Parking regulations

    Some of you probably have seen the Parking Enforcement car driving around the city of Presque and wonder exactly what it is that I do. Let me take this opportunity to tell you about what I do and discuss some of the parking regulations in the city of Presque Isle.     In the beginning, the position was always called the meter maid, but now my title is Parking Enforcement Officer since there are no more parking meters in Presque Isle.
    Many of you probably did not know that years ago there were parking meters in the downtown area of Presque Isle. If you would like to see one, there is one on display in the lobby of the police department. In the 18 years I have been the parking enforcement officer my duties have changed considerably. Early in my career the majority of my time was spent walking in the downtown area enforcing parking ordinances by chalking tires and assisting pedestrians crossing Main St. But over the years my duties have expanded to patrolling the city streets in a marked vehicle, monitoring parking citywide.
    Some of you may wonder why the parking enforcement officer needs a vehicle. This came about for several reasons. When the police department moved from Church St. to North St. this made it a lot farther to walk from the police department to the downtown area, not to mention being unsafe during winter months. With recent changes in laws regarding handicapped parking that allowed the enforcement of handicap violations on private property at businesses throughout the city this expanded the scope of parking enforcement beyond just downtown. When this change came about, businesses such as the Aroostook Centre Mall and Wal-Mart requested we enforce their combined eighty-six handicap areas and ticket as needed. Also in the past three years the city of Presque Isle has contracted with Northern Maine Community College to enforce their parking regulations, averaging six to 10 hours a week monitoring and giving out tickets on campus. With these added duties other than just downtown and relocating to North St., there was a need for me to have a vehicle to travel to these locations. A retired 2003 police cruiser was made into the parking enforcement vehicle for me to use.
    In the downtown area there are 13 handicap parking spaces We must remember a handicap parking space is a space and a half wide. The slashed area attached to a handicap parking space is for a ramp to be let down and be wheel chair accessible. Parking in these slashed area is a violation of the handicap parking law that carries a penalty of $75.
    There are currently 13 parking violations that I enforce listed on the city of Presque Isle parking ticket book. Of these violations, the most questioned one is Parking Wrong Side of Street. This violation is in reference to parking facing the wrong way. The correct way to park is going with traffic so that you do not have to cross the lane of oncoming traffic when leaving the parking space. This helps ensure the safe and smooth flow of traffic.
    When I am not busy with enforcing parking regulations, I have numerous other duties that fill my shift. Some of those duties include being a jail matron for female prisoners. This involves searching female prisoners as well as guarding them if they are going to be at the Presque Isle Police Department for an extended period of time. I also fill in as school crossing guard when one of the four crossing guards is absent. There are a number of other daily duties for administration that I do including filling accident report requests from insurance companies, mailing packages, archiving files, shopping for department supplies when needed, and taking uniforms to the cleaners.
    When I am not working and in the evening/nighttime hours, the patrol division is responsible for parking enforcement. The majority of parking issues that the patrol division has to deal with are the all-night parking violations. It is a violation for a vehicle to be left on any public street or highway for more than two hours between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m. The reason for this ordinance is so that vehicles do not interfere with cleaning the streets in the summer time and snow removal in the winter. Both of these tasks are normally done during the late night hours.
    Since I mentioned snow removal, we ask that vehicle owners be conscientious of snow removal after we have had a storm and make sure not to leave your vehicles on the street during this time. The local media such as television news and radio are normally contacted and announce when snow removal is going to take place. The police department makes reasonable attempts to contact owners of vehicles that might need to be moved but unfortunately sometimes the vehicles are towed at the owner’s expense if they are in the way.
    Michealla Cote is Parking Enforcement Officer for the city of Presque Isle.