Irwin to get new parking meters, rate increase

Motorists in downtown Irwin will see new parking meters in the near future, and a rate increase.

The borough was to receive an order of 200 refurbished digital meters Friday from Take A Powder Inc. of Paterson, N.J., said Stacie Santimyer, assistant borough manager.

Council on April 14 approved buying the meters for $13,000, rather than making multiple smaller purchases and spreading out the cost. By buying 200 digital meters, Irwin will have 10 in reserve, said Shari Martino, borough manager.

New meters were needed because the old meters were malfunctioning and replacement parts were difficult to find, Justin Kachmarek, borough planning and zoning director, previously told council.

The meters will be set to give motorists 30 minutes of time for 25 cents, a price hike compared to some of the old meters, which charged a nickel for the same amount of time. Mayor William Hawley previously complained the rate was too low compared to other communities.

The push to get new meters was prompted by the Westmoreland County Bureau of Weights and Measures in October, which found some of the old meters were shortchanging motorists by not giving them all the time for which they paid. Meters had to be bagged until they could be recalibrated.

The internal mechanisms of the old mechanical meters will be scrapped.