(A) Fines. The fine for each parking violation shall be $15, except that the fine for parking within ten feet of a fire hydrant shall be $25.
(B) Parking tickets.
(1) As an alternative system of administering and enforcing the parking regulations of the town, there is hereby established a procedure whereby parking tickets may be expeditiously paid to the Town Clerk in lieu of a criminal warrant being issued for certain violations.
(2) Whenever a member of the Town Police Department, or other person charged with the enforcement of the town's parking regulations, shall find that any of the regulations are being or have been violated by the owner or operator of any vehicle, the officer or person shall notify the owner or operator of the vehicle of the violation, by conspicuously attaching to the vehicle a notice or ticket, in the form as the Chief of Police may determine, which notice or ticket shall require the owner, or operator, to report in person to the police department within 48 hours after the violation, and answer to the same, or immediate arrest may be made and the owner or operator taken before the appropriate court of justice.
(3) The owner or operator of any vehicle who has been notified of the violation in the manner herein before provided, may within the time specified in the ticket or notice, present himself or herself, with the ticket or notice, at the Police Department and answer to the violations noted on the ticket or notice, by voluntarily paying a penalty of $25 for each violation involving the list below, or by voluntarily paying $15 for every other violation of the town's parking regulations:
(a) Double parking, standing, or stopping;
(b) Stopping, standing, or parking in loading zones;
(c) Stopping, standing, or parking in bus zones or bus stops;
(d) Blocking or otherwise obstructing access to driveways, intersections, and sidewalks;
(e) Stopping, standing, or parking in traffic lanes; and/or
(f) Stopping, standing, or parking in front of a fire hydrant or within a fire hydrant zone.
(4) Whenever any person who has been notified as herein provided to appear at the police station and answer for a violation of any of the provisions of this division (B), shall fail or refuse to appear as required, or having appeared, shall fail or refuse to pay the penalty specified herein, it is hereby made the duty of the Chief of Police to cause a warrant to be issued charging the person with the violations specified in the notice and the person shall be tried in a court of law upon the warrant.
(5) All payments herein provided to be paid to and received by the town shall in no event be construed to be an enforced imposition of fines or forfeitures, but on the other hand, the amounts shall be construed to be amounts which the offender may voluntarily contribute toward the cost and expense of furnishing the public with a less expensive method of regulating and administering those minor traffic law violations which are expressly made to fall within the application of this section, and to the extent herein provided.
(6) All sums paid to the town as herein provided shall be paid into the General Fund of the town at the times and under the regulations as may be prescribed by the Town Board of Commissioners.
(Prior Code, § 7-1149) (Ord. passed 4-14-1970; Ord. passed 3-12-1985)