After taking center stage during city council’s 2023 departmental budget hearings, Bloomington is one step closer to enforcing illegally parked electric scooters.
The board of public works Tuesday approved a contract for two temporary parking enforcement specialists to focus on electric scooters downtown.
Director of public works Adam Wason said scooter companies usually reduce their fleets during winter, but the city still hopes to collect data.
“We’re trying to get this off the ground so that we can get some good data here this fall and then have something a little more robust for the spring season when the scooters return.”
READ MORE: Electric scooters continue to cause buzz in Bloomington budget hearings
Both parking specialists will be staffed through Express Employment Professionals. They will work 25 hours a week through the end of the year, with the total cost not to exceed $15,500.
Wason said the city hopes to hire its own temporary, part-time staff in the future.
Bloomington currently has contracts with three scooter companies, each paying the city $10,000 per year and $0.15 per ride. In total, scooter have generated about $200,000 for the city since 2018.
