HONESDALE, PA — The days of needing to dig through one's pockets for spare quarters to satisfy the parking meter may soon be coming to an end, as Honesdale Borough plans to implement the parking app Pango to collect fees. 

Alongside it, the borough plans to incorporate a network of cameras to automate its enforcement of parking violations. 

Pango is an app that allows drivers to pay parking fees through their phone. A driver would register their car's license plate on the app, select the parking zone or the space their car is in, and pay for their time with a credit card or similar. 

According to Mayor Derek Williams, the app will be an "overlay" on top of the existing parking meters, and residents will still have the option to pay with quarters. 

Pango is currently used closest in locations like Bloomsburg Pennsylvania, Pleasantville, Mount Pleasant, and Scarsdale, New York as well as in places like Maryland, Virginia and Oregon.

The borough council voted to authorize an agreement for a "mobile parking app and parking permits" with the company. 

I spy 

The other new system adopted by Honesdale Borough, automated cameras, will catch parking violations in town with new eyes—up to a hundred of them. 

The borough has contracted with Municipal Parking Services (MPS) for the deployment of that company's 'Safety Sticks'. 

The Safety Stick is a three-feet tall pole that houses a security camera. The plan is to place these poles watching areas in town where parking violations are likely to appear—no-parking zones, fire hydrants, handicap spots and the like. 

These poles will detect when someone parks in the observed space and, after a set period of time, take a picture of the offending license plate. MPS will review the generated photos to double check them for violations, then will send the list to the borough for a triple check. Then, MPS will issue the offending vehicle a violation by mail. 

Council member Jim Hamill had concerns about the use of the automated technology to watch over violations—he watched a lot of Black Mirror, he said, referencing a Science-Fiction television show dedicated to exploring the potential negative effects of near future technology. He asked if the borough could instead rely on the human beings in its employ to enforce these violations, including its parking enforcement staff. 

That missed the point of the new system, interim borough manager Kevin Kundratic said. 

"The whole idea here is to take away that from the parking enforcement so… they can concentrate on writing tickets at meters rather than going to no parking zones, a fire hydrant, any of these areas," he said. 

The program will not cost the borough anything up front. However, MPS will collect part of the proceeds from the violations it issues, passing the other portion on to the borough. 

Council member Jim Hamill was also concerned about the number of cameras that might be installed. He understood cameras' use in security—he had one on its own property, he said—but the borough already had other cameras in place in the park and elsewhere. 

The borough plans to start with 20 to 25 cameras, and plans to incrementally increase the number as necessary, up to 100. 

"This could potentially put up to 100 cameras all throughout town, creating a veritable network of surveillance throughout town," Hamill said.

"Not necessarily," said Kundratic. He said the cameras would be aimed at the height and the level of a license plate, and that was all they could capture.

"This is not a surveillance camera. It takes a snapshot of a license plate. That's all it does," said Kundratic; it was confirmed by Mayor Derek Williams that the cameras would only be used for parking. 

Williams said he appreciated the surveillance concerns, but that the borough needed to balance its enforcement resources against the demands made on them. 

The borough's contract with MPS does specify that the borough will only be able to use the snapshots for parking, said Williams. "That is something that appeased a little bit of my concerns."

Editor's note: The original version of this article misstated the name of the company supplying the Safety Sticks. This has been corrected as of May 5, 2025.