Commanding officer Holly presented a multi-section cleanup of the city's parking, towing and impoundment code that consolidates enforcement language, adopts state law (RCW) references where possible, and modernizes procedures the Police Department uses in practice.

Holly told the Committee of the Whole the existing code was drawn from several disparate sections and contained language dating to the 1970s and 1980s. She said the department worked with city prosecutor Beth Ford and parking enforcement staff to combine the towing, impoundment and parking enforcement rules into a single city code section and to "adopt RCWs by reference where available, so that way we don't have to come back and clean up when state law changes." She said the goal was to make enforcement clear and workable for staff and the municipal court.

Why it matters: The rewrite affects enforcement mechanics—how parking violations are handled, how impounds and towing are processed, what evidence the city uses in hearings and which forum hears disputes. Those rules affect residents, business owners, towing companies and people who live in vehicles.

Key changes and clarifications discussed at the meeting included:
- Consolidation: Towing, impounding and enforcement language moved into a single code chapter for clarity.
- Alignment with state law: Staff recommended referencing the RCW towing and impound statutes to reduce future code maintenance.
- Modern enforcement options: Holly described how some outdated practices, such as handwritten notices, were removed and explained modern license-plate-reader and other procedures for enforcing time-limited parking. She said, "The modern way of doing it is with license plate reader technology... and then as you drive around, after 2 hours... the system automatically updates and sends a warning and... issues a parking ticket."
- Hearings: The current code had inconsistent language about who conducts impound and towing hearings. Holly said the RCW permits municipal or district court hearings; Edmonds historically used the municipal court judge and will continue to rely on the court, though other jurisdictions use hearing officers when available. The judge had provided direct input while staff drafted the changes, she said.
- Abandoned and junk vehicles: The draft clarifies the city's approach to cars on private property and the administrative connection to code-enforcement processes. Holly said the city often pays to remove vehicles and that recouping towing fees is “something we don't do very often.”

Councilmembers asked about residential parking passes, enforcement in downtown areas (including chalking and time limits), whether the city's code automatically tracks state law changes, and how the city approaches overnight parking and car-camping enforcement. Holly said the rewrite intentionally left technical, zoning-related parking provisions to separate zoning code updates but that the enforcement chapter focuses on what police and parking staff do day to day.

No formal action was taken; councilmembers thanked staff and asked staff to provide any needed legal clarifications and to return with the final consolidated draft.