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Town Talk: Parking citation system upgraded

The New Ulm Police Department recently upgraded its parking citation system. The upgrades allow for electronically prepared and submitted parking citations by parking enforcement officers and patrol staff. Benefits of the new system include more legible parking citations, citation information automatically populated into payment system, and better tracking of violations.

The new parking citations differ notably from the gold envelopes used previously. The new citations are either a narrow slip of paper(similar to a store receipt) generated with a portable printer carried by parking enforcement officers or a full piece of paper if generated by one of the printers in our patrol vehicles. The format of the citation is identical for both with the fine amount printed on the citation.

Parking fines and payment methods remain unchanged. Fines for the limited time parking violations are a warning for the first violation in a calendar year, $10 for a second violation and $20 for a third and subsequent violations. Fines for violating a snow removal parking restriction are $25. All other parking fines are $20. Parking fine payments can be made via the yellow payment drop boxes in the downtown area or in person or by mail at New Ulm City Hall.

The New Ulm Police Department Parking Enforcement Officers are most often seen in the downtown business district enforcing limited time parking regulations. This is to help ensure that those frequenting downtown business locations can access adequate parking in order to conduct their business. Limited time parking regulations are enforced in the downtown business district Monday through Saturday during business hours. Signs citing the time limitations are posted throughout the downtown area.

Leased parking spaces are available for those that live or work in the downtown area. Please inquire at New Ulm City Hall with questions regarding availability and costs of a leased parking stall.

The most often received parking complaints involve parking in one location in excess of 24 hours, unauthorized use of someone’s leased parking space and blocking an alley, sidewalk or driveway.

During snow emergencies declared by the city, vehicles are subject to snow emergency parking citations and towing if left in the snow emergency zone. The snow emergency zone comprises a large part of the downtown area to include portions of Broadway, Minnesota St., German St. and State St. as well as the cross streets from 5th North to 3rd South. The areas designated for emergency snow removal are posted with signs.

Citizens can sign up for Nixle alert notifications that will advise them of snow emergencies, road closures, etc. by visiting the City of New Ulm website and finding the “Alert Notifications” tab to register for the alerts. The alert notifications can be received in the form of email or text messages to an email account or cellular device.

Editor’s Note: The City of New Ulm presents a weekly column highlighting activities in different departments in the city government. Once a month the city will answer questions from readers. Questions on New Ulm city issues can be sent to comments@ci.new-ulm.mn.us.

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