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Emmaus council hears MPS automated parking-enforcement presentation; no decision tonight
Summary
Representatives from Municipal Parking Services described a solar-powered camera system that timestamps and photographs parking violations, outlined a license-fee and revenue-share model, and answered council questions on costs, contract length and legal timelines. Council referred the item to the public safety committee for further review.
Emmaus Borough Council on Monday heard a presentation from Ken Wallins of Municipal Parking Services (MPS) on a solar-powered, data-driven parking-enforcement system but made no decision. The company described how cameras capture time-stamped photographic evidence of parking violations and how officers would review and approve potential citations.
The system, Wallins said, is designed to “allow officers to do this asynchronously” and create a deterrent effect through visible devices and persistent enforcement. He described the company’s business model as a license fee per device, “about $150 to $200 per month for each device on average,” plus a revenue-sharing arrangement when citations are issued.
Deputy Chief Hampshire and other council members pressed on operational details and legal timelines. Hampshire and staff confirmed that, under state practice cited in the meeting, parking notices should be mailed within 72 hours of a captured violation and that a citation could be filed later if the mailed notice is not paid. Wallins described a four-step workflow in which the device uploads an image to the cloud, a quality-check is performed, officers review items in a web interface and approved violations generate evidence packages for mailing.
Council members focused on costs and contract terms. Wallins said the company’s standard agreement runs five years with automatic renewal but that pricing and operational details were “boilerplate” and subject to negotiation or clarification for a smaller borough. He said municipalities keep discretion to remove devices or relocate them if a device’s measured performance is low, and the company said it could deactivate devices seasonally without removing hardware.
Specific financial details discussed included the roughly $150 monthly per-device baseline and a 40 percent share of citation revenue to the company when the firm handles mailing and payment processing. Wallins said the $150-per-device average assumed steady volumes; in a hypothetical example he used a $25 ticket and said the vendor’s revenue per citation would be about $10, implying about one citation every two days per device to meet that baseline.
Council members also asked about minimum device counts and flexibility. Wallins said the company prefers deployments of at least about 10 devices for practical purposes in a small borough but would consider smaller deployments and monthly terms after an initial period. He noted some municipalities deactivate devices in off seasons to avoid paying for inactive months.
No motion or vote was taken. Mayor and council confirmed the proposal will return to the public safety committee for further discussion and possible contract negotiations. Council members asked staff to obtain clarifications about minimum financial exposure, seasonal deactivation, and how the borough would handle low-performing devices.
If the borough advances the proposal it may negotiate contract language to clarify minimum fees, seasonal deactivations, and administrative responsibilities such as printing and mailing violations.
