How nine people beat Sault Ste. Marie parking tickets

Sault Ste. Marie City Council will be asked Monday to make last year's Toys for Tickets campaign a permanent, annual thing.

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 1 last year, the city conducted a pilot program in which parking fines (excluding accessible parking tickets) could be paid by providing new toys of equal or greater value to Sault Transit's annual Stuff-a-Bus fundraiser.

Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services, says nine bad parkers paid tickets worth $130, providing $180 worth of toys.

That wasn't a stellar response, compared to other communities with similar programs.

The City of Orillia has provided more than $35,000 in toys since it started its campaign in 2006.

Bradford West Gwillimbury raises about $3,000 in toys each year, with 15 per cent of its tickets paid this way.

But City of Sault Ste. Marie staff are hopeful the idea will catch on here and Lamming is recommending it be continued permanently.

Meanwhile, on the nastier side of parking enforcement, city councillors will also be asked Monday to:

• extend a one-year pilot for third party bylaw enforcement with Norpro Security and Investigations
• permit a more proactive enforcement approach by the proponent to increase the service level
• issue a request for proposal in 2021 for a three-year timeframe contingent on satisfactory results as measured by staff. If a budget increase is required, it will be brought back to council as part of the 2022 budgeting process

Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.