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Home My WebLink About12-11-06 Parking Commission Minutes Bozeman Parking Commission Meeting December 11, 2006 Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Chris Pope Lisa Danzl-Scott Paul Burns Steve Schnee Larry Bowman City Staff in Attendance: Laurae Clark, Treasurer James Goehrung, Superintendent of Facilities Katie Maroney, Parking Clerk Anna Rosenberry, Finance Director Guests in Attendance: Dennis Burns, Carl Walker Inc. Dick Prugh Bob Lashaway Action Items:  Find out Helena, Billings, and Missoula garages rates for parking garages.  Identify 2 or 3 top notch firms that could manage our garage. 0:03:30 [16:18:18] Call to Order Chris stated that his goal is to create a plan/manual on how this Garage will work. 0:06:50 [16:23:34] The Parking Technology Revolution by Dennis Burns, Carl Walker Inc. Dennis Walker presented the Parking Technology Revolution, including Parking Technology Planning, Management Strategies & New Technologies. He gave an overview of the Technology Planning Principles--balancing various ways to manage on the street parking and parking enforcement systems. He described Facility Access & Revenue Control--various methods by which you can manage your Garages or lots. He stated that the big question is what technology does Bozeman choose? You don't want to over invest or under invest. Correct planning can increase efficiency. You need to define your business objectives and find the technology that best meets those needs. It is important to understand your customers. What are the City’s goals? What is the balance that will work for both groups? Dennis reviewed a number of technology options that are available now: License Plate Recognition Systems (This may be good for Bozeman!), Smart cards, Pay-on-Foot Systems with Credit Card & Debit Cards, parking meters--single space and multi-space meters, in car meters, pay by cell-phone, and sensors in the pavement. He explained more in detail the Pay-on-Foot systems that Bozeman is looking at. He stated that you must have them at good locations and enough machines so that you don't have lines. RFID/AVI (Automated vehicle identification) Cards are for ease of use for permit customers--a monthly permit card. Web-based software--manage parking from your web-browser. The systems send messages out to someone whenever a problem might be occurring--problem with a gate or machine. It can schedule routine maintenance. Do we need a downtown strategic plan? Do we need to track use of our parking spaces? What is our parking utilization of downtown? Can we make informed decisions for our district without this data? Dennis felt that it would be in our best interest to gather this data. He presented some case studies. The Boise Redevelopment Plan--In Boise, parking led the development downtown. The goals were to preserve the long-term health of the downtown. The developments were mixed use. They had similar goals to those that are in Bozeman. In Boulder, CO, they identified 9 Guiding Principles to use in making their decisions.  Balanced Access  Customer Service  Safe-well maintained facilities  Fiscal responsibility & accountability  Respond to diverse customers/citizens  Fair & equitable enforcement  Public education of mission & goals  Promote good urban design  Invest in economic vitality One problem he pointed out in Boise was that one group runs the garage and the City runs the on street program, they don't work together real well. Fort Collins is similar to Bozeman on a larger scale--population of 135,000 plus a University of 28,000. They have on street, off street, public & private spaces. They use the License Plate Recognition System--it is efficient electronic chalking with a GPS locator. The also use a scofflaw list. This allows escalating fine structures, but requires data in the field. They use a rolling 180 day period. The fine amount is based on the number of previous citations It was noted that you want a balanced access for cars, pedestrians, bikes and transit. 1:55:29 [16:23:06] Lunch Break (Informal discussion) 2:11:05 [16:26:29] Carl Walker, Inc. -- What they can do for us! Discussion resumed about how the Garage was designed to this point. Dennis suggested we have some escape lanes designed into the garage since we are planning a pay on foot program. Someone will surely drive out to leave and not have paid. He presented his Parking Management Plan Proposal. Scope of Services: 1. Dennis would review the proposed design to identify potential design and or operational issues in light of the final selection of an operating methodology and equipment selection. Turn radiuses must be right. You can’t recover from that if it is done incorrectly. 2. Gather & review available current operations and management information, data, statistics related to current operations & management. Review the market conditions and current pricing. Action item: (Find out Helena, Billings, and Missoula garages rates for parking garages.) 3. What is the mix of spaces--transient vs. permit? What are the hours of the garage? What is our method of operation? Who will be doing the maintenance and management of the Garage? Dennis recommends that we consider hiring a private parking management service to set up our system. You sign a management agreement with a company who has experience in this area. Public Parking Northwest (based out of Seattle) is one company that does this. Self-Operation--the owner of the Garage operates the program itself. You may have a parking director. Out-Sourced Management Contract--owner contracts a private parking management firm to handle day-to-day operations and maintenance. We pay them a fixed fee and/or a percentage of gross revenues. Professional Service Model--smaller more professional level Operations Group is maintained within the municipal structure in conjunction with the outsourcing of day-to- day operations. Action--Locate 2 or 3 top notch firms that could manage our garage? 4. Based on the method of operation, you need to determine the equipment and supply needs. Action--Review our equipment and prepare an equipment specification sheet. 4. Facility Operations Manual--detailing all aspects of parking operations; job duties; facility information; cash handling responsibilities; monthly parker procedures; maintenance responsibilities; customer service; employee training, evaluating, and progressive discipline program; staff recruitment and training--writing job descriptions. 5. Develop a preliminary parking budget & a 10 year proforma based on operating assumptions. Set aside funds for long-term maintenance. Develop parking reports that are useful. Provide a template for an Annual Parking Report. 6. Provide guidelines for maintaining the parking garage in a serviceable condition, including; cleaning, striping, structural system & safety checks. Evaluate the proposed fees. 7. Marketing & Education Plan 8. Construction Phase Plan--Curing of the cement is key! You must have someone overseeing that the contractor is doing his job correctly. 9. Facility Signage--Entrance signage and signage around town pointing to the garage so people can find the garage. 10. Provide a template for an Annual Parking Report. 3:05:51 [16:18:28] Work Session Review, Public Comment and Closing Remarks Dennis stated that the ideal scenario would be to set up a budget for an on-call service with Dennis--only pay for what you need. Define it on a task order basis and prioritize the to-do list.  We need an economic assessment of our downtown.  We need to tackle our enforcement problem.  Identify expenses of the Garage.  Public Communications with the downtown retailers--DBA newsletter, web page etc.  Review the type of equipment we have identified. Chris stated that the Parking Commission will need to split into committee groups. This is going to begin to consume a lot more of our time. Meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Laurae Clark, Treasurer