The city has increased its enforcement of overnight parking in its lots and tier garage.

Mayor Tom Donaldson said he issued an order to police to begin ticketing illegally parked cars after business hours and on the weekends.

Donaldson said there is no enforcement of metered street parking overnight or weekends.

The policy is not new — there have been signs posted in the lots and garage warning of 24-hour enforcement for years, Donaldson said.

“We’re going to enforce all the rules,” he said. “We go after people with drugs. We go after people who don’t mow their lawn. Parking is just part of the puzzle.”

Tickets issued by police carry the same fees as those issued by the city’s two daytime meter monitors, but are handwritten tickets instead of printed citations.

Donaldson said monitoring parking will not interfere with officers’ other responsibilities.

“Parking is a low priority for them,” he said, adding there is not a quota on the number of citations officers need to issue.

“I can’t tell you there’s a certain time they’ll be giving tickets,” he said. “But they’ll go through every once and awhile and remind people we’re watching.”

In another parking issue, the mayor said the city has installed a few more residential parking only signs near downtown, including signs on Liberty Street.

“We’re doing what we said we would do with that,” he said.

The city this year approved an ordinance that prohibits commuters from parking in front of residents’ homes near the downtown between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.

Violators of the ordinance face a $50 fine or towing. The affected areas will have signs.

Desk sergeants move

The mayor said there are tentative plans to move the police desk sergeants to patrol the streets beginning July 15.

The city had previously approved reassigning the officers sometime after July 1, but the move cannot happen until the city installs a new phone system at the public safety building and an alarm system for the police evidence room.

The city is handing over the dispatching duties done by the desk sergeants to Butler County Emergency Services.

“The county still has a couple loose ends too,” Donaldson said.

Donaldson said the move was made to get more officers on patrol on the streets. The police department has 23 officers.

This change will allow one additional officer to be on the street during each shift. Currently, three or four officers are out per shift.

Donaldson said officers have recently started patrolling the streets on foot as well.

He said having an officer walking allows for a better presence in the community. But he said how often an officer is on foot will be dictated by the number of officers on duty and their workload.

“We’re hoping to have someone walking some every shift,” he said. “But it depends on the business of the day.”