Parking Commission

PARKING COMMISSION MINUTES DATE: June 18th, 2020 (rescheduled from June 16th, 2020 MEETING LOCATION: 4th FLOOR CITY HALL MAYOR’S CONFERENCE ROOM CITY HALL, 1 PUBLIC SQUARE CLARKSVILLE, TN. 37040 I. CALL TO ORDER/QUORUM CHECK The meeting was called to order by Ryan Bowie. Members present were Morgan Knight and Carol Clark via Google Meet. Councilman Holleman arrived at 3:47 via Google Meet. II. ADOPTION OF MINUTES: May 19th, 2020 Mrs. Clark made a motion to approve the minutes for May 19th—Mr. Bowie seconded-all members voted in favor. III. GUEST(S) Michael Palmore-Premier Parking IV. DEPARTMENT REPORT Financial Report: The financial report was provided by Regina Hampton. Mrs. Hampton reminded the Commission that they received March financials in their email—but they are also included in their packets for today. The report was given for July 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020—revenues are $390,188—this is down $19,792 compared to last year. Expenses are $302,131 which is up $63,285. This is due to the repairs at the Cumberland Garage Lot and part of Mrs. Hampton and Mr. Egbert’s salary was charged to Parking over the past year (last year there were no parking manager salary expenses after October). Operating profit is at $88,056—after deprecation—there is a net profit of $32,639. Month to date, revenues are $17,849; expenses are $15,364; after deprecation we have a loss for the month of $5,431. Smart Meter Report: Jon Flores provided an update on the smart meters. Mr. Flores reported that the report he is providing is extremely current—as this is his last week with Parking. Mr. Flores reported that he’s been working to get all of our resources out in the field. There are 129 active sensors out of 200—42 of those are dopplers; 18 of the 42 are very erratic—they are in the field and we could start a support ticket with IPS so we have a record of them and they can be tracked. We have 87 in ground sensors—a batch of them were installed 5 years ago—they will absolutely fail by the end of the year—18 of those will be at the end of life by year end. Only 69 of our inground sensors will work by year end; best case scenario—111 total sensors will be enforceable by year end—worse case—93 will be enforceable. Our focus has been moving sensors to meters with more traffic for more revenue. V. NEW BUSINESS Time Limit for Curbside Pickup: We discussed last meeting keeping the curbside spaces—however, they are very hard to enforce with no time limit. Mrs. Hampton asked the Commission to consider a time limit on these spaces for enforcement. Mr. Bowie suggested the same as the loading zone time limit—Ms. Knight agreed that 15 minutes was appropriate. Mrs. Clark was concerned with upsetting customers if the merchant was unable to get them their order in that amount of time. Mr. Bowie made a motion for a 15 minute time limit. Mrs. Clark seconded the motion and all were in favor. Late Fees on Citations Issued during Pandemic: Mrs. Hampton mentioned that last month we wanted to waive late fees during the Pandemic. If we waive the fees from April 15th thru May 31st we would be looking at waving $3,280 in late fees. Mrs. Matta said the commission does not have authority to waive any fees. Mrs. Hampton can make a recommendation to Mrs. Matta who after exhausting all options can waive the fee. The commission can void one by one if they appeal. The others can be sent to Mrs. Matta with an explanation of why and what happened. She will get with Mr. Baker to see if she has the authority to waive. Only one person at this time has requested relief. Mrs. Clark believes that we should cover this individually and not make a mass decision. Extending the three hour limit at meters: Mr. Palmore reiterated that Premier is not here to disrupt what we have or make things difficult on merchants and residents. They are simply making suggestions/recommendations that will help the current process. Right now only 58% of our meters are enforceable by the end of the year only 45%. 110 meters out of 200 will not be enforceable. That will cost $33,000 to purchase what is needed. This will be spent every 5 years, if not sooner, due to the sensor's lifespan. This is spending money on equipment. We have issues with new equipment. This does not include the $2,000 a month data fees and materials (batteries, etc.). Jon is leaving and he works on the meters 15-20 hours a week, we need to hire a part time person or Premier needs to take over the maintenance piece as well. He recommends deactivating all sensors in the downtown market area. He would like to go to a “pay to play” type of system. This means, no matter where you park the initial fee would be $0.25. This would give flexibility to offer two types of payment structure in the downtown area. We can give a one hour free option that we will still have in Strawberry Alley, Franklin Street, and Third Street. They can go to the meter and park for an hour fee. The other option is all day parking. Which we can increase the three hour max to an eight hour max if they would like on First Street and Second Street. Mrs. Clark asked about the $0.25 but then the free hour. Mr. Palmore explained that in order to activate the meter you will need $0.25, but with that $0.25 you will get an hour and 15 minutes for free. Jon mentioned that our situation is unique. Most cities use the sensors to reactivate the parking space allowing the meter to start over even if a vehicle has more time on the meter, thus being able to collect more revenue. We are different in the fact that we use them to give away a free hour then reset the meter when the vehicle pulls out allowing the next person a free hour. We have found a way to avoid having to replace the sensors. If we deactivate the sensors, the quarter takes the place in detecting when the free hour is awarded. The customer would have to insert the quarter to tell the meter you get the hour free. We are still giving the courtesy time; we are just now giving an hour and fifteen minutes. This way people will have to physically go to the meter. This will also make people read the meter to see what type of parking is available there. First and Second Street there will be no courtesy time. There is a demand for all day parking. In Strawberry Alley if you choose to park all day, you can, you will just need to pay the meter all upfront. Mr. Palmore reiterated that this type of parking structure will save the City a lot of money. Mrs. Clark is very interested in finding a way to do away with the sensor as they are a consistent issue. She asks if we do offer all day parking, will we be giving up more short term parking out of inventory that we would want to do. Jon says by merchants catching overtime violations by 9 am they are showing the demand. Mrs. Bradbury mentions there are people now that we watch where people pull out of the parking spots, wait a few minutes and pull back in to catch the free hour. Mr. Bowie mentions how in the past we have had complaints about business allowing  employees to park and take up spaces where customers would then have to park further away and walk. Mr. Palmore -First Street and Second Street, if we allow those for all day parking that would be 39 meters. Mr. Bowie would like to not allow all day parking on Franklin, Strawberry Alley and Third Street. Mr. Palmore- People are doing this anyways. Mr. Bowie is concerned that now we would be encouraging them to do so. Jon mentions that we have the ability now to give violations every two hours, currently we only give one violation a day. Mr. Bowie asked when we would put this into place. Mrs. Hampton said as soon as it is voted into place, because Jon is leaving. Premier is doing their best to learn from Jon, but it is all surface. Mrs. Clark asks how many members are on the call, she thinks this is something to explore and she would like to have more questions answered and to make sure they can properly communicate with the public. She would like to vote on this next month. Mr. Bowie wants to do a special call meeting sooner than a month because Jon is leaving. Mr. Bowie seconds concerns on how to market this to the public and how we can retrain the public on the parking rules. Mr. Palmore reassures that they can have parking enforcement helping the public by showing how to use the meters, putting up signs, and having clear instructions on the meter. Mrs. Matta says to make it clear that we are not doing this to make revenue, our intent is to stop the frustration. It will also cut down on research having to be done by the clerks. Mr. Bowie does feel like now is the time to make the changes with business reopening after COVID. Mrs. Clark has concerns still with making all of the parking available all day long with only one action. She would like to see something in writing and more than three members to vote on this. Mrs. Hampton is going to send it out. Mr. Bowie asks if it would be a bad idea to ask merchants what they felt this would look like. He mentions having a round table meeting with downtown business owners. They are going to work on a meeting for merchants in July. VI. OLD BUSINESS VII. MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION VIII. VOIDING REQUESTS No action taken on: 170204807; 170205004; 170204733; 170307034; 502396; 502378; 502276; 501670; 502461; 502460; 502470 Voided: 170306885; 170306799 Ticket #170307190—The Commission voted to reduce the fine in half and provide a letter. IX. ADJOURNMENT—The meeting was adjourned at 4:37.