Simpson College plans to add an online option to fill out parking ticket appeals in the near future.

According to parking monitor, Jennifer Milani, the change would add an option on SC Connect for students to fill out a parking ticket appeal form. 

“Old forms are still available but the students will be able to access the form on SC Connect under the ‘my forms’ tab,” Milani said.

While a release date for the new addition has not yet been decided on, Milani hopes it can be rolled out within the next couple of weeks. 

Currently, the only way to appeal a parking ticket is to fill out a form and wait for the response from the Appeals Committee. 

Once security receives a notification of the appeal, they send the reason and the ticket number to the Appeals Committee. The Appeals Committee individually reviews each appeal and accepts or denies it. The decision is sent back to security, who then sends the result to the student. Fines are removed if necessary. 

The initial reason for implementing the change to the system was to save paper and to make the appeal system more convenient for both students and the Appeals Committee. 

Milani says other benefits of the new system have quickly begun to reveal themselves.

“Once we started the process with the IT department, we found multiple benefits for this process,” Milani said. “It will not only save paper but it will save time. The appeals committee will also not have to visit the Security office to accept or deny the appeals, they can just respond electronically.”

“The biggest draw is for the students to be able to do this online, from the comfort of their residence or wherever they may be,” she continued. “Hopefully, this means more students will appeal as there are many times, I think the students just don’t think it’s worth the effort but there might be a completely valid reason for appealing.”

Security would also like to remind students to refrain from parking at Kent, Wallace and the Hillman and McNeill parking lot from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. 

“This is the number one reason why students incur tickets,” Milani said. 

An email will be released from the business office soon revealing more details about the new system.