MONROE - Quick and detailed communication is becoming more important as the downtown renovations around the Square approach.
The Monroe Main Street Board of Directors Monday addressed several aspects in an effort to facilitate business survival during the construction.
The board voted in favor of setting up a special task force dedicated to keeping an overview of the project, as proposed by Vice Chairman Ryan Wilson.
Included in the proposal is the formation of "block captains," who will help direct the flow of information to the business owners.
The task force's main objective will be to keep downtown building and business owners apprised of the construction progress, including lead times and sequence of construction, as well as to help set up marketing ideas and public demonstration and presentations.
The task force will meet weekly with contractors on the project and with business owners and block captains to up date them on the coming week construction plans.
Wilson recommended Tom Purdy, community planner with Fehr-Graham & Associates, as first contact, with Barb Nelson, director of Monroe Main Street, Dan Henke, city alderman and member of the board, and Pam Christopher, director of Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, joining him on the task force.
The task force will end with the completion of the reconstruction.
Jo Leuenburger, chair of the promotion committee, asked for streetscape plan maps and schedules be available for business owners to display in their stores to help explain the project to customers.
Wilson said engineering plans intend to maintain traffic moving on the Square, with access and parking, during construction by always having at least one lane of traffic open and closing one intersection at a time.
The board also voted to send to the city another recommendation on parking management.
The Public Safety Committee voted Feb. 2 to reject as too costly a previous recommendation of using a license plate recognition (LPR) system. The committee had seen a presentation of a Canadian LPR system that would have cost about $57,000, plus the cost of a vehicle and maintenance.
Wilson noted another LPR company in the United States had a system for $15,000 to $20,000, with maintenance running about $1,500 a year.
The board will again ask the city to remove mechanical parking meters and that no infrastructure be installed for another parking system that used kiosks. No further recommendations will be included, except as "if and when the need arises."
Some committee members favored free parking downtown.
"Why fix a problem before it exists?" member Mike Doyle said.
Wilson voted against the motion, because it included no control recommendations.
Wilson noted that the TIF was created as a rehabilitation TIF, not as a blighted TIF, and that the cost of a parking management system could be included in the plans. A LPR system had other benefits and options for use in parking lots and ramps, Wilson said.
"We have budgeted for it, and we have a way in place to pay for it," he said.
The Monroe Main Street Board of Directors Monday addressed several aspects in an effort to facilitate business survival during the construction.
The board voted in favor of setting up a special task force dedicated to keeping an overview of the project, as proposed by Vice Chairman Ryan Wilson.
Included in the proposal is the formation of "block captains," who will help direct the flow of information to the business owners.
The task force's main objective will be to keep downtown building and business owners apprised of the construction progress, including lead times and sequence of construction, as well as to help set up marketing ideas and public demonstration and presentations.
The task force will meet weekly with contractors on the project and with business owners and block captains to up date them on the coming week construction plans.
Wilson recommended Tom Purdy, community planner with Fehr-Graham & Associates, as first contact, with Barb Nelson, director of Monroe Main Street, Dan Henke, city alderman and member of the board, and Pam Christopher, director of Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, joining him on the task force.
The task force will end with the completion of the reconstruction.
Jo Leuenburger, chair of the promotion committee, asked for streetscape plan maps and schedules be available for business owners to display in their stores to help explain the project to customers.
Wilson said engineering plans intend to maintain traffic moving on the Square, with access and parking, during construction by always having at least one lane of traffic open and closing one intersection at a time.
The board also voted to send to the city another recommendation on parking management.
The Public Safety Committee voted Feb. 2 to reject as too costly a previous recommendation of using a license plate recognition (LPR) system. The committee had seen a presentation of a Canadian LPR system that would have cost about $57,000, plus the cost of a vehicle and maintenance.
Wilson noted another LPR company in the United States had a system for $15,000 to $20,000, with maintenance running about $1,500 a year.
The board will again ask the city to remove mechanical parking meters and that no infrastructure be installed for another parking system that used kiosks. No further recommendations will be included, except as "if and when the need arises."
Some committee members favored free parking downtown.
"Why fix a problem before it exists?" member Mike Doyle said.
Wilson voted against the motion, because it included no control recommendations.
Wilson noted that the TIF was created as a rehabilitation TIF, not as a blighted TIF, and that the cost of a parking management system could be included in the plans. A LPR system had other benefits and options for use in parking lots and ramps, Wilson said.
"We have budgeted for it, and we have a way in place to pay for it," he said.