Everett council refers overhaul of resident parking stickers after presentation on enforcement and towing

At a special meeting, the Everett City Council heard a detailed presentation on parking enforcement and referred changes to the resident parking sticker program to the Traffic Commission for development of a plan for 2026.

Councilors and staff said the city has seen a sharp rise in parking enforcement activity: “In 2023, we issued 42,323 tickets. In 2024, we issued 65,871 tickets,” Sergeant Joseph Gaff of the Everett Police Department said during a slide presentation. He added that residential-violation citations rose from 17,161 in 2023 to 25,448 in 2024 — an increase he summarized as roughly 49 percent — and that total violations rose about 56 percent year over year.

The figures framed the council’s decision to ask the Traffic Commission and a new subcommittee to produce a revised resident-sticker policy. “We’re gonna try to make a subcommittee that will start meeting in March,” a staff member said, outlining an interdepartmental group that staff described as likely to include traffic commission members, two council appointees, representatives from engineering/transportation, code enforcement, the fire department, legal, and the Collector’s Office. Staff said the administration had asked for draft recommendations by October so the collector’s office can prepare for next year’s sticker production and distribution.

Why it matters: councilors said sticker policy affects day-to-day parking availability, snow removal, and neighborhood livability. The presentation laid out enforcement tools already in use and changes staff have implemented, and it set expectations for the subcommittee’s scope and timeline.

Presentation highlights and enforcement details

Sergeant Gaff described enforcement staffing and operations and discussed the city’s “scoff” process for repeat unpaid violations. He said the city has eight parking enforcement officers (PEOs) and described shift coverage that includes overnight, mid, and weekend overtime shifts. He told the council the city towed about 240 cars and issued roughly 550 parking tickets during a recent snow/towing operation; for scoff-law enforcement in 2024 he said the city towed 58 vehicles and collected more than $127,000 tied to those scoff-law actions.

On resident stickers and fees, staff explained that January and February issuance is free to qualifying residents, that commercial-vehicle stickers require an in-person inspection and cost $300, and that after March 1 individual resident stickers are available for $10 each. Staff reiterated the city’s commercial-vehicle threshold: vehicles with six wheels or a gross vehicle weight over the federal 10,001-pound marker are treated as commercial under federal motor-carrier standards and are not eligible for ordinary residential stickers without additional approval or inspection.

Staff also described a number of operational steps taken in the past year: removing 179 unused disabled-parking spaces after outreach and verification; eliminating the rideshare placard program; identifying and revoking stickers used for illegal rental-car and commercial operations out of residences; and painting and line-marking pilots to make curb restrictions easier to enforce.

Public comment and council questions

A resident who identified herself as Paula Street of 800 Cleveland Ave urged free parking in business areas and urged the city to adopt license-plate–scanning technology to reduce reliance on paper stickers. “We can eliminate the need for stickers and the scanner would flag the cars that weren’t registered in Everett,” she said.

Councilors pressed staff on staffing levels, snow-towing policy, enforcement priorities, and whether the city should move to seven-day overnight enforcement. Sergeant Gaff and other staff repeatedly said the administration is reviewing enforcement data and that hiring more PEOs would require budget decisions; they also said overtime weekend shifts have been a cost-effective tool for increased coverage. Councilors suggested incentives or limits tied to off‑street parking and raised concerns about new multiunit development that they said adds vehicles without equivalent off‑street spaces.

Formal action and next steps

The council voted to refer the item to the Traffic Commission to work on a 2026 resident-sticker program and to appoint council representatives to the subcommittee; the referral passed by voice vote. Councilors and staff said the commission will hold public meetings and aim to produce proposals the administration can act on in time for the sticker-production schedule (staff said they need final guidance no later than early November to prepare next year’s distribution).

Votes at a glance

- Motion to open public participation: approved (voice vote). - Motion to invite Sergeant Joseph Gaff and Chad Lewango to present: approved (voice vote). - Motion to refer changes to the 2026 resident-sticker program to the Traffic Commission (moved by Councilor Stephanie Smith): approved (voice vote).

The council closed the special meeting after the referral; councilors said the Traffic Commission will hold subcommittee meetings beginning in March and conduct community outreach before bringing recommendations back to the council.