City of Billings Parking Division P.O. Box 1178 Billings, MT Phone: (406) Fax: (406)

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1 City of Billings Parking Division P.O. Box 1178 Billings, MT Phone: (406) Fax: (406) TO: Brenda Burkhartsmeier via Randy Hafer via Scott Wetzel via Steve Bruggeman via Gary Temple via Bruce Simon mailed Don Olsen via Nick Blake via Agenda for the Monday, April 14 th, 2008, 4:00 PM Parking Advisory Board Meeting at the City Hall Conference Room. IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND THIS MEETING PLEASE CALL KELLY IN THE CITY PARKING DEPARTMENT ( ) BY NOON ON TUESDAY. IF THERE IS NOT A QUORUM WE WILL TRY TO CONTACT YOU TO CANCEL THE MEETING. 1. Call to order 2. Minutes of March 11 th 2008 meeting 3. Old Business 4. Monthly Report March Requests & Recommendations (1) 6. Informational Items 7. New Business (Advertising and Policy Sub-committee) 8. DBP Report Brenda 9. DBA Report Lisa Harmon 10. Public Comment (3 minutes) 11. Adjournment cc: Bruce McCandless Greg Krueger, DBP Lisa Harmon, DBA/BID Billings Association of Realtors, Inc.

2 Unapproved PARKING ADVISORY BOARD March 11, 2008 Brenda Burkhartsmeier Randy Hafer Steve Bruggeman Scott Wetzel Bruce Simon Gary Temple Don Olsen Nick Blake NOTES: The meeting was called to order at 4:04 p.m. Others present were: Brent Brooks, Chris Blake, Chris Mallow and Kelly Cox. MINUTES: Don motioned to approve the minutes from the February 12 th meeting with 2 revisions in place. The first was that it was Bruce s idea to remove the 10-hour meters in the library lot not Don s and the second was that the parking study would end up being $75k not $750k. Gary seconded the motion. All members were in favor and the motion carried. MONTHLY REPORTS February 2008: Garage utilizations for February showed minimal changes in all garages. February cash sales were down in all parks except 3. Overall the cash sales were down by 2.5%. Park and Shop overall was up by 31.3% for February but was down substantially (13.0%) in Park 2. There was a huge jump (398%) in Park 4 due to tax auditors and accountants from 1 st Interstate Bank and surrounding offices. Crowne Plaza validations were up 20.3% from January. Adult Education was down from January by 26.2%. Token usage was also down by from January by 17.2%. 10-hour permits were down from 115 in January to 92 in February. REQUEST AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

3 Parking Advisory Board Meeting Schedule Request and Recommendation In April, 2007, the Parking Advisory Board changed the regular meeting date from the second Monday of every month to the second Tuesday. This was done to better accommodate two Parking Advisory Board members. Both of those PAB members gave up their seats effective 12/31/07. Staff is asking the Parking Advisory Board if they would like to keep the meeting schedule as it is or to move the meeting time to a different day. Moving the meeting day to the 2 nd Monday of every month would avoid running into City Council Agenda meetings that immediately follow our current meetings as they are scheduled now. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends that there be discussion among the PAB and decide if any changes to the meeting schedule need to be made. Randy moved to accept Staff s recommendation. Bruce Simon seconded the motion. All members were in favor and the motion passed. Northern Hotel- Staff Request and Recommendation: At the October, 2007, Parking Advisory Board meeting, the PAB decided to grant a request from Northern Condos, LLC; which allowed for the Passenger Loading/Unloading, located on the eastside of Broadway between Montana and 1 st Ave North, to become a Commercial Loading Zone, permit required, and two metered spaces. The owner stated that their remodeling project was starting and they needed a guarantee that spaces close to the entrance would be open so their contractors can unload tools and equipment without having to walk very far. The PAB granted the request and set this decision to be reviewed when construction was completed. Staff has not seen those spaces utilized, for the intended reasons, since the changes were implemented. Staff spoke with Greg Krueger, from the Downtown Billings Partnership, about the future plans for the building. Mr. Krueger states that the owner has not done anything with the building and may not do anything in the near future due to litigation issues. Staff has witnessed the loading zones being used by Western Security Bank customers, even though that was not the intended purpose of that loading zone. Staff attempted to make contact with the owner, or his representatives, but they could not be reached. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends that the commercial Loading/Unloading zone be converted to 2 hour metered parking. Staff expects that will equal out to two to three more meters in an area of downtown where meter utilization is very high. Scott motioned that the Board accept Staff s recommendation. Gary seconded the motion. All members were in favor and the motion passed.

4 ROBERTS RULES OF ORDER PRESENTATION- BRENT BROOKS: Brent Brooks was asked, by Chris Mallow and Brenda Burkhartsmeier, to explain to the Board the procedures for running a successful meeting. In the past it has been noted that meeting rules normally fall under Roberts Rules of Order. At the beginning of Brent s presentation he had 3 hand-outs for each member. In the hand-outs he has summarized specific rules from the book of Roberts Rules of Order. He stated that most meetings follow some kind of structure with someone that leads the meeting. From there he stated that a lot of getting through a meeting successfully was common courtesy, respect, common sense and decorum. Brent made it very clear that it was up to the Board to establish their rules. He stated that they could adopt some, all or have a combination of Robert s rules and ones that the Board create specifically for their Board. Brent pointed out a few specific areas that were brought up as concerns. In section rules of procedure are addressed, in setting of agendas and further on, motions and reconsiderations are addressed. During this time Brent stated and agreed with the fact that the rules state that only 2 amended motions are allowed as it is too hard to keep track of further amendments. He felt that keeping things simple was best. Brent suggested that the Board Members read through the hand-outs and that there is a place on the City s website where some divisions have by-laws for their Boards. He also stated that himself, Bonnie Sutherland and Tina Volek are working on revising the applications to become a Board Member and possibly making a standard handbook for Boards & Commissions which could include a universal set of rules. After Brent s presentation Brenda brought up three specific items that came up as concerns for some members of the Board. The first issue was how items get put onto the Agenda. This is outlined under internal operating rules of procedure. It was brought up that it would be a possibility to adopt the informal policies from the Welcome to the Board packet that was put together by Liz Kampa-Weatherwax. Additionally Gary asked when it was appropriate to ask for the question and what exactly that meant. Brent explained that by stating that they are asking for the question a member was asking that discussion be stopped and that the Board decide on the motion. This then led to stating of a motion. It was stated that when a motion is offered up there are specific steps that need to be followed. First the motion needs to be stated specifically and as much to the point as possible. Second, there must be a second to the motion. Third there is discussion about the motion. Brent stated

5 that during this part all members needed to have an opportunity to speak and that this should be kept in check by the Chairperson. After the issues have been discussed and everyone has had a chance to speak the Chairperson will ask if there is any further discussion needed, if not, then the Chairperson will call for a vote, both for and against. If at some point during the discussion period any Board member feels that the discussion is becoming redundant they may ask for the question, this motion must be seconded and voted on with ¾ vote approval. From that vote the Chairperson will lead the group to either continue or halt discussions. Another issue to be brought up was the beliefs that some Board Member may have been speaking with the community portraying that they are the voice of the Parking Advisory Board. It was stated that this behavior is not acceptable. The issue of Board Members asking Staff to do specific items/research was addressed. Items that the Board would like Staff to do needs to be passed through the Board and not by individual members of the Board. The last item to be raised was that Gary asked if it was possible to remove a member from the Board. Brent stated that the Mayor makes the appointment with the City Council approving it. He stated that he did not know of anything officially written about this specific item but he believed that if the Mayor and City Council could appoint the position he felt that they had every right to take that appointment away. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: Leo Whitely, of Carl Walker, will be accepting the Award of Merit on behalf of the City Of Billings. This award is for the expansion and renovation to park 2 garage and will be awarded at the International Parking Conference in Dallas on June 6, It was suggested that a press release be sent out to the DBA/DBP, Billings Business and the Billings Gazette. Chris is working on a bid spec for painting the parking garages. He is currently working with Bud from Columbia Paint to walk him through this process as Chris has never done a bid spec before. Chris is also currently working on an R.F.P. for proposals for the valuation and marketing of the Park 4 garage. More information will follow as it becomes available. Additionally Chris is working on a bid with the BID to do the same type of maintenance in the library lots as they are currently doing around Park 2 garage.

6 It was asked at the last meeting how much of the Park 3 Garage was noted as an asset for the Parking Division. Chris has found out that the percentage on that is.22%. This ended up being the cost of the parking equipment/items to get the garage up and running. Chris has spoken with Bill Cochran at the Library and a representative from the Gazette about removing the 10-hour meters in the library lot. Chris is planning on joining the Library Board Meeting on Thursday March 13, 2008 to discuss with the board this idea. Bill stated that there might be a possibility that if this was to happen the library may want part of the revenue from the space rentals. The representative from the Gazette stated that the staff that he has that are currently using the 10-hour meters are the lower paid employees at the Gazette and he felt that by changing the meters out it would put an undue hardship on these people. Bruce McCandless and Chris were approached with the idea of selling/leasing advertising space on/in the City s Parking Garages. Although this is only in the discussion stages, Chris Blake from the Crowne Plaza stated that the Crowne would be willing to pay for the awnings to hang the advertisements from. He states that finding parking is one of his top 5 complaints and that he was hoping that by advertising on Park 2 garage it would help his customers to realize that the garage is where they need to be parking. NEW BUSINESS: It was suggested by Staff that a sub-committee be put together to help with the policies that the board decided needed to be written down in a formal format. DBP REPORT: Don Olsen gave the DBP report. He stated the T.I.F. monies have been reallocated. In this restructuring they have put aside $900k for light fixtures for the downtown area. They are still working on the GSA courthouse plan which seems to be coming to fruition. There is also talk about plans for the Northern Hotel but no specifics were given. DBA REPORT: N/A PUBLIC COMMENT:

7 None to report ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

8 Parking Division Garage Summary - March 2008 Garages Actual Current Prior Variance % Rented Spaces Maximum (by garage) Spaces Month Month % P/M Vacant Capacity Park I Roof % 100.0% Non-Reserved % 123.6% Assigned % 100.0% 0 33 Total % 115.6% Park II Roof % 96.6% Assigned % 100.0% 0 78 Non-Reserved % 121.7% Total % 112.6% Park III Roof % 106.6% Non-Reserved % 121.4% Assigned % 100.0% 0 8 Total % 115.0% Park IV Roof % 87.3% Non-Reserved % 120.4% Assigned % 100.0% Total % 108.2% Grand Total % 111.9% ,091 Lots Lot % 100.0% 0 28 Misc. Info. Current Current Prior Variance Prior Variance Month Month Month % P/M Year % P/Y Cash Sales Tickets Cash Park I 356 $1, % % Park II 2417 $3, % % Park III 1710 $2, % % Park IV 282 $ % % Total 4765 $8, % % Current Prior Variance Month Month % P/M Park & Shop (total hours) Park I % Park II % Park III % Park IV % Total % Crowne Plaza (total validations) Park II % Adult Ed (total hours) Park IV % Tokens % (green meters included) Green Meter Tokens 15.5 at free

9 MONTHLY 10 HOUR PERMIT SALES Month Permits Total Permits Total Sold Revenue Sold Revenue Variance % January 115 $1, $ % February 92 $ $ % March 123 $1, $ % April $ $ % May $ $ % June $ $ % July $ $ % August $ $ % September $ $ % October $ $ % November $ $ % December $ $1, % Total 330 $3, $8, %

10 City of Billings Parking Division P.O. Box 1178 Billings, MT Phone: (406) Fax: (406) DATE: APRIL 7, 2008 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: PARKING ADVISORY BOARD CHRIS MALLOW, PARKING SUPERVISOR CROWNE PLAZA/STARBUCKS REQUEST AND RECOMMENDATION Information: Staff received a request from Chris Johnson, General Manager of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, on behalf of his tenant Starbuck s Café to convert all two-hour meters on the south-side of 1 st Ave North between 27 th and 26 th Street to 10- minute zones. Mr. Johnson states that his tenants (Starbuck s, Copy Right, Guardian Security, and Moulton, Bellingham, Longo, and Mather P.C.) would benefit from a quick turn-around zone that allows for quick stops and loading/unloading purposes. There are currently three two-hour meters in the area identified. The Crowne Plaza has been bagging those three meters with their bus bags, and paying a daily rental rate, in order to dissuade longer term parking. This has been only fairly effective and they desire a more definitive solution. The request did poll some of the tenants of the Crowne Plaza building as well as Bill Honaker, owner of the Securities Building, and all are in favor of the change. Currently there are four two hour meters on the north-side of 1 st Ave North between 26 th and 27 th street, adjacent to Park 2. The remainder of parking in this area is a half-block of 10-minute zones adjacent to the Post Office. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends approval of this request. Staff identifies that this request would establish a very large amount of 10-minute zones in a small area. Staff has identified that the 10-minute zones in front of the Post Office are adequate for postal customers and would not be a viable option for the Crowne Plaza and their tenants seeking 10-minute parking. Staff also feels that the public does not use the Crowne Plaza private lot or covered passenger loading/unloading zone

11 located on the south side of the building as they perceive it to be either too full or for hotel quests. For these reasons, Staff recommends approval.