Rehoboth set to increase, decrease parking-related fines

During a summer-in-review session in October, staff from the city’s parking department shed light on a number of ongoing enforcement issues and made suggestions on how to fix them.

During a meeting Dec. 15, commissioners supported moving forward with many of those suggestions in advance of next season.

June Embert, parking department supervisor, made the presentation a few months ago and facilitated the recent discussion. She began with a timeframe for appealing parking times, recommending a decrease in the appeal window from 30 to seven days to bring the appeal process in line with the escalation of the citation. Right now, said Embert, a $30 parking ticket increases to $45 after seven days.

City Alderman Renee Bennett said a significant portion of the appeals are from people appealing the $15 escalation that happened while they were deciding whether to pay the original $30 ticket.

Commissioner Tim Bennett said he’s in favor of decreasing the appeal window, but he thinks seven days is too short. He suggested 10 days, but other commissioners moved forward with seven.

In the name of increasing efficiency, Rehoboth has invested in license plate reading technology and requires all vehicles to park head-in. Interim City Manager Evan Miller said drivers from states with license plates on the front and back of their vehicles will sometimes back into spaces, then appeal tickets because they argue that they have a license plate on the front. The reason for the blanket rule, he said, is drivers from states that only have one plate will see those two-plate vehicles backed in and think they can do it too, which then requires a parking enforcement officer to get out of the vehicle.

Embert recommended decreasing the violations for backing into parking spaces from $50 to $30. Ultimately, commissioners decided to keep it the same because they think it is a safety issue.

Embert recommended increasing the violation for parallel parking in the wrong direction from $15 to $30, but commissioners decided to increase it even more to $50. The rationale is that vehicles parked in the wrong direction will also exit the spot by briefly driving against traffic, which is a safety issue.

Finally, Embert said there continue to be issues related to people entering incorrect license plate information when parking or using the wrong vehicle’s license plate when using ParkMobile. They recommended a one-time reduction of the parking ticket from $30 to $15 if the citation is paid within the first seven days. Commissioners discussed possibly reducing the one-time amount to zero, but staff recommended staying with the $15 because they still have to spend time looking in the system to make sure the driver actually paid.

No formal vote was taken on the proposed changes, but since a consensus was reached, city staff and the city solicitor were tasked with bringing forward the required ordinances needed to take a vote. The expectation is those ordinances will be ready in January.

The changes are not being done in connection with the parking and traffic study by the city’s contractor Rossi Group, which presented commissioners with an initial report during a workshop in early December. These changes are all recommendations from staff in the city’s parking department.

$405,000 contract for new well awarded

Commissioners voted unanimously Dec. 15 in favor of awarding a contract worth about $405,000 to AC Schultes of Delaware for the construction of a new Well 6.

Public Works Director Kevin Williams said Well 6, currently located in the Breezewood development off Old Landing Road, has been out of service for a couple of years. The plan, he said, is to drill a new well on the property for Well 8, which is located near the roundabout on Warrington Road.

Williams said the project is included in the budget for the city’s capital improvement plan, with an engineer’s estimate of about $650,000. The city has also spent about $50,000 on engineering for the project, he said.