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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-12-14 Parking Commission MinutesBozeman Parking Commission Meeting February 12, 2014 7:30 a.m. City Hall Commission Room Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Ben Lloyd Chris Naumann Ben Bennett Ryan Olson Pam Bryan Dennis Bechtold Cyndy Andrus City Staff in Attendance: Scott Lee, Parking Manager Laurae Clark, Treasurer Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk Guests in Attendance: None. Action Items: I. Call to order, 7:30 a.m. Ryan called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. II. Disclosures of Ex Parte Communication None. IV. Approval of January 2014 minutes Chris asked for a motion to approve the January 2014 minutes. Dennis motioned to approve the January 2014 minutes. Ben B seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously. VI. Manager’s Report (info) Scott stated that he has revised the January financials after being sent out to the BPC. Laurae, Brian, Bob and Scott met to discuss the process for transferring the citations from the handheld system to the Sungard system, which results in the breaking out citation revenue into two components: one is municipal fee (for the admin fee added to citations paid late) and the other is for the base citation revenue. Citation revenue has increased bacuase of the increase in the fine amount, and the proper transfer from one system to the other allowing for all parking revenue to be reported to the enterprise fund. When all is done, the number will change in the BPC favor (more revenue). Cyndy asked if this was a different problem then the other issue of having too much money. Scott said yes, this is an accounting issue. We dont know what portion is off. We are now getting 100% of the revenue from tickets issued by parking officers all the time, and 100% of the admin fees associated with all tickets written. Brian LaMeres will provide the BPC with a short written explanation about the factthis was just an accounting issue, and that it has been corrected, and the year to date numbers will reflect the proper balances, but the individual months may reflect some historical corrections and thus appear significantly different than expected. Ryan asked for an additional line item on the financials to break out this historical amount, Scott explained that at this time what would be too difficult to add because of the confusion with the financials, and the exact amount is not clear, but have been assured by the accounting department that it has been fixed going forward, but may take several months to ensure the historical amounts have been allocated correctly. Over $10,000.00 has been spent on snow plowing in December, with no bills recieved for January yet. There will most likely be similar numbers to December. This will Exceed the budget allocation for the fiscal year. The stats for the parking garage show there was an increase in permits, and there were no new events. The average daily revenue was again above the January 2013 levels. Trends remain the same-up 55 in average daily entries. There was a 17% increase from last year. Ben B suggested that maybe we can share this Alpha Graphics in regards to their advertising in the garage. Cyndy wanted to add is at the goal meeting-pushing for new garage looking ahead keep it in mind. What is the BPC next move? We might be ready, where would the new garage go? Chris mentioned taking this trending numbers average of the annual usage. Replicate it out know what max capacity for the garage is, project out two years and see what the numbers would be. It would show to the public if we are ready for a new parking garage or not. It was suggested to have a press release about how the garage is going and when it would happen. Ben L said the MSU is really considering putting in a parking garage. The TIF board assigned the MOU. Ryan and Chris authorized the $10,000.00 that we will get each year for that. The BPC is so appreciative of that. Two new streets have requested to be added to the MSU district. Both streets are on the east side. Both requestors have been told no change will happen before the end of the school year, but we are gathering data now to make recommendation to BPC and then the City Commission. Robert Coffin is retiring on February 25th, 2014. He is currently only working two days a week. Jackie Woosley has said to Scott that she plans to retire before the end of the summer. Scott is in the process of creating a job description. The Executive Committee discussed the janitorial contract for the parking garage. Scott would like to split the contract into two parts. One for the garage part and one for the bus stop area. There are different needs for each, so we should bid as seperate. HRDC should reimburse the BPC for the costs of what is being paid for the contract related to the bus stop cleaning. Cyndy asked if all the lights were operational. Scott said not at this time. About 10-12 lights were replaced a few months ago, but no new additional fixtures have been ordered since then. Chuck Winn and Natalie Meyer have asked to not replace additional lights until the City's energy audit is completed. Audit will determine what fixtures would work and what would qualify for rebates. What is going to be the most efficiant light to use. Ben B wanted to add to that, he hears from tenants in the garage about the general upkeep of the garage,and broken gates, lights burnt out and the elevators being dirty. There is some concern about the publics overall perception of the parking garage. Ben suggested that with the new contract to maybe give more effort to spiff it up again. Even now just purchasing a few new lights to brighten the place back up a bit would help alot. Chris told scott to stalk up on some gates as well and keep those on hand, instead of using handmade gates out of wood and duct tape. Cyndy stated that if we cant keep this garage up to par, then how will it be possible to maintain a second garage. Those things need to be taken into consideration. Scott suggested we need to be clear about signage, and that for security purposes we are not going to display that we have cameras there for the public to know about. We would post that if you brake a gate you will be fined for cost to purchase a new one. Pam asked what the legalities are about having cameras because of the prior discussion when Paul was here about having them but deciding not to use them due to the fact that then the BPC would be liable. Chris stated that the difference between this conversation and the one with the previous Parking Manager is this system is going to be City wide not just at the garage. It would only be posted in the stairwells VII. Model Rules for Procedures (Aimee’s memo) – (ACTION) Scott is requesting that this not be an action item at this time. He wants to have open discussion at this time and come back next month with a resolution to bless for any changes to the By-Laws. This Item is postponed until the March meeting. VIII. March BPC Meeting (delayed 1 week) March 19th due to spring break (info) The BPC agreed to meet on March 19th due to spring break. IX. Notification of Snow Plow Schedule (follow up to public comment) – (info) The Streets department is donating their street sweeper to the BPC. The sweeper will be kept inside the parking garage, Scott stated that the City Maintenance department will have access to it and will be able to keep up on the maintenance of the garage. This is cost effective for the BPC because money will not be spent to hire someone to do it. Scott also spoke to the Streets department and Public Works department about advising City residence of snow removal. Scott was contacted a few times in regards to this because people were getting parking tickets for not moving their vehicles. Residents stated that if they had notice of the snow removal that would help. X. FY2015 Budget – (info) Scott is presenting an overview of the Budget to the City Commission on February 25th. Scott is working with Brian LaMeres on this. Scott would like Robert Coffins position to be full time postion, so that will need to be included into the budget. Scott is going to revamp the job discriptions. The final document will be presented to the BPC at the April meeting. XI. New business Ryan Feddema, the owner of Fin restaurant located on Main street downtown spoke to Scott about having valet parking in front of his restaurant between the hours of 5pm to 9pm. Ryan was wondering if they could use the loading zone spaces for that. Ryan also called First Security Bank to enquire about using a couple spaces in one of their lots. Chris stated that the spaces in front of his restaurant are not really loading zone spaces, and because the restaurant is located mid block, that it would not be ideal to have valet parking. Chris said in the past businesses have put cones out with signs on them indicating valet parking for that business. There would need to be some guidelines for them to follow. Ben B agrees with that too. Scott to ask the owner to provide more information and details about the plan before it can really be discussed at the BPC and Scott to explain the owner that we may consider this as a pilot project,after we get additional details. If additional information is provided, it will be put on a future agenda for discussion. Chris stated that Mendenhall is getting milled, overlaid and restriped this summer. He was looking into adding a bike lane to the south side of the street. It is just too narrow of a street to do. 100 parking spaces would be removed to add a bike lane. At this time that is too many needed spaces to get rid of. Along with restriping the road, crosswalks will be added to each intersection. Chris stated that in 2015 a stop light will be added to the intersection of Black and Mendenhall. Street scapes will be created too. Chris added that Scott needs to cap the total number of spaces in the parking garage what are leased. The executive committee will meet in a couple of weeks, they will look at that and come back as an action item for the BPC to bless. The last item Chris wanted to talk about is having officer Daniel Tolar create a map of downtown, showing where all the ADA spaces, Loading zone spaces and 15 minute spaces are located. Having a map will make it easy for the BPC to take future requests from businesses about adding those kinds of spaces to their locations. XII. Adjournment Chris adjourned the meeting at 9:00 a.m. Respectfully Submitted Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk