Mayor Refiles Parking Rate Increases, Sidesteps Ethics Ruling

Three members of the Haverhill city council who are downtown business owners would be allowed to vote on proposed rate increases for paid parking under a revised plan from Mayor James J. Fiorentini.

A proposal, recently submitted on behalf of the Downtown Parking Commission and the city’s parking consultant, would increase paid parking rates by as much as 100 percent for on-street parking, has been replaced by virtually identical rate increases. They are separated between “central business district-east section” and “central business district-west section,” according to Fiorentini. As late as last Monday, Fiorentini told WHAV’s Open Mike Show listeners he hadn’t yet made a decision on what to present to the city council.

“You always want to keep your downtown affordable. So, there’s always that balance and I haven’t completely made up my mind what to recommend to the council on this,” Fiorentini said.

In a letter to the council, Fiorentini wrote, “Our city solicitor has been informed by the ethics commission that it would not be a conflict of interest for those three councilors to vote on that section of the parking rules which affect the west side of downtown. Accordingly, we hereby withdraw the ordinance sent to the council earlier. We submit two new ordinances, one for the east side of downtown and one for the west side.”

The proposals define the east side of downtown as streets and municipal parking lots “within the Central Business District, filed in the office of the city engineer, that are east of, but not including, Essex Street and Washington Square.”

During the council’s March 30 meeting, Fiorentini expressed concern there would not be enough votes to pass fee increases. An ethics ruling determined councilors Melinda Barrett, Thomas Sullivan and Michael S. McGonagle are prohibited from voting on the original proposal for the entire downtown business district. They have businesses within the newly-defined east side and would now only be allowed to vote on the “west side” ordinance.

Under the new, separate ordinances, the proposed fee increases and uniform enforcement hours for paid parking on-street and at municipal lots remain unchanged from the original proposal. Readers of a WHAV Facebook post last month largely condemned the plan.

“Just put a nail in the coffin of restaurants in downtown Haverhill. Doubling fees?” wrote Richard Linehan. Bucky Jenkins wrote, “Doubling parking fees makes no sense, only busy at night. It will hurt the restaurants. Charge a fee for the new white elephant you are building on the corner.”

The council on Tuesday is expected to place the revised paid parking ordinance proposals on file for two weeks and refer them to the Administration and Finance subcommittee, as requested by Fiorentini.