A. Establishment Authority: The City Council may establish and designate motor vehicle parking places on the public streets or public parking lots of the City as reserved for use of handicapped persons only.
B. Signs Posted: Notice of designation of handicapped person parking spaces shall be given by the posting of appropriate signs therein. Such notice shall consist of installing therein a symbol sign which conforms to the standards of the Montana Department of Highways for designating and identifying a handicapped parking space and a statement that such space is reserved for handicapped parking.
C. Use Regulations:
1. It is unlawful for a person to wilfully park a motor vehicle in a parking space designated as reserved for handicapped persons unless the motor vehicle bears or contains a valid and clearly visible card, plate, certificate or insignia issued to handicapped persons by the Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Justice, State of Montana, in accord with Montana Code 49-4-301 et seq. Such card, plate, certificate or insignia shall be prominently displayed in the windshield of the vehicle when the parking privilege is being used.
2. A permit issued pursuant to this chapter does not relieve the permittee from all other parking regulations lawfully required by the City, including parking time limitations and parking meter charges. A violation of any other such parking regulation is not considered a violation of this section.
D. Violation; Responsibility:
1. Whenever any vehicle shall have been parked or let stand in violation of any of the provisions of this section, the person in whose name the vehicle is registered, or if there is no registration, then the record owner of the vehicle, shall be absolutely liable for the violation and shall be subject to the penalty therefor.
2. Whenever evidence shows that the vehicle had been reported as stolen at the time in question, or was not parked illegally or that he was not the registered owner of the vehicle at the time of the alleged violation, that person is absolved of responsibility for the particular offense.
3. A violation of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor, and shall also constitute a Municipal infraction, punishable as set forth in section 1-4-4 of this Code. For each separate incident, the City shall elect to treat the violation as a misdemeanor or a Municipal infraction, but not both. If a violation is repeated, the City may treat the initial violation as a misdemeanor and the repeat violation as a Municipal infraction, or vice versa. Vehicles found parked in a designated handicapped person parking space in violation of this section may be removed and impounded at the direction of the Chief of Police and the cost of such removal and impoundment must be paid before the vehicle will be released to the registered owner. (Ord. A-349, 6-4-1979; amd. Ord. 87-1, 1-5-1987; Ord. 09-20, 10-19-2009; Ord. 20-09, 6-1-2020)