HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-14-17 BPC Minutes FinalParking Commission Meeting
BOZEMAN PARKING COMMISSION
AGENDA
Thursday, September 14, 2017, 7:30 AM
A. Call to Order - 7:30 AM – Madison Room, City Hall 121 North
Rouse
Committee Member - Pamela Bryan: Present
Committee Member - Kelly Wiseman : Absent
Committee Member - Ben Lloyd: Present
Committee Member - Chris Naumann: Present
Committee Member - James Ness: Present
Deputy Mayor - Cyndy Andrus: Present
Staff - Chuck Winn: Present
Staff - Ed Meece: Present
Staff - Laurae Clark: Present
Staff - Kate Hayden: Present
B. Changes to the Agenda
Action Items 1 And 2 were flipped in terms of order of discussion.
C. Approval of August 2017 minutes (See Attachment Exhibit
1)
Committee Member - Pamela Bryan: Motion
Committee Member - Ben Lloyd: 2nd
Committee Member - Pamela Bryan: Approve
Committee Member - Kelly Wiseman : Absent
Committee Member - Ben Lloyd: Approve
Committee Member - Chris Naumann: Approve
Committee Member - James Ness: Approve
Deputy Mayor - Cyndy Andrus: N\A
Staff - Chuck Winn: N\A
Staff - Ed Meece: N\A
Staff - Laurae Clark: N\A
Staff - Kate Hayden: N\A
D. Public Comment – Members of the audience or their agent
may be invited to present testimony or evidence. To be recognized,
each person desiring to give testimony or evidence shall step forward
and, after being recognized, give their name and address for the record.
The presiding officer may establish a time frame for each public
comment but in no case shall such timeframe be less than three (3)
minutes per speaker. The presiding officer may lengthen or shorten the
time allotted for public testimony.
Cory Lawrence, 24 West Mendenhall; commented on the status of his requisition of
the Old Armory building. The whole process is admittedly going slower then he would like but he is in partnership with a lender and is awaiting movement from them.
He expressed his appreciation for the parking commission.
E. Action Items
1. Discuss/Approve/Deny recommendation from the Parking Program Manager to award bid and/or contracts to T2 Systems for parking garage,
enforcement, citation, and appeals equipment/software, and related
business services and processing according to their final response to the
Request for Proposal which closed on May 16, 2017. (See Attachment
Exhibit 3).
Ed Meece, Parking Program Manager, gave an overview regarding the need for new
software and the RFP Process. In February and March of 2017 the city began to look
for a new system for managing the parking in Bozeman. Ed with a diverse committee began to look at this from a technology and working standpoint collaborating with
finance, treasury, parking, IT and administration; subsequently drafting a request for
proposal. The city received two proposals and selected T2 Systems Inc. (T2). We then began working through the scoping process to compile a new cost estimate which is
being presented for approval.
Commissioner Bryan asked for clarification for what was included in the budget request. It was clarified that the surface lot equipment were not a part of this original
quote. The equipment for the surface lots would be a future budget request of approximately $100,000, but would easily integrate with the software.
John Couvrette, Regional Vice President and Lauren Santillano, Regional Sales
Manager from T2 were introduced. Lauren stated that this is a very new system for Bozeman but not new to them and that there are similar systems that they have
installed all over the country even though they have the ability to curtail this to
Bozeman’s specific and individual needs.
John presented LPR (license plate recognition) technology and explained its
capabilities for parking enforcement and for the garage. It has great vehicle counting
capabilities. He spoke of a specific community in California where they did a study on counting the turnover in the cars in the downtown area. They were trying to decide
how important parking meters were for their community. What they found in this study
was that the license plates that they saw coming and going in the downtown area were
for the most part brand new plates to the community, therefore showing a high turnover.
The results of this study was that meters for this area were more than likely not needed.
Commissioner Naumann was impressed with how this will give us data every day, rather than 2-3 times per year like we are currently getting through manual counts. All
this data will be helpful to our city.
Deputy Police Chief, Rich McLane, asked how this system handles obscure plates; snow, bike racks, and other things on the back of cars that may be blocking the view
of the license plate from the LPR cameras. John clarified that the LPR can frequently
identify a license plate # by only recognizing 3 of the numbers and stated that T2 technologies read capture rate is about 90-95%.
Ed stated that he was not concerned about the 5% that was not recognized, and that
the time and money we would spend on getting these plates recognized would not be worth the money gained from catching those plates.
Commissioner Bryan asked about snow on license plates. Ed responded that in his research he spoke to snow communities and this did not really traditionally cause a problem for them and that we were only looking at 5 to 12 days a year on average that
this could be a potential problem.
A fairly lengthy conversation ensued on front and back license plates and the capture of both. Front license plates are not required in some states and a law was passed
this spring that does not require license plates on some vehicles if they were originally not meant to have one.
Assistant City Manager, Chuck Winn requested an effort to get cameras to do both
front and back plate upon entering the garage. Lauren said she would do some checking on this aspect but that she was sure that it could be done, though it would
require the purchase of additional cameras that were not included in the current quote.
The issue of premium spaces in the basement and keeping those premium spaces was addressed. A second set of cameras and signage should be able to control that.
Deputy Mayor, Cyndy Andrus, asked how this all fits into the strategic planning for the
Parking Commission. Ed stated that this was right in line with the plan. The data collections would be much improved, and it would be able to adapt to future changes
as Bozeman evolves.
Deputy Mayor Andrus then asked about the hotel solutions. Hotels will not need any additional equipment. They will be able to enter their customer’s license plates into a
portal and issue them virtual permits.
She then asked about the technology and possibility of losing data. John clarified that T2 is a tier 1 certified company. In three years they have had no outages. Everything
is backed up regularly and they perform routine maintenance.
Commissioner Ben Lloyd asked if the cost of removing the gates and equipment was
included in this cost estimate. It was clarified that it was not, those costs would come
out of the operating budget. However, the cost estimate does include a contingency of $43,000 that may not be needed.
Commissioner Bryan made a motion to award the Bid to T2, which was seconded by
by Commissioner Lloyd.
Deputy Mayor Andrus asked a clarifying question regarding the potential addition of
extra cameras and removing the gates and equipment.
Committee Member - Pamela Bryan: Motion
Committee Member - Ben Lloyd: 2nd
Committee Member - Pamela Bryan: Approve
Committee Member - Kelly Wiseman : Absent
Committee Member - Ben Lloyd: Approve
Committee Member - Chris Naumann: Approve
Committee Member - James Ness: Approve
Deputy Mayor - Cyndy Andrus: N\A
Staff - Chuck Winn: N\A
Staff - Ed Meece: N\A
Staff - Laurae Clark: N\A
Staff - Kate Hayden: N\A
Lauren stated that it will take 150-200 days to implement and complete the project—
6-7 months. Ed stated that it will take a minimum of 30 days to begin the implementation process, approximately mid to late October.
Ed explained that mobile LPR would be used for parking enforcement only. The only
data we will receive is when we get a hit and need to issue a ticket. This is no different than what we do today with our current enforcement policy. We will not
have any more access to information that we currently have.
Deputy Mayor Andrus complimented the collaboration that occurred with all the
various people and departments.
Commissioner Naumann reminded everyone that this is the same software that MSU
and Missoula uses as well. This will make collaboration much easier.
John also added that there is an online T2 community of approximately 1100
members. You can ask questions and get reports etc. from others the group. Commissioner Ness asked about return on investment data. How long will it take for
the efficiencies and new revenues to pay off the outlay of capital? John stated that there are many different ways to measure this, so there is no one answer. Ed stated
we will need to identify the metrics that are important to us and track this.
Efficiencies should increase with the LPR system. Revenues may increase as well because you can cover more territory in a shorter amount of time.
2. Discuss draft ‘City Facility Parking Lease Policy’; with revisions
made since July 17th meeting of the Parking Commission. (See
Attachment Exhibit 2)
A discussion on parking leases was introduced by Commissioner Naumann. This is a
new policy regarding how we deal with long term lease agreements. We need to effectively tie the development process and the long term lease agreements. Lease limits were started in 2014. It had never before became a formal policy and is tied back
to UBC requirements. This puts all the developers on the same playing field.
Ed reviewed the changes and explained it is still a work in progress and hopes to have it completed and back in front of the Commission in October. Rick Williams, our
consultant for the strategic plan, will assist in determining how many leases we can sell while taking into account hotel uses which are mostly in the evenings, and other factors.
Ed requested that the Commission send him any questions or comments to help refine
this policy.
Chris noted no public comment on this issue.
F. Parking Program Manager Report (See Attachment Exhibit 4)
Ed reviewed the major issues from the managers’ report. They have been working
hard on prepping for snow. In the garage they are getting railings built and cameras ready for installation. They noted cracks in the ceiling and there has a big push to
get fire extinguishers checked and installed properly.
Commissioner Naumann reported on issues with cleanliness and transient problems in the stairwells. It was determined that the deep cleaning that was done 2-3 times a
year will now be done once a month. He also brought up the idea of cleaning the decks. When the fire department is flushing their systems they could also flush off the decks?
Rocky mountain security has helped in dealing with transients and repeat offenders have been talked to.
Ed mentioned revenues were at 21% for the year. Staffing fluctuation has contributed
to expenditures being slightly up, as well as new signs that were purchased and striping on the enforcement vehicles.
G. New Business.
It was noted that a new member was needed on the board. Please help us fill that
spot.
There was mention that there could possibly be a special meeting requested if the
negotiations with T2 require it.
H. Adjournment
The next Bozeman Parking Commission meeting will be held October 12th, 2017, 7:30 am, at City Hall.
Bozeman Parking Commission meetings are open to all members of the
public. If you have a disability that requires assistance please contact
our ADA Coordinator, Chuck Winn 582-2307.