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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Committee Minutes 3.11.25 (To be approved) Attendees: Al Hartman Paul Esslinger, Council Jim Collins, Transportation Director Jeff Armstrong Deb Martin Jim Stapel Excused: Sean Lynch, Evelyn Meuret Also Present: Lt. Kraemer (OPD) The meeting was called to order by Al Hartman who gave a quick overview for the public comment protocol. No one in attendance wished to provide commentary. Roll Call & Approval of Minutes Chairperson Hartman requested roll call, and later Jim Stapel made a motion to approve the minutes from the February meeting, seconded by Deb Martin. Motion carried after roll-call vote. Old Business – Follow-up on request for some overnight parking options for Day-by-Day Shelter - Jim Collins gave a quick refresher regarding the request to establish overnight parking options for patrons that stay at Day-By-Day Shelter. After researching the request further and speaking with other departments, Jim does not recommend exploring this request further. He said the shelter does have a small parking lot available which appeared to be about 8-10 spots. Deb Martin confirmed it was 8 spaces, but that wouldn’t be sufficient. Jim spoke with both the Parks Department and OPD and it was determined neither of the suggested lots are a viable option, especially the Leach Amphitheater lot due to the history of past issues. He said the option at this time is the $10 monthly on-street permit parking. The Chief of Police said if they are having issues with home owners, he would be more than happy to assist with conflicts. New Business Request for approval of updates to Chapter 27 as it pertains to the new parking enforcement process Jim Collins gave a quick overview of the new Passport Software being rolled out this year as background so the Committee members knew the reasons Chapter 27 needs updating. He said they are getting closer to the roll-out date of this new software. The software will provide several requested benefits Transportation Committee Meeting Minutes March 11, 2025 2 | Page such as an online option for patrons, reduction in the number of in-person visits and long lines which is especially an issue around the 1st of each month for both OPD and Collections. This new system should also improve the efficiency of parking enforcement. Several changes include a very user-friendly web-based option to obtain and pay for a permit, digital permits vs. a physical hang-tag, as well as electronic payment options which was an on-going request for many years. Internally, this new process should save staff a considerable amount of time. In conjunction with this change, it was decided to end the agreement with UWO in regards to the campus Pay & Display Stations. That original agreement started in 2004 and stated that the city was to receive 25% of the revenue from the stations and UWO handled enforcement and received 100% of the ticket revenue. With the implementation of this new city-wide software, it makes sense to have the city manage the on-street campus area so the users have the same app, and same process throughout the entire city. Jim said this is very similar to upgrading the transit bus fares from paper to digital last fall. That upgrade made transit fare purchases and use much easier for the end user and definitely improved staff efficiency. After you create an account and purchase the initial fare, it is very easy to make future purchases. As a result of all these changes, there were many areas of Chapter 27 that needed to be reworded and revised to accommodate the new Passport system. Jim Stapel asked if it would be prudent to keep the ordinance more generic to accommodate future changes to the program. Jim Collins said members of the Transportation, Legal, Finance and Oshkosh PD have all been working on the document changes and trying to stay mindful of using verbiage such as “WEB or APP” base vs. writing it with specifics to cover future changes. Jim then opened discussion up for additional questions. Deb Martin asked about people that do not use a smart-phone and if they have any options like a payment kiosk. There will not be a kiosk but on the signage there will be information to instruct users how to utilize the new system. Al Hartman wanted clarification on what the actual vote will be on for tonight’s approval; Jim Collins said to keep it generic to accommodate all the necessary changes to support these changes. Jim Stapel made a motion to approve making all the necessary changes to Chapter 27 per staff recommendation to encompass the new process, seconded by Jeff Armstrong. Motion carried after roll-call vote. Jim Collins also wanted to bring up a related matter with the current pricing structure. He said that the daily permit price seems quite low as it is only $1.50 ($1.95 with taxes and fees). He was curious if it would also be a good time to change the price with these ordinance updates. The national average seems to be $6 - $8 so even matching the campus area with $5.00 might be more in line. Al thought it may be a good idea to match UWO and stay consistent throughout the city. Jim Stapel suggested taking it in smaller stages instead because going from $1.50 to $5.00 seems steep. Jeff Armstrong agrees it should be eventually changed, but not as high as $5.00 especially if some of the salons are purchasing parking for their customers. He suggests the committee stay mindful to the downtown business owners. Some members of the committee thought $3 might be a good initial step. Jim Stapel suggested to just get the ordinances fixed first and then make a change at the end of the year when the new fee schedule gets presented to Council. 3 | Page Staff Statements ❖ Ridership Update – n/a ❖ Pedestrian Mall Ordinance – Jim Collins said signage for the Algoma Art Alley has been added and invited everyone to check that area out. ❖ Paratransit Hours - Jim Colins reported as a follow-up to the Paratransit hours, Council did approve to the new hours of 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) and 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. (Sunday). This is a good compromise and at this time the paratransit users will have longer hours than fixed route users. The change will take effect April 1, 2025 and a mailer has been sent to any users currently registered in the Paratransit program. Staff will watch for users that were using the regular paratransit program for work transportation and see if they qualify for the Access-to-Jobs program instead since that program will still offer 24/7 hours. Future Agenda Requests Al Hartman asked if there were any future agenda requests, but there were none. Adjournment Jim Stapel made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Deb Martin. Motion carried after roll-call vote Meeting adjourned at 4:42 pm.