By Paul Whetzel, CAPP
Hello Again Fellow IPMI Friends-
As many of you all know the City of Charleston, South Carolina is a coastal city. Hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th. Hurricane season can provide many challenges for Charleston County. Parking Operations is a division under the Facilities Department, all parking employees are required to assist in preparation and recovery after a storm. In addition, we have employees that assist the Emergency Operations Center with the Citizen Information Line.
We have three different operating levels at Charleston County-
Opcon 1 – Normal Daily Operations
Opcon 2 – Enhanced Awareness
Opcon 3 – Full Alert
At each Opcon Level, the Parking Division is required to take certain action. This includes securing signage and trash cans, installing flood panels, parking gate removal, securing pay machines, sandbagging, system backups, drain cleaning, shutting down elevators etc. In addition, as storms approach, City of Charleston and the County of Charleston offer free parking within the garages for residents and visitors during storms. Parking is limited to cars only. As everyone knows people don’t always follow the rules, we’ve had boats, grills, golf carts, trailers, everything but the kitchen sink. Cars must be out of the garages on specific days and times, if not customers will pay the prevailing rate after the day and time has passed. From a customer service aspect, we do take into consideration people that evacuated and cannot get back in time to remove their car as to whether to require payment. This is conducted on a case-by-case basis.
Paul Whetzel, CAPP is the Parking Operations Manager for the County of Charleston, SC. Paul can be reached at PWhetzel@charlestoncounty.org.