Ottawa officials looking for input on reserved parking spots in downtown parking lots

Reserved employee parking could be coming to downtown Ottawa. The city is looking for input from class four business owners downtown who use the street parking and could be deterring potential customers from visiting. Ottawa Police Chief Brent Roalson says the city will have a community meeting on the topic on Thursday, January 19th starting at 7pm. He says the program is in the developmental stage but the mayor and city council want to hear the business owner’s input before the city makes a decision. He also says he will talk about the revitalization of the city’s validation program which is an under-utilized but valuable program that many businesses don’t realize exists.