Keeping order during chaos

CHENEY – One never knows what a citizen comment will do to public officials.

For instance, at the May 26 Cheney City Council meeting, a lone comment expressing frustration with parking in the city got members debating the pros and cons of suspending paid parking in light of the situation with coronavirus restrictions.

The comment from Robert Simpson expressed a desire to see parking become free throughout Cheney, including around Eastern Washington University where most meters are located. Simpson was apparently unhappy this hadn’t happened earlier during the pandemic.

City Administrator Mark Schuller said the same individual called City Hall after hearing of an incident where an EWU student had parked at a meter near the campus but hadn’t paid, intending to quickly run in to conduct business and leave. The student, however, was ticketed, and ran into problems with court dates since Cheney Municipal Court has not conducted any sessions during the pandemic.

Court administrator Terri Cooper noted EWU had filed around a dozen parking tickets since the pandemic started, with Cheney officers writing even less.

But Simpson’s comment was enough to illicit a quick discussion about the need to maintain such policies while measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus have limited the public’s ability to travel and conduct business with government offices, and have essentially closed EWU’s campus. The university went to an all-online instruction format in early April and plans to continue that format this fall.

Councilman Ryan Gaard, who works at Eastern, said the ticketing policy has been an ongoing topic at the university. He said that was a job that couldn’t be done from home, and that the individuals responsible needed to be on the job.

“But I think a lot of people think that just because campus is empty, and there’s not a lot going on that there’s nobody doing that job right now and it’s not true,” Gaard said. “People are still being ticketed and the rules are still being enforced.”

Cheney Police Chief John Hensley advised against making any alterations to the parking meter policy, or any other parking related policy. Department officials have received calls from people complaining about receiving tickets for parking the wrong way on a street, in a red zone and even in handicapped spots. The city, and EWU, has ample metered and unmetered parking to meet demands, Hensley said.

“The thought is, all hands are off right now because of COVID-19,” he added. “That’s not the case. The rules are in place, it’s easy to follow. If you make an assumption that the rules are not being enforced, that’s your peril.”

Hensley cautioned suspending parking enforcement right now could be a slippery slope leading to suspension of other regulations. Once restrictions put in place to combat the virus are lifted, he questioned how easy it would be to restart those suspended regulations.

“I don’t see a beginning or an end,” Councilman Paul Schmidt said in agreement. “As public policy, it’s easy to fall into that trap. And once it starts with parking, what other areas are we going to look at.”

Mayor Chris Grover told the council his office would reach out to Simpson for more discussion.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].