South City parking enforcement to go to private company

“Historically, our police department has employed three full-time parking enforcement officers. In recent years, we have operated with only one full-time parking enforcement officer who was recently promoted into the role of police service technician,” police Capt. Ken Chetcuti said. “Currently all three parking enforcement positions are vacant, and recruitment efforts have been unsuccessful.”

The firm works with numerous cities throughout the city and county, including San Mateo and San Bruno, though the latter has had some parking enforcement challenges of late.

“San Bruno was faced with challenges, from going from minimal enforcement to everything all at once. There are none of those significant changes going on here in South San Francisco,” Chetcuti said, adding that San Mateo has since doubled the number of LAZ enforcement officers from the beginning of its contract.

Councilmember Mark Nagales said he was overall supportive of the effort, given the department’s current constraints.

“I always have concerns when you contract out when potentially you could be hiring from within, but it sounds like this would help relieve, in terms of focusing on other work … because now you have a company potentially focusing on one1issue and then you have more officers focusing on other things,” he said.

Councilmember Flor Nicolas added this type of service was needed, given the increased number of double parking violations downtown.

The contract would not exceed $3.5 million, and revenue generated from enforcement would largely cover the cost of LAZ Parking’s services, according to the staff report.

“With a city our size that is growing as quickly as we can and traffic, it’s no surprise to anyone that it’s still one of the number one concerns in a city — and especially the congestion and parking areas, specifically looking at downtown as an example,” Chetcuti said. “They are trained for traffic control. They are authorized and trained to block off an intersection where normally a police officer would be.”

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