MONROE - Final authorization to remove the parking meters on the downtown Square will come Wednesday before the Monroe City Council.
The City of Monroe Public Safety Committee voted Monday to recommend the meters be removed when reconstruction begins sometime this spring.
The request to formalize the removal by resolution was brought to the committee by the Monroe Main Street Board of Directors. It was accompanied by a request not to have any utilities installed in the infrastructure for future parking management, and "no control" to make downtown parking free, with a time limit.
The committee did not make a decision on what type, if any, of parking control would be used. Instead, the city will observe the parking situation during the construction and consider options at a later date.
Committee Chairman Charles Koch said he surveyed Square merchants last Monday and found 21 of 27 preferred the meters be removed. None wanted a kiosk system of parking control. Koch also said the merchants he spoke to "said they thought they should police themselves."
"As for revenues, if we're just swapping methods, we should just leave the meters in," Koch said.
Alderman Mark Coplien, chairman of the Salary and Personnel Committee, said he had been told the meters should be removed by people with whom he spoke.
"From a Salary and Personnel point of view, marking tires is going to be an issue. Personally I'd like to see the meters removed with the streetscape," he said.
Coplien noted some alternative options of parking management, and suggested any license plate recognition system be included in the bonding of the downtown construction.
"... Whatever it is, we're not budgeted for it," he said. "I don't see any other logical method to go about this."
A four-hour free parking limit was fair, he added.
Ryan Wilson, of the Monroe Main Street board, said estimated costs for the construction project included $130,000 for parking management.
Rex Ewald, announcing he was speaking as a citizen and not as the city's attorney, said he was on the Business Improvement District board for several years and participated in a parking study. One result of the study showed that at the busiest time on the busiest day, the downtown parking stalls were only 70 percent full, he said.
"And we're soon to have the courthouse gone," he added.
"Also, here for the first time, I've heard economic development mentioned as a reason for parking revenue. If you're serious about economic development issues, here is an opportunity to do something in the downtown. Personally I think you should go for it; this is minor compared with the speculation made in the industrial areas," he said.
"As an equity issue, it's seems rather unfair that the telephone employees can park free in a city lot," he said.
Police Chief Fred Kelley distributed a review of the parking control issue at the committee meeting.
The review showed parking meter revenue dropping in the past five years, from $24,100 in 2003 to $19,800 in 2007. Meter money goes to the Street Department.
Fines for overtime parking increased in the same five years, from $17,100 to $44,500. Kelley said the jumps can be attributed to the increase in fine prices during the period, from $1 to $2 and eventually to $5. Fine money goes to the Police Department.
Revenues originally were to offset parking enforcement labor costs and for upkeep and repairs of parking lots. Those revenues, however, have not kept pace with increasing labor and maintenance and repair costs.
Kelley estimated the fines could generate up to about $46,000 annually, if the city uses an electronic license plate recognition system.
Permitted parking in lots could generate an additional $5,000 to $7,500 annually.
Marking (chalking) tires manually is cost prohibitive, Kelley said, and humanly impossible with one enforcement person. A single parking enforcement person costs about $50,000 in salary and benefits annually.
The parking control review showed chalking tires in the downtown Square takes about two hours, about 83 more minutes in the remaining downtown streets, and 205 minutes in lots and the parking ramp, for a total of 6.8 manual hours, at a cost of $23,900 in wages.
Electronic marking takes about 20 minutes, and a system would cost about $20,000 ($30,000 with a designated vehicle on which to mount the unit).
With an electronic system, the police department would not lose a person on the staff because of union rules, but would use that person in other duties.
A time limit on free parking would ensure parking turnover, and that vehicles are not left for an undue amount of time.
The meters were installed in the 1940s, sometime after WWII, Kelley said.
The meters are not to be damaged or given away during removal. Members of the Committee said the meters could be sold, suggesting a price between $125 to $200. The Monroe Main Street Promotion Committee also is looking at a way to use the meters as a promotion to bring people downtown during the construction period.
The City of Monroe Public Safety Committee voted Monday to recommend the meters be removed when reconstruction begins sometime this spring.
The request to formalize the removal by resolution was brought to the committee by the Monroe Main Street Board of Directors. It was accompanied by a request not to have any utilities installed in the infrastructure for future parking management, and "no control" to make downtown parking free, with a time limit.
The committee did not make a decision on what type, if any, of parking control would be used. Instead, the city will observe the parking situation during the construction and consider options at a later date.
Committee Chairman Charles Koch said he surveyed Square merchants last Monday and found 21 of 27 preferred the meters be removed. None wanted a kiosk system of parking control. Koch also said the merchants he spoke to "said they thought they should police themselves."
"As for revenues, if we're just swapping methods, we should just leave the meters in," Koch said.
Alderman Mark Coplien, chairman of the Salary and Personnel Committee, said he had been told the meters should be removed by people with whom he spoke.
"From a Salary and Personnel point of view, marking tires is going to be an issue. Personally I'd like to see the meters removed with the streetscape," he said.
Coplien noted some alternative options of parking management, and suggested any license plate recognition system be included in the bonding of the downtown construction.
"... Whatever it is, we're not budgeted for it," he said. "I don't see any other logical method to go about this."
A four-hour free parking limit was fair, he added.
Ryan Wilson, of the Monroe Main Street board, said estimated costs for the construction project included $130,000 for parking management.
Rex Ewald, announcing he was speaking as a citizen and not as the city's attorney, said he was on the Business Improvement District board for several years and participated in a parking study. One result of the study showed that at the busiest time on the busiest day, the downtown parking stalls were only 70 percent full, he said.
"And we're soon to have the courthouse gone," he added.
"Also, here for the first time, I've heard economic development mentioned as a reason for parking revenue. If you're serious about economic development issues, here is an opportunity to do something in the downtown. Personally I think you should go for it; this is minor compared with the speculation made in the industrial areas," he said.
"As an equity issue, it's seems rather unfair that the telephone employees can park free in a city lot," he said.
Police Chief Fred Kelley distributed a review of the parking control issue at the committee meeting.
The review showed parking meter revenue dropping in the past five years, from $24,100 in 2003 to $19,800 in 2007. Meter money goes to the Street Department.
Fines for overtime parking increased in the same five years, from $17,100 to $44,500. Kelley said the jumps can be attributed to the increase in fine prices during the period, from $1 to $2 and eventually to $5. Fine money goes to the Police Department.
Revenues originally were to offset parking enforcement labor costs and for upkeep and repairs of parking lots. Those revenues, however, have not kept pace with increasing labor and maintenance and repair costs.
Kelley estimated the fines could generate up to about $46,000 annually, if the city uses an electronic license plate recognition system.
Permitted parking in lots could generate an additional $5,000 to $7,500 annually.
Marking (chalking) tires manually is cost prohibitive, Kelley said, and humanly impossible with one enforcement person. A single parking enforcement person costs about $50,000 in salary and benefits annually.
The parking control review showed chalking tires in the downtown Square takes about two hours, about 83 more minutes in the remaining downtown streets, and 205 minutes in lots and the parking ramp, for a total of 6.8 manual hours, at a cost of $23,900 in wages.
Electronic marking takes about 20 minutes, and a system would cost about $20,000 ($30,000 with a designated vehicle on which to mount the unit).
With an electronic system, the police department would not lose a person on the staff because of union rules, but would use that person in other duties.
A time limit on free parking would ensure parking turnover, and that vehicles are not left for an undue amount of time.
The meters were installed in the 1940s, sometime after WWII, Kelley said.
The meters are not to be damaged or given away during removal. Members of the Committee said the meters could be sold, suggesting a price between $125 to $200. The Monroe Main Street Promotion Committee also is looking at a way to use the meters as a promotion to bring people downtown during the construction period.