Irwin ponders upgrading parking meters — old ones give away time for too little money

Irwin officials have found that too many of the borough’s old parking meters have problems that make drivers happy — meters that give away more time than drivers pay for and rates so low that plinking a nickel into a meter gives the motorist 30 minutes of parking.

The borough council on Wednesday will consider a proposal to buy digital parking meters to replace old mechanical ones that no longer work properly and for which parts are hard to find.

The 75 mechanical meters need to be replaced because they have failed, giving an average of two minutes in free parking and as high as nine minutes, Justin Kachmarek, planning and zoning manager, told council earlier.

The borough has about 260 meters that are operating.

It would cost Irwin about $4,975 to refurbish 75 of the meters, said Stacie Santimyer, assistant borough manager.

If there is a problem with any meters, Santimyer said the borough can return them to be replaced for $32 per meter, plus shipping costs.

Public works employees would be trained by Refurbish Meter Co. to learn how to maintain the meters, Santimyer said.

As a way of comparison, Greensburg uses Meter Feeder of Pittsburgh for its digital meters.

Latrobe uses Pango, which requires motorists to use an app on a smartphone to pay for parking.

Irwin Borough would bear more costs for electronics and would have to sign a three-year contract, which would require payments of $2,000 in the second and third years. There would not be a charge in the first year of the pact.

The focus on replacing some parking meters resulted from an inspection by the Westmoreland County Bureau of Weights and Measures, which uncovered the faulty meters. The inspection last October was prompted by complaints from motorists about meters that cheated them by not allowing for the amount of time for the money they paid.

The borough has a “mishmash” of meters with different charges for different time limits — two hours, four hours and 10 hours, Kachmarek said.

Some meters give motorists an hour of parking for 10 cents and two hours for a quarter.

Mayor William Hawley has called for council to consider updating the meters to raise the rates because the current charge is “minuscule.” Hawley proposed charging 50 cents an hour.

“What we charge is ridiculous,” Hawley said.

Councilman Frank Rossi said he would prefer to keep costs down and upgrade the meters to a basic digital style.