GREENFIELD — For the first time in months, the city’s parking enforcement division is fully staffed, with two part-time employees each working 19 hours per week.
According to Parking Enforcement Supervisor Judi Brown, the city had operated with one full-time parking enforcement officer, Susan McMahon, until her resignation in July 2023. After that, a part-time officer, Fran Larvey, oversaw enforcement operations alongside another part-time officer who resigned over the past summer.
“I think we might get more out of two people, because they can go farther,” Brown said. “One person walking around [during] an eight-hour day might do less than two people doing four hours.”
Even though the second parking enforcement officer, Charles Maclean, was hired last month, Police Chief Todd Dodge and Brown explained that the city’s ability to enforce parking has been limited without access to a vehicle.
“One of the things we’ve been looking for for a while … is a more mobile parking enforcement officer. We have a car dedicated to parking enforcement, but that car is dead; it needs to be replaced,” Dodge said. “Fran doesn’t drive, and because she was our primary and only parking enforcement officer for a long time, the car sat. Now we’re hoping with our new hire that we can get a car and get mobile again. … Areas like the Stop & Shop or Big Y parking lots, our public parking lot areas, we haven’t addressed in years because we haven’t had a mobile parking enforcement officer.”
Although Dodge said he hopes to secure funding for a parking enforcement vehicle in an effort to expand the area of enforcement, he clarified that ultimately, he and Brown simply enforce parking policies set forth by executive powers such as the mayor and City Council.
Amid long-term plans to redesign downtown, converting Main Street to parallel street parking and adding bike lanes, Dodge and Brown both clarified that expanded enforcement services would be needed for downtown businesses to benefit from economic development.
“Parking enforcement exists so that there’s some fairness to the business owners. Without parking fines, without someone enforcing them, cars could, theoretically, park in their spots all day long every day, and then other people are left walking long distances to get to certain businesses,” Dodge explained. “If more and more businesses start to emerge downtown, in my opinion, parking enforcement then becomes more important. You want to open up those spaces. You want to keep the traffic in and out. You want to keep it flowing so customers can get to these stores.”
Traditionally, the mayor declares free street parking in December as an incentive for people to do their holiday shopping downtown. This year, however, the mayor did not declare free parking, which resulted in confused or upset drivers, Maclean noted while walking his Main Street route on Tuesday.
“Around Christmas time, there are a lot of people who thought parking would be free,” Maclean said. “It got to the point where I had to address it.”
Although Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jessye Deane declined to provide an opinion on the lack of free holiday street parking this year, she expressed gratitude for improvements made to the Olive Street Parking Garage over the last few years. Deane noted that parking is a “hot topic” in downtowns across all of the 26 communities she oversees.
“It’s different in every community. Enforcement is always a balance between turnover, accessibility and supporting a healthy downtown,” Deane said. “If I had a one-size-fits-all solution to what would make every downtown more accessible, I would certainly put that forth, but I think what works in every downtown evolves and changes, and the enforcement needs to reflect that.”
In response to members of the public expressing frustration with this year’s paid parking during the holidays, along with parking becoming a “politicized” issue in the city, Dodge explained that the Police Department does not have any opinion on the political implications of the matter, but simply enforces laws and local ordinances.
According to data collected by Assistant Treasurer/Collector Jennifer Silva, the city collected 9,704 citations totaling $148,030 in revenue between Jan. 1, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021, 11,670 citations totaling $187,865 between Jan. 1, 2022 and Dec. 31, 2023, and 8,479 citations totaling $135,390 between Jan. 1, 2024 and Dec. 31, 2025.
Maclean said he issued 57 parking violations on Monday — a volume that he said was slightly above average. He noted that he typically prefers to issue warnings for first-time parking offenses. While he occasionally is met with some hostility while he does his job, he said he can usually de-escalate the situation.
“I don’t live to just get people,” he said. “It’s pretty easy to de-escalate. Most people just want to be heard.”