The Waukesha Ordinance and Licensing Committee on Oct. 13 recommended that the Common Council adopt changes to Municipal Code Chapter 7 to address gaps identified by the Police Department, including new municipal citations and modest increases to parking forfeitures.

City staff explained the revisions were requested by police to allow more effective enforcement of parking rules — for example, creating municipal citations for vehicles parked in fire lanes or too close to fire hydrants and requiring vehicles parked on city streets to have registration if state law requires it. The changes also address vehicles that remain on the street for long periods and where the owner cannot be identified.

Under current code, a vehicle is deemed abandoned after 72 hours; staff said the police sometimes cannot identify owners of unregistered or homemade trailers and must wait 72 hours before removal. The proposed change would allow immediate removal when the police demonstrate they cannot locate the owner “despite their best efforts,” rather than waiting the 72‑hour period. Staff said a judge would later require proof of the law‑enforcement agency’s good‑faith effort to find the owner.

The proposal also adjusts the bond/forfeiture schedule. Staff recommended increasing most parking ticket amounts by $5 — for example, raising a $20 parking ticket to $25 and the unpaid amount after 15 days from $39 to $44 — to align with neighboring communities. The draft sets a specified forfeiture for handicap parking violations (the memorandum lists $150 with $175 after 15 days). Staff also described adding forfeitures for the new fire lane and unregistered‑vehicle sections and referenced a “blanket $2,005.44 forfeiture” in materials provided to the committee.

Committee members asked how police would determine a good‑faith effort to locate an owner and whether towing companies’ daily rates were known; staff said the judge would review evidence of the effort and that current towing rates were not provided at the meeting. Police told staff the issue was not a chronic, frequent problem but that isolated incidents could be difficult to resolve under current code.

Alderson Lemke moved to recommend the council approve the changes as written, and Alderson Talvin Slaben seconded. The committee voted unanimously to recommend the ordinance changes to the Common Council for the first reading.

Ending

If the council follows the committee recommendation, the amendments will be introduced at the council’s next meeting as a first reading and will require subsequent readings or waivers according to council rules. The committee instructed staff to proceed and provided direction on legal drafting and evidentiary standards for owner‑location efforts.