Council OKs parking ticket increase

SANDPOINT — The City Council concluded Wednesday business in a snappy hour’s time, parsing through proposed fee increases and selecting a dealer to provide Sandpoint with fresh police vehicles.

The primary discussion of the evening centered around a litany of fee increases. Impacting everything from business licenses to parking tickets, the fee increases largely passed council scrutiny but not without some revisions.

Councilman John Reuter kicked discussion off by suggesting they nix increased fees for business registration, dog licenses, parade and public assembly permits and taxi cab licenses, a suggestion that the council passed unanimously.

“I just don’t feel like these are fee increases we need to push on the public at this time,” he said.

Councilwoman Marsha Ogilvie also suggested that Community Hall rental fees remain unchanged.

“There are very few places where Sandpoint residents can go to dance,” she said. “And if we keep the rental fees low, it may be that more people will use it.”

But the vote split the council, and Mayor Gretchen Heller struck the motion down. A second motion to keep dance fees at $60 per hour, however, passed.

One of the more significant revisions made to the fee regulations related to parking tickets. Under the new system, repeat offenders will face increasingly harsh penalties for their wayward parking, with first and second offenses ticketed at $10, third and fourth at $25, fifth and sixth at $50 and seventh or more at $100. New offenders will receive a one-time courtesy ticket bearing no charge, and ticket accumulation will reset annually.

The evening concluded with the council’s decision to accept a $59,918.56 bid by Rokstad Ford in Ponderay for new police vehicles. Tom Addis Ford in Coeur d’Alene also submitted a bid of $59,518. Initially, the council struggled to find significant reasons for awarding the contract one way or the other, mentioning the advantages of buying locally and pointing out that Rockstad Ford’s higher bid included maintenance fees. Then Reuter pointed out that Tom Addis Ford had failed to check one of the city’s requirements on its bid application form. He said the council should award the contract to the only complete bid they received.

“We can just stop talking about buying locally and award the contract based on who completed the process and who failed to do so,” he said.