FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fox 4 Investigative Reporter Alan Jennings recently exposed flaws in parking meter timing devices, possibly resulting in inaccurate tickets being issued. Now he’s also discovered that the management company contracted to oversee the aging meters repairs them with old parts.
Fox 4 approached Fort Myers Mayor Randall Henderson, Jr. to explain the city contract with Denison Parking, Inc.
Henderson denied knowing anything about the contract. Later, Fox 4 discovered Mayor Henderson’s signature appears on the Denison contract. In fact, Henderson’s signature appears at the top of the contract.
Fox 4 asked for the contract two months ago. City Hall finally turned over the contract, which doesn’t spell out the city’s take from all those parking meters.
Fox 4 determined the city gets $137,000 from parking meter fees. The city still hasn’t revealed what Denison gets. Currently, the city is under contract with a consulting firm, paying it $90,000 to study parking needs and recommending solutions.
After weeks of persistent calling, city officials finally gave us access to City Manager Saeed Kazemi.
Again, we asked when the decades old parking meters will be replaced. Kazemi admitted to Jennings that the old parking meters amount to a disservice to taxpayers.
He promised Fort Myers will be outfitted with new state-of-the-art parking meters by the end of next year.
