On the job and on the metre Author: MARCELLA BIDINOST Date: 28/01/2006 Publication: The Age
Chris Katis is a parking inspector at the City of Port Phillip. He speaks to senior team leader Ray Connley about life monitoring traffic.
CHRIS: I put my name down for work as a parking inspector via a recruitment agency in 2001. I started temping here casually before being employed permanently. Before that, I had worked in security and call centres, which was often somewhat static work. I'd prefer to be moving around on the job. When people ask what I do, rather than having a problem with it, they're usually curious to know if I get a commission or if I have to book a certain number of people each day. The answer is no to both.
RAY: This work is a far cry from where I started out, working for 14 years on The Riverina in dairy farming and raising fat lambs and oil seed crops. I had four girls and realised there wasn't much of a future for them there so I moved to Melbourne and started off as a prison officer before finishing up in that field, after 13 years, as a senior medical officer at the Spencer Street prisoner remand centre. I worked for many years on the road as a parking inspector and am now responsible for prosecutions and the 24-7 rostering of this council's 19 parking officers.
CHRIS: In terms of training, you're mostly trained on-site by senior officers. You have to learn the road rules, safety rules and the laws we enforce, which is the hardest part of the training. There is a lot of memorising of streets, times and rules. Sometimes there are exceptions to the rules so you have to learn to use discretion, which is something you can't be trained on. You also have to learn how to use the hand-held ticketing infringement machine, which can alter from council to council.
RAY: Those who are new to the job spend time on the road with more experienced officers until they are confident they know what to do.
CHRIS: What kind of person would you say suits this job?
RAY: Someone who likes the outdoors, who is good at problem-solving, who's self-motivated and who will happily work on their own. You also need to be aware of which way conversations with members of the public are going and to be able to think on your feet. You need to confidently communicate with a broad range of people and you can't let issues get to you. With the right communication skills, you can make a difficult situation easy.
CHRIS: I've found you can go months without problems but then have a day when 10 people go crazy at you.
RAY: It's true. People think we spend most of our day debating parking with members of the public, but those debates don't come up too often. In this work, if you treat people how you'd like to be treated, you'll find 99 per cent of people cop the infringement without a problem. They mightn't be happy about it but they're not out to give you grief. With that remaining 1 per cent you have to learn how to cope with the situation and move on.
CHRIS: On the job we're given areas to cover. At certain times during the day and on the weekend, those can be left open to us; some spots need more patrolling than others. One of the main aims of the job is to keep parking turnover flowing.
RAY: In this council there is an average of 11 parking officers out there working across the roster each day. There are only two days a year when we don't work: Christmas Day and Good Friday. You're not just booking cars, maintaining tow-aways and clearways; you're available for after-hours services and can find yourself on call responding to any public complaints.
CHRIS: And because we're on the ground so much, we often spot council and other related issues first-hand. We supply information to the police on stolen or abandoned vehicles and often see needles that need to be reported for pick-up. We also report any council damage and often find ourselves giving advice to visitors. We keep an eye on reserved parking and activities such as film shoots, which take place a lot here. The challenge is keeping the balance between visitors and residents.
RAY: It's not easy to find work in this area. There aren't many positions available and staff turnover at this council, for example, is low. We had about 80 applicants during our last intake. With more experience as a parking officer, you might choose to move into other areas of the council, or for other councils.
CHRIS: What is a common reason people pursue this work?
RAY: Because it's such a great office out there: you can watch the city, how it changes, and generally see life happen.
CHRIS: Starting out, what can you expect to earn and how might that progress?
RAY: You earn the local government award, which, starting out at this council, is $19.19 per hour Monday to Friday on a 38-hour work, or $37,925 per annum. Depending on the shifts you work (days, afternoons/evenings or on the graveyard shifts), penalties can come in to play. The highest base rate you can reach in this council is $20.83 an hour.
On weekends you're on time-and-a-half and Sundays are double the rate.