Chief says WPD backs town’s effort to enforce parking regulations

Winthrop Police Chief Delehanty said his department will support any decision that Town Manager James McKenna makes about the enforcement of parking regulations and the possible installation of parking meters in the town.

“As far as meters go, that’s our town manager’s decision and whatever he decides, we certainly will support,” said Delehanty. “I support any decision that comes from the town manager’s office or the Town Council. We’re there to support the decision and make sure the law is obeyed once it’s adopted.”

Delehanty was responding to the discussion of parking ticket revenues, overnight parking regulations, and police enforcement that took place at an informal meeting of the Winthrop Town Council Tuesday night at the Senior Center.

Councilors talked about the difficulty in finding parking spaces in certain neighborhoods, vehicles blocking the routes of street sweepers, and the need for “consistence enforcement” of parking regulations throughout the town.

Town Manager James McKenna addressed the issue of maximizing the use of the 14 municipal parking lots in the town and raising revenues through parking and residential parking sticker fees during his presentation at the meeting.

Delehanty said that currently there are no parking meters in the town’s municipal lots.

“It’s certainly something the town manager has been looking at and we have done a study to find out how many spaces are available, what the busiest time of day for parking is, and signage issues,” said Delehanty. “As we clarify the signage in the lots, we’ll begin to enforce the regulations in the lots.”

Delehanty said the department does receive calls about vehicles remaining in parking spaces for extended periods of time.

“We do enforce the 72-hour by-law (no vehicle can be parked on the street longer than 72 hours),” said Delehanty. “The problem (of vehicles being parked in spaces for long periods of time) hasn’t come to my attention, but it certainly doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.”

As for the enforcement of overnight (1-5 a.m.) parking regulations, Delehanty said the department averages “28 to 30” tickets per night, which is considered a significant number.

Delehanty said the department took over the parking ticketing functions last April after a private company had been brought in to handle the parking ticket and enforcement system.