Carbon County is moving closer to changing over its parking lots to a kiosk system.

On Thursday, the commissioners provided an update on the project, which has been in the works since 2019.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich pointed out that an action on the personnel report that reconfirmed the parking attendants was a procedural matter that will allow “the county to obtain a Pennsylvania State Police Assigned Originating Agency Identifier” which helps with the implementation of the kiosks.

“It helps us leverage a third party to assist us with parking violations collection,” he said.

No date for the kiosks to go live has been finalized, but Lukasevich said signs for the kiosks were being installed Thursday and Friday.

“Then we are just waiting to finalize our enforcement piece of that,” he said, adding that until then, the county is keeping its current fine collection process.

The county purchased the 15 kiosks for the lot and metered areas on Lehigh Avenue and Susquehanna Street from Butts Ticket Company in Cochranville in August 2019.

The total cost of the purchase was $175,550 and was taken out of the parking fund, which is generated by parking fees in the lot.

In July, the board also purchased three CitePro hand-held enforcement devices from United Public Safety of Fort Washington at a cost of $ $22,383.64 for the first year and $11,483.64 in years two and three. These devices will be used to read license plates and issue parking tickets.

In September, the county set the parking fees for the county-owned lots under the kiosk system.

According to the ordinance, parking kiosks will be monitored from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

For those parking in the main county parking lot Monday through Friday, the daily fee will be $8 for automobiles and $15 for buses, campers and vehicles towing trailers. On weekends and holidays, the fee for the main lot will be $12 for automobiles and $25 for buses, campers and vehicles towing trailers.

Lots along Lehigh Avenue/Route 209 and the Railroad Station/Hooven building will be 50 cents for 30 minutes seven days a week.

On weekends, the administration building and 44/76 Susquehanna St. lots will also be available. The administration building lot will be $12 and the 44/76 Susquehanna St. lot will be 50 cents per 30 minutes.

Once active, visitors will be able to use cash, debit or credit cards or a phone app to put time for their parking spot on the kiosks. A 25-cent convenience fee is charged on credit cards.

Also, beginning Jan. 1, 2022, county residents can receive up to two hours of validated/no fee parking in the main county parking lot, as well as the parking along Route 209 for prescheduled and coordinated official transactions and activities with a county department. Things that qualify for this free parking includes public meetings, voter registration, veterans services, assessment appeals and more.