QUINCY - A Quincy resident's concerns about parking regulation enforcement led a discussion of the rules.

Nichol Knebel spoke at a recent city council meeting, expressing concern about how ordinances governing parking on the street are handled.

The city code prohibits people from leaving a vehicle parked on the street for more than 48 consecutive hours, according to city records. The city requires the vehicle to be moved at least 500 feet.

If police find a vehicle, they can issue a warning notice requiring the vehicle to be moved within eight hours, according to city records. If the vehicle hasn't been moved, the city can tow it.

Knebel explained her husband drives the car once a week, and rides his bike to work on other days. An officer recently came to their home and told them they needed to move their vehicle.

"I explained, 'I find it ironic, your guys' timing for this. The biggest snow of the year, they bury our cars and you try to cite us for not being able to move them,'" she said. "My husband moved the car that night."

Police returned two days later with a tow truck, and tried to tow the vehicle, she said. When she stepped outside to ask what was happening, police explained they were towing the vehicle.

"I said, 'You can't tow our vehicle, we clearly moved it,'" she said. "(The officer replied,) 'You didn't move it far enough. It needs to be moved 500 feet.' I said, 'Nobody stipulated how far we had to move it. You guys were here last year and we moved it two feet and nobody said anything,' and he says, 'Be quiet. Get back in your house and I'll tell you whether I can tow your vehicle or not.'"

She tried to Police Chief Richard Ackerman, who wasn't in his office at the time, and then asked for the officer's information, and received a business card, Knebel said.

"I told him, 'He cannot talk to people this way,' and he said, 'I will talk to you anyway I want,'" she said. "I don't understand the purpose of this ordinance. We went in and talked with Sgt. (Paul) Snyder. He explained a little bit about it, but basically he was saying (it was) so the street sweepers could do their jobs. The street sweepers aren't out in the snow."

She pointed out the ordinance has only been enforced twice in the nine years she has owned the home.

"Both times is after the biggest snow of the year," Knebel said. "So I guess I need an explanation. How do you guys decide where you're going (and) when you're doing it?"

She spent 10 minutes driving around the city and found 40 vehicles in the same position, and none had a sticker and none were towed, Knebel said.

"There was no tire tracks showing they had gone forward or backwards, so they were in the same boat, but they weren't towed," she said. "So I'm feeling like we've been targeted."

Councilmember Jose Saldana sympathized with Knebel, saying he looked at the ordinance and he understands the reason for it, but not the time limit. He had problems with the ordinance before.

"If you don't move your car within 48 hours, it's either going to be towed or you're going to get a notice," he said. "The thing is the ordinance says, 'You have to move it 500 feet.' That means you have to put your car a block away or half a block away (in front of) the neighbors ... I think we either need to get rid of (the ordinance) or make it work somehow."

 Councilmember Adam Roduner agreed with Saldana and Knebel, saying if the vehicle is licensed and insured and working, there should be at least two weeks to move the vehicle.

"I understand what you're saying and you're not the first person to come to me in the last two weeks with the same complaint," he said.

Mayor Jim Hemberry believed the purpose of the ordinance was to make sure the city didn't have abandoned vehicles, not to stop people with working vehicles, he said.

"I don't know if they were having people move their cars because they wanted to come back through with the plows and what was happening with that," he said.

Councilmember Paul Worley explained the city didn't plow the side streets this year.

Knebel filled out a complaint form, and police officials will investigate the incident, Hemberry said.

"The part that's hard for me to stomach is the picking and choosing part," Worley said. "I've had people come to me and complain that they feel singled out, and you can drive around town and like she said, pick out 50 cars parked the wrong way or abandoned and still there. It's got to be all or none."

City Attorney Allan Galbraith said he is presently working with police officials to revise the city's parking regulations.

"There is a requirement, generally, you can't park your car for so long," he said. "The question is, is that two days, two hours, two weeks, a couple months ...  (In Washington,) principally streets are not to be used as parking lots."