Vote Slated Next Monday on New Parking Ticket Policy

Dormont Council is expected to vote next Monday on an ordinance that would tighten the reins on which borough officials have the power to dismiss parking tickets and also limit each license plate to only one dismissal a year, no exceptions.

The proposed policy will allow permit parking tickets to be excused only if:

• A new permit is purchased because the resident forgot to renew or obtain one.
• A person claims their permit was in the vehicle but not visible to the ticket writer.
• The resident has a valid guest permit that was not placed on the guest's vehicle upon arrival.

Meter parking tickets would be excused only if the meter was verified as out of order at the time the ticket is issued.

Residents Michelle Ross and Darlene Davis both took exception to the "no exceptions" provision of the policy that would allow only one ticket per license plate each year, pointing out that sometimes emergencies occur.

"If you don't put 'no exception,' then there'd be every exception," Councilman Drew Lehman said.

Under the proposed ordinance, council would allow only the police desk officers and police secretary to excuse or dismiss parking tickets, taking away the power to excuse tickets from elected officials and other borough employees.

And council means business when it comes to limiting who has the power to dismiss tickets—borough employees would face disciplinary action and possible termination for dismissing a ticket and elected officials would be fined $25, plus the cost of the dismissed ticket.

Of the 11,513 parking tickets issued last year, better than 15 percent—1,790, enough to fill two cardboard filing boxes—were dismissed. That’s $20,965 never collected by the borough.

Patch filed two right-to-know requests for ticketing information, the first in January, , and the second in August.

Because of apparent lax record keeping, the information couldn't be found until Borough Manager Gino Rizza and acting Chief Richard Dwyer began looking into the matter this summer, stemming in part from .

, which he called a mayoral "tradition." Lloyd said an example of him using his dismissal powers was when tickets were issued during street sweeping on July 11. During holidays, street sweeping is postponed. Lloyd said they shouldn't have been written.

The parking ticket issue has actually come up several times this year. In February, council said it was , and at one point, acting Chief Richard Dwyer told officers that .

Council decided to set an administrative policy regarding parking tickets on the advice of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala. Council plans to vote on the ordinance at its Oct. 3 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. in the

Other highlights of the proposed ordinance are:

• All parking tickets will be issued and recorded by the police secretary, who will maintain a list of those tickets.
• Issued parking tickets will be returned to the police secretary at the end of each shift, entered into the computer system by the secretary or ticketwriter, then dropped into a locked box for safekeeping.
• The list of previously excused tickets will be maintained and updated on the first of each month, kept at the front desk and made available to personnel who have dismissal authority—as well as the police chief, mayor, borough manager and assistant borough manager. 
• All excused tickets will be sent to the police chief in a sealed envelope at the end of each day.