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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-09-14 Parking Commission MinutesBozeman Parking Commission Meeting July 9, 2014 7:30 a.m. City Hall Madison Room Parking Commissioners in Attendance: Ben Lloyd Chris Naumann Ryan Olson Dennis Bechtold Cyndy Andrus Ben Bennett 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 June 2014 minutes Ryan asked for a motion to approve the June 2014 minutes. Ben B motioned to approve the June 2014 minutes. Dennis seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously. V. Public Comment on non-agenda items – State name & address, limit comments to 3 min. None. VI. Adoption of the amended BPC Bylaws – ACTION Scott proposed changes to the Bylaws to be consistent in terminology and to make minor changes as recommended by the legal department and presented those changes to the BPC. Scott shared some of the changes; the document now is consistent in referring to the BPC not commission or board, and the board members are now consistently called Commissioners. The amendment also changes the membership of the Executive Committee to be the BPC Chair, BPC vice Chair and a Commissioner in good standing as appointed by the BPC. If approved by the BPC, the final document still needs to be presented to the City Commission to be reapproved. Scott asked the BPC to approve the Bylaws with an effective date of July 9, 2014. Ryan asked for a motion to approve. Chris motioned to approve the revised BPC Bylaws. Dennis seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously. VIII. The Future of Parking – (INFO) Scott stated that Chris, Ben B and he are meeting with Dennis Burns of Kimley Horn on July 10, 2014 to discuss the future of parking. Dennis told Scott that the BPC needs to figure out if the issue with parking is a 100 space problem or a 500 space problem etc. Are there issues with tourists parking or employees of the downtown district? Once these question type of questions have been answered it will be help the BPC to determine what direction we need to take to properly address the future of parking. Chris stated he would ask Dennis about including a plan for growth to the area in the master plan for parking. A realistic plan would go through 2020. Scott clarified that he has not actually hired Dennis for the job, but that he is just getting free advice from Dennis. Scott stated that another member from the BPC is more than welcome to attend the meeting on July 10th with Ben B, Chris and Scott, but it cannot be more than 3 as that would constitute a quorum. VII. Appointment of Executive Committee Member – ACTION Ben Bennett has volunteered to join the Executive Committee. Ryan asked for a motion to approve Ben B as the newest member to the Executive Committee. Dennis motioned to approve Ben B as the newest member to the Executive Committee. Chris seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously. IX. Manager’s Report Scott presented the financial report to the BPC. The FY2014 yearend final report may include some additional revenue and expenses that are not listed on the report currently; those will show on the final report presented at the next meeting. The FY14 report shows the parking garage permit revenue is 34% above budget. This number does not include the permits for the hotel projects, so this is very promising number. Citation revenue is also up compared to a year ago at this time and also higher than the budget. Scott stated that Laurae Clark and Brian LaMeres are working on cleaning up the refunds from ticket write offs. The financial report shows the operating expenses for several categories, including supplies, is over the budget which is to be expected with an increase in revenue. Approximately $20,000 was spent out of the Capital Reserve Account for the garage software and hardware upgrade done earlier this year. Scott was asked by the Executive Committee to create a policy on how the BPC allocates where net profit is allocated and designated for future use. Scott explained that the Parking Enterprise fund policy allocates profits into three different fiscal reserves. The first is the Capital Reserve fund, the Operating Reserve fund and the Long Term Maintenance Reserve fund, but does not define the allocation between the three funds. Cyndy asked Scott if funds could be transferred from one account to another if necessary. Scott said yes, but would require BPC action. There will be more discussion on this at a future meeting. Average Daily Entries and Revenue continue to track above the same period as last year. On the day of the first Music on Main in 2014, we had a new top 5 event for entries with 802 entries. The surface lot RFQ was sent out and noticed in the newspaper. Scott stated that there are several firms that he has been contacted by that are interested in working on the surface lots. More are expected. A review committee will be created to negotiate with the firm selected. The firm will also come to a BPC meeting and discuss their proposal for the lots and give the BPC a chance to ask questions and review the plan. Cyndy asked what lots will be done. Scott stated that the order has not been determined. The order will also depend on funding available but will be determined by the BPC in consultation with the firm selected. The TIF board has budgeted $250,000 to put towards improving a surface lots in each of the next two fiscal years. It is unknown how what portion of the overall costs this represents. Cyndy asked if we are planning on getting multiple bids for the project or just one and then starting the implementation. Chris stated that the firm will help the BPC to develop the overall plans for the lots, and then those plans will be sent out to bid. We expect to get multiple bids for the project and if they all come in too high, that the BPC has the option to wait. Chris stated that timing is everything, costs change based on time of year, so if it is more expensive in the summer then the BPC can hold until fall or spring. Scott will give an update on this at the August 2014 meeting. The Parking software upgrade is moving along at a good pace the Finance and Accounting department are working with Scott and are still trying to work out the kinks with the conversion. Scott stated that the Detention center crew is cleaning the East and West stair wells today (7/9/14). The 2014 downtown parking study will be conducted this month. The data collected from this study can be incorporated into the future of parking master plan when it is completed. The Etha hotel got another extension from the city Planning department. They now have until September 24th to pull their building permit. There will be a special BPC meeting on July 15th at 11:00am with Mark Aden, the parking garage engineer, and Dick Prugh, the parking garage architect. They are going to present their initial ideas for a roof at the parking garage. They will also be having a meeting to discuss the mapping of the cracks at the parking garage. Chuck Winn will be leading that discussion, and a representative from Morrison Maierle will also be in attendance. X. New business An email was sent to all City Commissioners requesting the creation of a new parking district surrounding the downtown core area. Scott explained to the person who sent the email that this process takes time and requires significant input from the City and the surrounding areas. Ryan is curious how far this district would go. Scott said that existing staff could cover a new district if the geographic area was limited both north to south and east to west. It would require further review to determine what that actual boundary could be. A parking study would need to be conducted to see what the traffic is like in the area. Staff is aware of parking availability problems on Willson, Tracy and Black Avenue mainly to the north of Main Street. The City Commission would have to give approval for any new district to be created. There does not need to be 100% participation, but the higher the majority of the folks signing the petition the better. Ryan wants to know if the BPC contacts the residents of that area or if they need to reach out to the BPC. Chris thinks we should send out the petition and see how many people sign it. Ben B said if we are going to ask the people of that area then we also need to include the surrounding areas. Ryan added that it's also a timing issue. Maybe a study of the congested area and the areas surrounding it should be completed. The study would show if this is an issue based on the construction going on and street closures or if it will be on on-going issue. Ryan suggested creating a letter notifying the residents that they can attend a BPC meeting to discuss the possibility of a parking district in the area. The BPC can conduct a study of the surrounding area as well and share the data at a future meeting. Scott stated that on Saturdays the parking garage hits the highest average revenue of the week; yet it was the second lowest average daily entries, which means the average people that parked in there stayed longer. XI. Adjournment Ryan adjourned the meeting at 8:45a.m. Respectfully Submitted Ashlie Portnell, Parking Clerk