City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: FEBRUARY 22, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of a Proposal to Reinstate the City's Parking Adjudication Office in City Hall.
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ISSUE: Consideration of a proposal to re-establish a Parking Adjudication Office in City Hall.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council accept the proposal and allocate $40,000 from Contingent Reserves to fund 3 months of an Assistant City Attorney I who will serve as the adjudicator. In addition to the partial year salary costs, the allocation will provide funding for non-personnel expenses (e.g., furniture, computer and telecommunications equipment).
BACKGROUND: The FY 2017 Operating budget includes $100,000 in Contingent Reserves to reinstate the City's Parking Adjudication Office, which was eliminated as a budget reduction at the end of December 2013. As proposed the new office will retain nearly all of the characteristics and guidelines of the previous Office, with several notable enhancements.
Although the Parking Adjudication Office was eliminated in FY 2014, the requests to have parking tickets administratively reviewed continue. Without the parking adjudication office, anyone wishing to contest a ticket has to schedule a court appearance. Individuals who have received a ticket that they believe was issued in error frequently contact City staff and City Council members to have the citation reviewed. Currently, the Police Department receives approximately 20 requests for review each week. Of this amount, roughly 20 percent are determined to have been issued in error. Currently, the only grounds for administrative dismissal of a citation is officer or mechanical error. For example, the officer keys in an incorrect license plate or the citation device is coded incorrectly.
It is apparent f...
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