordinance amendment to Chapter 126 by adopting a civil parking enforcement program that applies to violations related to paid public parking spaces including fines, hearings, appeals, vehicle immobilization or impoundment for delinquent accounts, and criminal penalties for impeding enforcement of this ordinance.