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Ultimately our goal is to provide safe, convenient and affordable parking for
the Borough community; to make our users contact with parking as pleasant
and convenient as possible; and to operate as efficiently and fiscally responsible
as possible.
HISTORY:
Parking for a long time has been a major challenge in West Chester because the historic town and its road system were built
before the explosion of the automobile. As it became more common for every households to have a car then, for every
household to have multiple cars parking grew as a community issue. One of the ways the issue has had to be handled is
with regulation and with that comes the need for enforcement.
As the need for enforcement of parking regulations grew the demand on a busy Borough Police Department became
unmanageable an so civilian Parking Enforcement Officer positions were created to ease the burden and enhance enforcement.
These positions functioned for many years as an arm of the Police Department but as the demand for enforcement grew so did
the enforcement staff and the necessary clerical staff to process the tickets, citations and parking permits sales.
In mid 1994 the parking enforcement function and parking administrative functions were moved out of the Police Department and
assigned to be a division of the Building Housing & Coded Enforcement Department. This relieved the Police Department of the
administrative burden of directing the parking operation and assigned the role to a department that already enforced a series of
codes and minor ordinances. As the service functioned as a division of the BH&CED the demands on the division continued to
grow. The Borough went from owning one parking garage to owning and operating four parking garages and enforcement
demands continued to grow as new parking permit areas and regulations were expanded.
In recognition of the greatly increased duties and responsibilities associated with the parking operation in West Chester, Borough
Council on January 21, 2002 created the Parking Services & Enforcement Department which is comprised of the Parking
Services Office, Parking Enforcement Office and Parking Facilities Office. The Parking Director directly manages the daily operation of
the Department. The offices are staffed by a Parking Enforcement Manager, Parking Enforcement Officers, Parking Services Clerks,
Parking Facility Manager, Parking Facility Supervisor, Parking Facility Maintenance Supervisor & Staff and several Parking Facility Cashier's.
This upgrade to Borough parking by Borough Council was initiated to improved public service in the area of parking an activity that
has grown to be very important to resident, university and business life in the community.
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