Parking-Ticket Amnesia

"City council is considering offering a one-time amnesty for drivers with outstanding parking tickets."
                          Nelson considers amnesty on parking fines
                                       https://www.nelsonstar.com, 20 Nov. 2018


To begin with - crucial here - it's not City Council "considering" this - they never did - but City Administration having already decided.

While the write-up itself may be of general interest - more so to drivers sitting comfortably on stacks of unpaid parking-tickets - its reader-comments are actually much more revealing of what's going on behind this at City Hall.

Process: Explained
When an issue - in-house or community - comes before Council with a request for a change, variance, support, etc: this is framed by Staff on a brief, never varying introductory cover-page - the Request To Appear As A Delegation.

The actual issue of concern is attached to it with comprehensive evidentiary documentation in printed word and pictures. To back whatever need. 
To convince.
That then in person explained by the Delegation in a Committee of the Whole (COW).

This same material is made available to Council several days before the COW. With by then well-informed councillors commenting, discussing, asking presenters for clarification, and often referring issues back to Staff for further exploration.

Process: Why Explained
This explanation is necessary here, because the Delegation - in this case City Administration fronted by Colin McClure, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) - in the COW, Nov 19 - making the Request for a parking-fines amnesty: presents oral information broadly - with bytes here and gone on video-screens.
A slick sales-job with only a few flash-cards!

But not even these are made available to Council (and the public) prior.
Nothing!

Therefore - Council has nothing to prepare with/for. And because they're new to the job - overwhelmed and still not clear about the process - have little to say to begin with. So - they end-up agreeing to this amnesty to be agreeable - just asking for possibly shifting its time-line somewhat. 

A Recommendation at the bottom of the cover-page reads "That Council receives the presentation from Mr. McClure for information and directs Staff provide a report for decision at the next Regular Council meeting."
Moi? What information/presentation? What decision in 2 weeks? they must ask themselves before the COW. Because all they've got is this cover-page.

Expected to make whatever? happen in 2 weeks - most unusual, actually unheard of! - without any detailed material provided yet to base it on - except for the CFO's breezy oral presentation later in the COW - should raise 2 questions for Council:
1.
Why no documentation?
2.
Why the hurry?

Story: Unexplained
DATE: November 19th, 2018, Committee of the Whole
TOPIC: Bylaw Notice (Parking Tickets)
PROPOSAL: Proposal for amnesty of parking tickets
PROPOSED BY: Staff

And that actually goes like this:
For 16 years the City has neglected to collect fines on 27.000 parking-tickets. It is left to Comments on the Star-story to come-up with figures. Like - the total to be now discounted/forgiven may be in the mid $900.000! Do the math for the total of actually ticketed fines!

With drivers - in no time - catching on to nobody there there to make them pay - and only too ready to stick it to City Hall: unpaid tickets have piled-up.
Being able to simply ignore parking-tickets - while a liberating experience - must have a tremendous negative (unexplained/explored) impact on already limited parking downtown.
The joy of parking when, where and for how long you please!
The freedom of tossing a ticket!

Towing cars has been minimal and proven ineffective.

Bottom-line: A direct link between City Hall's inertia on ticket-fines > the growing number of tickets ignored > parking availability downtown compromised for years > can and should be argued.

According to McClure in the COW: fines partly pay for road-upkeep/repair. Does it then follow down the rabbit-hole that streets/sidewalks are in such bad shape, because (somebody unsupervised? at) the City has knowingly been amiss in collecting fines promptly for so long?

There are different versions of where parking-fines actually (should) go. Although McClure - the City's go-to money-guy - ought to know. 
Who knows?

Throughout this presentation, the CFO neither mentions the total of actual ticket-fine loss over 16 years, nor the total of the proposed discount.  
Just these 2 figures, please!

Process: Explained Away
So here comes the amnesty. McClure talks about all 27.000 unpaid tickets having to be entered into a new system, but wanting to cut down on work-work-work by offering an amnesty (actually a discount on fines) if drivers pay-up voluntarily - between Dec 4 and Jan 2.
With City Hall - and most everything else - closed for much of that time.
Weekends and holidays.

Not only that: when - not if - this amnesty is approved in the Regular Council Meeting, Dec 3, it will take effect the following day!
Meaning - it needs to be advertised energetically right now - BEFORE it's even been approved by Council! 
Meaning - Council's approval is a mere formality!

The new Council is conveniently (and disrespectfully, by the way) bypassed in this fixit-process: no chance of questioning evidentiary documentation - possibly to avoid money to burn! - and rushed off their feet!

So - to still make them feel part of and this amnesty more palatable to the Xmas-lights-on-Baker crowd - be still, poor heart! - McClure proposes donating a portion of collected late fines to a charity of Council's choice.
Yes, but do they sing?

On top of the already enormous loss of revenue to those who do because they can: the City now proposes to reward them for ripping-off the system!
It is doubtful that many will be converted. In fact, to why-not-just-keep-a-good-thing-going cynics this proposal may make City Hall appear even stupider.

This should not come as a surprise to City Hall as - while in the future meter-maids will be able to identify drivers with out-standing tickets by zapping their license-plate - it is not known if actually paying fines will  differ from current methods. Except - paying by smart-phone supposedly will have a new and exciting app: provided drivers own such phone and choose to p(l)ay - period.
Deja voo all over again?

Councillor Anderson reasonably suggests that running this collection-scheme over Xmas may be ineffective timing, what with everybody in their usual hyper-active, too costly already shopping-frenzy.
Yet Councillor Page's idea to widen the time-frame to 3 months may not be productive either: people forget what they'd rather forget - such as and right after Xmas debt, Boxing Day bargains, general holiday-drink-a-thons causing major headaches and credit-card aftershocks for ages!

While the CFO attempts to unstick these sticking-points with 'we are open to changes' - he continues to push this squished amnesty-time-frame.
How long have they - who? - actually been organizing this?
As Joan Rivers used to say: "Can we talk?"

Because this replacement of an old system of doing stuff with a new one may not seem credible to many, if the new system is run by the same people who've run the old one. Into the ground.

Speaking of whom: is anyone going to be held accountable/responsible for this mess?

Now the whole Administration looks incompetent and untrustworthy (certainly in money-matters) - over the years having blown so much possible revenue: directly feeding into economic neglect and the downtown-parking problem.

About collecting parking-fines:
Establish a collaborative system with ICBC to have drivers pay all their active tickets in full when they pick-up their new license plates. This is already being discussed in other places. Why not here?

You want to drive - you pay!
No excuses!
Simple!



Image credits:
fromupnorth
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City Council
nelsoncouncil@nelson.ca

Colin McClure, CFO
cmcclure@nelson.ca

Kevin Cormack, CAO
kcormack@nelson.ca

Pam Mierau, Mgr. - Development Services
pmierau@nelson.ca