Time could be nearly up on Fredonia’s venerable old parking meters, after the Board of Trustees moved to work with a company that uses an online platform to charge for parking.

The Fredonia Board of Trustees authorized Mayor Michael Ferguson to sign an agreement with HONKMobile USA Ltd. for a revamp of downtown parking fee collection.

The authorization resolution passed 4-1 this week, with Trustee Michelle Twichell voting “no.”

HONKMobile USA Ltd. is the American arm of Toronto-based HONK, a company that works with municipalities to install parking systems which revolve around cellular phones and QR codes. Signs replace parking meters and the signs contain information on how to pay for parking spaces through use of a cell phone and the Internet.

The agreement lets HONK charge the village $50 per month per parking zone for use of their services. The size and location of the zones are not specified, but are intended to be in downtown Fredonia.

HONK will also apparently get to charge a 5% “base fee” and a 2.9% credit fee on each transaction, according to the resolution.

Trustee Ben Brauchler asked if the village would be setting new parking rates to go along with the program. Ferguson sort of downplayed the resolution in his answer.

“This is merely a start in negotiations with (HONK). We’re not creating new zones, there will be signs where meters currently are, so we’re not taking away parking opportunities,” the mayor said. “There’s also free parking (in the municipal lots)… and side road parking would remain the same. So this is just taking (it) to the next level of negotiating, so we can determine what those costs may be.”

HONK offered a presentation about their product at a previous Board of Trustees workshop. Twichell’s husband, Mark, subsequently disparaged mobile payment systems like that of HONK in comments from the audience. He said it discriminated against people who do not have, or have simply forgotten, cell phones.