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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-12-06 Parking Commission Minutes Bozeman Parking Commission Meeting October 12, 2006 Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Chris Pope Larry Bowman Pam Bryan Paul Burns City Staff in Attendance: Laurae Clark, Treasurer James Goehrung, Superintendent of Facilities Rich McLane, Police Lieutenant Chris Kukulski, City Manager Stuart Bernard, Deputy City Clerk Guests in Attendance: Thomas Mosser, Business Owner, Developer Ken Glynn, Luminous Digital Media 0:09:11 [ 9:06:01] 1.) Call to Order Chris Pope called the meeting to order and reviewed the agenda items. Ken Glynn of Luminous Digital media introduced himself. Chris asked for a copy of everything they have been filming. 0:11:32 Approval of Minutes The minutes from September 14th were discussed. The spelling of Ellie Staley's name was noted and corrected. A discussion ensued regarding Thomas Mosser's apology regarding Luminous Digital Media's presence at the meeting. It was agreed that the minutes would reflect that he apologized for the "misunderstanding" not "misrepresentation". Paul Burns moved to approve the minutes with those changes. Larry seconded the motion. The minutes were approved. 0:14:45 2.) On the Street Rich McLane stated that he reviewed the boot ordinance and overall it is sound, but he had a few operational adjustments he would like to have made before it is approved. Rich will try to bring in a boot to show the parking commission at a future meeting. He shared that the new parking control officer had quit and would be done as of October 20th--the job was too physically demanding for her. He has a couple of applications one for full time and one for part time that he will be interviewing immediately. Any type of assistance in communicating the need for parking control presence downtown would be appreciated. Rich gave a breakdown of how many tickets had been written in the past six weeks, and gave an update on the abandoned vehicle process. Chris asked if the abandoned vehicles were in the scope of the parking commission. It was confirmed that they are not, however the employee who handles those is shared with the parking commission, and that may change as we get the boot program up and running. Paul Burns asked if our handhelds had a scofflaw list. They do not. We can search our AS400 for the multiple offenders, but the handhelds will not alert the officer to that out in the field. The handhelds can search the license plate numbers for multiple tickets. Paul stated if you have continuity in the parking officers they will learn the problem cars and areas. Constant turnover is a problem. Rich agreed and stated that at $10.00/per hour it is impossible to hire long-term employees, especially adding in the physical elements of the position. Chris P. suggested that maybe it is time for the Parking Commission to try and hire employees for these position outside the Police Dept. There are some very angry business owners who are extremely upset to be paying $30.00 for a permit to park when so many others are parking for free because there is no enforcement. There needs to be some discussion about other options available to the Parking Commission for parking enforcement. Pam agreed to do some research on how Helena or other Commissions do their hires. Chris Kukulski reminded them that these employees are part of a bargaining unit and we would have to see what the law will allow us to do. Can that relationship be changed? Or, can we work within that relationship. Rich concluded that after 4 weeks of advertising he has one application for full time and one application for part time. We just aren't getting much interest in the position. 0:35:50 3.) Garage Project Update James handed out a memorandum that went out to all the principle partners of the parking garage, which included an email response from Ryan Hammond who is with the Department of Transportation and provided comments regarding our project and Environmental Assessment. Overall, we have been given the green light with the project and to proceed with the Environmental Assessment. We are hoping to have the Environmental Assessment completed by the 1st part of November. There is a 30-day review on our end and then a 30-day review by the Fed's. But we are still shooting for a January bid time with a spring construction start date. We have the traffic plan updated and the federal requirement for the civil rights and disadvantaged business taken care of. We have to get the Finance Dept up and trained on the "Team" program, which is a way for us to communicate and submit claims. He stated that the biggest thing he needs to explain in the report is why the site was selected for the project. He is very optimistic on the project at this point. The details of the architectural plan, which includes the striping and signing for the lot, will be submitted to the City's Planning Dept for review and comment. The equipment for the garage will be finalized soon--we are most likely looking at a price increase. Chris Pope asked if anyone had a sense of when our bid was last adjusted for inflation and increasing costs of materials. James stated the last time it was updated was in March or before. It will be updated one last time for the bid document in late November-December. 0:42:10 4.) TIF Funding Update Chris reported that Mae Nan has stated that their will not be any legislative changes to the TIF formula, so the TIF issues we had been discussing have for the time being gone away. 0:42:50 [ 7:35:37] Parking Lots James gave an update on some other lot related items. The contractor will now clean the sidewalks of snow in addition to the lots--so there will be a slight increase of snow removal costs. The bike rack in the lot on Mendenhall & Willson has never been used, so we will be moving that rack to another City property. Chris P. stated that he hates to see bike racks being pulled out of lots. James mentioned that Karen, the parking patrol officer, had reported that her biggest problem downtown with enforcement was with the Auto repair dealership using the City lots for storage. It took a tremendous amount of her time to monitor. 0:45:58 [ 9:06:15] 5.) Willson/Mendenhall Lots applications update Chris Kukulski presented his draft memorandum for the City Commission regarding the Willson/Mendenhall Lot that will be presented the following Monday. In brief, simply exchanging parking spaces for parking spaces is not ideal. An appraisal must be obtained and utilized during the process, though it doesn't have to be done at the front end. The process lays out 30 days for advertising, 30 days for review of the proposals, and 15 days to present it to the City Commission with a recommendation. A development agreement will ensure that the developer is committed and will perform. The Parking Commissions role will be to assist City Staff with the review of the proposals and make the recommendation to the City Commission. Chris K. went to the TIF Board and asked for their input on this process, and received nothing. 1:09:04 [ 7:40:39] 6.) Signage for Lots -- Initial discussion Chris P. reported that the downtown partnership is working on a new logo that could tie in with the parking commission. At this point the process has stalled out, so it has not progressed. He may ask Rob Pertzborn to report to us at the next meeting on the status of this project. 1:11:58 [ 7:26:10] 7.) Board membership Stuart Bernard, Deputy City Clerk reported that on Monday night Lisa Danzl-Scott should be approved. Phillip Hawkins also applied, and he needs some direction from the board on that application. Chris P. feels that he is hearing at the City Commission meetings, though doesn't agree with it, that the downtown folks are not being represented on this Parking Commission board. He feels that we need to strengthen this board with a downtown Bozeman person to help eliminate this view. He has put in a call to First Security Bank and hopes to have a name of someone within a few days. Larry stated that he would like to suggest Jim Brown. He is a downtown business owner. Stuart stated that the ordinance prefers, but does not require, that people affected by the TIF district be appointed to the board. Pam stated that possibly someone from an architectural firm might be a good choice. Paul thought Jim Brown might be preferred because he is a retailer. Larry commented that he would like to recommend that the City Commission not appoint anyone else to the board yet until the board has had time to research other opportunities due to the fact that they would like to have someone on the board that has a presence and commitment to downtown. Chris will put a short memo together to that effect to the Commission. Paul Burns agreed to ask Jim Brown to put in an application, and he would follow up to the members as to the outcome of that discussion. Chris stated that he had put a call in to First Security Bank, and they may find an applicant there as well. Right now, they are casting for interest--the more applicants the better. 1:24:25 [ 7:41:32] 8.) New Business/Old Business Chris P. stated that he and Paul went through a quick meeting regarding operations and maintenance of the Garage. He felt that the commission should split into two committees one for Operations and one for long-range Planning--a standing committee. He would like to link the facilities management plan to the general idea of how it fits into a strategic plan. He has approached the TIF and will approach the BID again to ask for their participation in a downtown development plan. Larry suggested that Paul Reichert should be approached to be on the Parking Commission or as a staff person to manage or consult on the Garage. It was agreed that that was an excellent idea. Laurae reported that we have 3 applications for the Parking Clerk position and will be interviewing later today and tomorrow morning. And, that we are testing minute’s software today. The meeting has been recorded and then we can go back and polish the minutes easily after the fact. I don't have to interpret and record everything on the spot and risk missing something important. The software requires a USB key that costs $1500. We are currently borrowing Brit's until we ensure that we want to continue to pursue this option. 1:37:11 [ 7:41:28] Motion & Vote to Approve EAL’s Larry moved to approve the EAL's and Paul seconded the motion. EAL's are approved. 1:37:27 [ 7:59:30] 9.) Public Comment Chris P. asked for public comment, and there was none. 1:37:33 [ 8:02:58] 10.) Adjourn Chris P. adjourned the meeting at 8:55 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Laurae Clark Treasurer