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Politics & Government

Parking Meter Issues Being Addressed by Village

Primary problem with the parking meters stems from wireless communication failure through AT&T service.

At this month's Port Jefferson Board of Trustees meeting, an issue raised by local residents was the growing concern that the long-contentious downtown parking meters were giving false readings to visitors.

The meters, it was said, were reporting violations even when the visitor was well within the time allotted from their payment. Subsequently, visitors were receiving tickets for parking violations that they had not actually committed.

While issues were acknowledged by the Port Jefferson representatives at the meeting, along with local law enforcement in attendance, the issue at hand is smaller than some residents might be hearing. These issues are still being addressed, though, and may see a resolution within the calendar year.

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Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant has heard the concerns, and she says the village is already working to alleviate any difficulties faced by those looking to park downtown.

"Earlier this year, we asked [those that work with the parking meters] to take a log and find out what issues were being reported on the meters," she said. "What we found was that the primary problem was with the communication between the AT&T signal and the meters."

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Much as with a cell phone having problems gaining service, the meters were having random moments of failure when processing data. While this was the primary issue found, there were some instances of paper jams, printers being out of paper, and individual systems needing to be rebooted.

The parking meter findings spurred the town to hire a weekend parking attendant, whose primary charge was to circulate through the town resolving meter issues during the heavily trafficked weekends (which account for 70 percent of the meter transactions). The new staff person, who has a background in both code enforcement and computer work, handles a multitude of meter problems, from changing batteries and restarting the systems to talking with confused visitors and helping them understand how to use the meters.

Along with the logistical benefits of having this staff person, it also reflects the Village's commitment to excellent customer service, according to Garant and in both respects, the position has been "very effective."

Despite the concerns that have been brought up, the meters have been performing with a relatively strong amount of reliability. This past week, the Village saw over 10,000 transactions occur on the meters of which 36 issues were reported.

In order to keep up with the extensive usage, the village has maintained a weekly check in which preventative maintenance occurs on the meters.

As for the AT&T issue, the Village has staff that are continually looking to work towards finding a solution, but it is something that may not be resolved until December when the Village will have fully paid off the meters. When that time comes, Port Jefferson will have the opportunity to look into a new service provider, which may also lead to more technically advanced options.

Garant noted that there are many possibilities when that change occurs, including a mobile smartphone app that would enable a visitor to extend payment on their spot without having to walk back to the meter. As of now, the downtown meters already allow users to use credit cards and "smart" cards (prepaid cards that allow for a discount to the user).

Be sure to follow Port Jefferson Patch for updates as we hear them on this and other issues affecting Port Jefferson.

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