The road is being cleared for the City of Saskatoon to mail out parking tickets, should it choose to do so.

In a new report, the city says a proposed update to the Saskatchewan government's Cities Act would allow the city to proceed with a mail-out program for parking tickets.

According to the report, "this change would give the City of Saskatoon explicit ability to mail parking tickets to violators of the city's metered parking program."

The city has advocated for this in the past.

"We've asked them to put more clarity around that," said Mike Jordan, the city's director of public policy and government relations. "That [change] would certainly allow [the city to mail out tickets] without being in violation of the act."

The city has not yet announced such a move, however.

"Such a change would provide some options for the city's consideration," said Jo-Anne Richter, the city's director of community standards. "Of course we would have to review this option further once any legislation is brought into effect."

Jordan pointed out one potential benefit of a mail-in system: not having to worry about tickets blowing off of people's windshields.

The city has previously identified one challenge to a mail-in program. The Cities Act requires tickets to either be delivered in person, put under the windshield, or sent by registered mail. The city told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix in 2015 that mailing by registered mail would cost $1 million more than regular mail.

That obstacle would appear to be cleared thanks to the legislative change.

But mail is no more secure than the current method, said city councillor Darren Hill.

"When you fix something to a windshield, you're not going to be guaranteed that that vehicle operator is going to receive that ticket by the time they get back to their car, either."

Tickets are currently dished out the old-school way: under people's windshield wipers. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)

The human element

"The rationale, I think, that they're trying to explore is that it would be efficient in looking at embracing more technology like our automated license plate readers that are equipped on a number of the Commissionaire vehicles right now," said Hill. "But is it the right model?"

Hill worries about the loss of interaction between Commissionaire parking ticket issuers and residents. Good can come out of such interactions, he said — perhaps even getting out of the ticket.

At a recent event Hill attended, "One of the organizers saw the Commissionaire starting to issue his ticket. He was able to race over there and say 'I'm sorry. I got tied up with the event.'

"I have seen occurrences where people have been able to speak to the Commissionaire, whether they've actually started to punch the information into the issuing device or whether they are halfway through it, and avoid the ticket."

Saskatoon city councillors will hear from city staff about the topic Tuesday at city hall.

It's not clear when the amended Cities Act is expected to come into law. The Ministry of Government Relations said Thursday that no decisions have been made yet.