The Cranston City Council has named an overnight parking commission and a date for the first meeting.

On Monday, Council President Michael Farina appointed Council Majority Leader Christopher Paplauskas to chair the committee, as well as selecting Citywide Ken Hopkins and Ward 1 Rep. Steve Stycos as members. Farina also named himself ex-officio in case there is a tie that needs breaking.

Director of Administration Robin Muksian announced the three administration appointees for the commission: Fire Chief William McKenna, Sergeant James Needham of the traffic division and Traffic Manager John Corso.

The seven-member group will have its first meeting after the Finance Committee adjourns on Monday, Sept. 18 in the Council Chambers.

An ordinance that the Council struck down on Monday will serve as a baseline for the committee as it addresses the issue of overnight parking. The ordinance would have allowed any resident without a driveway to qualify for an overnight permit to park on the street.

Stycos, the sponsor of the ordinance, saw his legislation passed in committee barring an update from the administration on how many homes would be affected by the law.

Muksian had bad news when she stepped to the podium.

“I tried to ascertain how many homes there were without driveways,” Muksian said. “We just logistically do not have a way of knowing that. It’s not something the tax assessor can pull up. I did try to get the numbers and there’s just absolutely no way to ascertain that.

“I believe anecdotally there are very few people who have no driveway. It would be manageable in the short term to handle that one-on-one.”

One of those affected, Thomas Flynn, has been attending Council meetings since January to plead his case. He found some common ground with the city, though, in advocating for a case-by-case basis.

“If some person in the City of Cranston gets a ticket because of the fact they have two places to park their car and they have three [cars] let the police do their jobs and they can protest to the Council or the police that they do not have a place to park,” Flynn said.

Muksian said that could very well be one of the functions of the commission, to handle complaints as they come in.

What the committee will do, though, is review the failed ordinance to see what can be salvaged. It was struck down, 7-2, before Paplauskas proposed tabling it and sending it to the commission. That passed 6-3.

In other news, the Council recognized Cranston as the newest HeartSafe Community. Cranston becomes the 16th municipality to join the ranks of communities that are working to prevent the occurrence of and improve survival rates following cardiac events.

The body later unanimously approved the appointment of Melissa Larsen, Esq. as a municipal court judge.

The Council also presented citations to a couple of outgoing interns who worked in the finance department, Oluwaseun Akinnusotu and Michael Daou.