CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A proposal to abolish the Parking Commission is back up for debate with the City Council, whose members have raised questions about revenue, audits, and enforcement of tickets moving to Clarksville Police.
In June, the City Council postponed an ordinance to abolish the Parking Commission and place enforcement under CPD. The sponsor, Councilman Joe Shakeenab, said the Parking Commission has been unable to enforce parking tickets.
At Thursday’s meeting, several council members said that after speaking with downtown business leaders, they have additional concerns. Several members objected to adding ticket enforcement duties to Clarksville Police, particularly at $40 a ticket.
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Shakeenab says issue isn’t going away
Shakeenab said the City of Clarksville has three enterprise funds: Clarksville Gas & Water, CDE Lightband, and the Parking Commission. “With the Parking Commission, it is an enterprise, but it’s not an enterprise: It is not self-sustaining,” he said.
Shakeenab said whoever the next city mayor is, it will also fall on them to help solve the issues surrounding the Parking Commission. “We’re going to have a debt that will keep growing with the Parking Commission, and that’s another thing that next mayor will have to put onto their plate.”
He said the current configuration of the Parking Commission is going to have to change, because in the end it is costing taxpayers money.
Heather Boyd, with the city’s parking management, said the Parking Commission is running a deficit in just 2026. “Our net profit/loss position was negative $219,000,” Boyd said.
“That’s just one example, if we start to go back years, it’s an up and down theme,” Shakeenab said. “But right now, we’re paying a fee on the free parking. The city encouraged that cost, so it may be two hours of free parking for the folks that are visiting, but somebody’s paying a fee to that. It’s relatively small, but every month, it’s going to continue to add up.
“So, this $219,000, it’s going to keep growing. Where is that money going to come from? It’s going to come out of another department’s budget. So, the mayor and the CFO, they’re going to have to figure out who is going to eat this money.”
Downtown business owners want input
Councilwoman Stacey Streetman said over the last couple of months, she’s been speaking with business owners who will be greatly affected by the proposal.
“When you think about a $40 ticket, if you come down and stay beyond the amount of time allowed, that is definitely not an incentive to bring people to our downtown businesses,” Streetman said. “These are locally owned businesses; we’re not talking about your larger corporations that you have up and down Wilma Rudolph Boulevard.
“I just think that this is going to be very detrimental to them. I know that their belief is, we’ve started using two hours of free parking that we have going on downtown, can we first see how this is going to do and what effect this has on our downtown area before making a change again?”
Streetman said she also has concerns about CPD being responsible for enforcement. “Only a sworn officer can issue a ticket that can be forced into the City Court,” she said.
“Well, if you have something that occurs, those officers that are now walking around trying to maintain parking, they’re going to have to go deal with something else, so you’ll have no one monitoring (parking) during those times. Because their main concern is going to be dealing with an emergency, and our police department has never been in the business of trying to make money,” Streetman said.
Plans to defer ordinance to review audits
Councilwoman Keri Lovato, as well as Councilman Tim Chandler, said they were unaware of the extent of the problems surrounding the Parking Commission until the issues were recently brought forward.
“It’s been pretty eye-opening,” Lovato said. “In 2023, our city Audit Department did audit the Parking Department. So, yesterday, at our (audit) meeting, it was decided they’re going to follow up with some of those suggestions that were made and that should be presented at the Audit Committee’s October meeting. So, next week I am going to be proposing to motion for (the ordinance) to be deferred until at least November, so we can review those suggestions.”
Impact of 2-hour free parking, free EV charging
Boyd said two hours of free parking is bringing an uptick in customers. She said she would attribute that increase to fewer people using meters, while more people are using ParkMobile.
Lovato asked about revenue associated with the EV charging stations, and Boyd clarified that the Parking Commission voted to make the charging stations free. “We have 16 of them in the First Street Garage, but they voted that the citizens would not cover anything, so that means we’re covering the electricity, as well as the charge.”
Councilman Carlos Peters questioned why the EV charging stations are free downtown and said he doesn’t understand the thought process. “We need control on these types of things; we’re allowing this to happen,” he said.
Commission keeps changing parking rules
Boyd said consistency is needed within the Parking Commission, and there have been 47 changes since 2019 that the commission has voted on. “Each time we have new members come on, they have different objectives or things that they want to do differently … which is going to make our revenues and losses fluctuate a lot.
“Our biggest complaint is that parking is confusing, and it’s because of these people coming in, and they want to try to make it better – I’m not doubting that at all. … There’s just not any consistency that management or the citizens can follow,” Boyd said.
The City Council will meet in regular session next week on Thursday, Aug. 6, to continue the conversation and discuss any further postponement.
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