5. HRSR 11-05-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes Page 3 October 8, 2007 Police Chief Jeffrey Beahen indicated that the city experiences a savings by RSVP providing 2000 hours of volunteer service. He stated that it would cost the city at least $30,000 to hire an employee to replace the services RSVP performs. MOVED BY COUNCILMEMBER FARBER AND SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER ZERWAS TO PROVIDE OFFICE SPACE FOR THE COORDINATOR OF THE RETIRED SENIOR VOLUNTEER PROGRAM (RSVP) IN THE NEW SENIOR ACTIVITY CENTER WITH A THIRTY DAY TERMINATION PERIOD ON THE LEASE. MOTION CARRIED 5-0. 5.1. Continue Downtown Parking Study Discussion Parking Stud Ciry Administrator Lori Johnson indicated that the first item for Council consideration is whether or not to accept the downtown parking study. Ms. Johnson indicated that although there are some concerns and questions about the study, there are advantages to accepting the study as prepared. First, the study would give the city a starting point from which to make adjustments as parking patterns and volumes change. Second, it would give developers of new commercial space the parking data they need to help market their commercial units. Third, the study includes a list of recommendations that, if adopted, will help deal with current and future parking related items in a proactive way to help avoid parking problems. Ms. Johnson stated that questions have been raised about the validity of the study since the count used as the measure for the study was only taken on one day. She explained that Mr. Surna explained during his presentation that other cities have also questioned this methodology and have chosen to conduct additional parking counts, but the end result only changed by one or two percent. Ms. Johnson stated that the study should be viewed as a baseline for a given point in time and accepted knowing the parking data may change. She stated that staff suggests that parking counts by staff be conducted at least every six months. Ms. Johnson indicated that staff concurs with the list of recommendations included in the study and is prepared to begin working on the recommendations if the study is approved by the Council. Ms. Johnson explained that one of the recommendations is to adopt guiding principles for downtown parking as outlined in the study to help set expectations, define the mission, determine responsibilities, help plan for and manage the parking needs, as well as other related items. She stated that one of the recommendations is to designate a single department to be in charge of parking with the understanding that certain responsibilities would be designated to other departments. Staff is recommending the public works department be the department responsible for parking. The street division will still be responsible for lot maintenance and the police department will still be responsible for parking enforcement. Councilmember Motin indicated that he does not believe the study is representative of what parking in the area will be in the future once the downtown businesses and residents move in. He stated that it would make sense to accept the study and review the parking counts in six months. Councilmember Zerwas explained that he is concerned with the method used for the count but he believes that in order to move forward the study should be accepted as a baseline and additional traffic counts should be taken quarterly for at least the first year. He would like the counts taken over a two or three day period.