There is a two-hour time limit on on-street parking downtown.

Beginning Monday, a new method of enforcing that time limit will be implemented.

This new electronic time-keeping system will provide accurate and fair enforcement, according to Benjamin Westergaard, the community services officer in the Fort Dodge Police Department.

And because this system is entirely electronic, no one will have the opportunity to evade a parking ticket by wiping chalk off of one of their vehicle’s tires.

Chalk was key to years of downtown parking enforcement. Parking enforcement officers would put a chalk line on a tire and then come back two hours later to see if that vehicle with that chalk line on the tire was still there. If it was, a ticket was issued.

Parking meters returned to the streets in 2011 after a long absence, but were removed last year. The current two-hour limit was put in place last fall.

Westergaard will be enforcing that limit using a program on his phone called ichalking.

Beginning Monday, he will walk downtown streets and take photos of the vehicles parked along them. The ichalking program will record the time each photo was taken. It will also show the position of the valve stem on one of the vehicle’s tires.

The program will notify Westergaard to check the vehicles two hours after they were first logged. If a vehicle is in the same place with the tire valve stem in the same position it was first logged in, a ticket will be issued.

Westergaard said the tickets will be thermally printed on paper that is made with some recycled plastic in it. That, he said, means rain or snow won’t ruin a ticket. It also means it will be pretty tough for someone to rip up a ticket and throw it away.

This parking enforcement method will be used in the area generally bordered by First Avenue North on the north, 12th Street to the east, First Avenue South to the south and Sixth Street to the west.

Westergaard said anyone who has questions about the new system should contact him.

“I’m willing to work with anyone,” he said.

Use of the new system will have another benefit beyond fair and accurate enforcement, according to Amanda Holmes, the city’s communications manager.

“This gives us a good idea of how downtown parking is being utilized so we can make informed decisions based on data,” she said.

City officials plan to purchase some more equipment so that the parking enforcement work can be done more quickly by driving around downtown instead of walking.