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that parking services had a program wherein if something of value was seen in a car, a letter was sent to the <br />car owner recommending that they not leave valuable items in their cars. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling thanked Mr. Clark for bringing the issue up for discussion. He noted that Attachment C showed <br />$1.3 million for parking operations and he wondered what that meant. Mr. Petry replied that it included all <br />of the staff, including himself, parking officers, some maintenance crews and some community development. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling observed that the results of the survey of the people who had businesses in the downtown area <br />seemed to be “all over the map” in regard to whether or not parking should be free. He suggested they get a <br />more focused group in order to come up with fewer options. He wanted to focus more on what should be <br />done in the downtown area. He felt that at present there was too much on the table. He also wondered if <br />there was a way to track the number of parking violations by repeat offenders in order to potentially increase <br />fines for them. Mr. Petry responded that the technology was available, but not currently in place. He said it <br />was possible to track when a vehicle had a warning. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling recommended that the time on one-hour meters be increased on Willamette across from the <br />Hilton. He felt that a person could not park and have a meal in that amount of time. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor declared that the free parking had encouraged her to park downtown but after the meters had <br />been installed she had stopped parking there. She alleged that two business owners told her that was why <br />they left the downtown area. She felt that a small amount of money meant a lot to many people. She <br />wanted to know the costs of the meters including the people that check them. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka thanked Mr. Petry for his work. He wanted to know the average time for which meters were <br />set. Mr. Petry replied that it varied; typically banks had meters with 30-minute parking, while restaurants <br />had meters with parking for one or two hours. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Mr. Petry said the parking fund did not have a capital funding <br />program. He explained that it had a capital plan and each year they looked at their resources and tried to <br />“pick off” their highest priority needs. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon observed that the report indicated $180,000 in capital funds and wondered if there was a plan <br />for these funds. Mr. Petry confirmed that the parking program had a plan. He said the engineering <br />assessment report of the structures had just been completed. He explained that the expenditures in the <br />previous year were related to commercial space changes and general capital for “patching concrete” and <br />lighting replacement. He stated that the capital improvement plan (CIP) had the bigger items such as <br />resealing entire parking decks which cost $300,000 for each and had not been done for the Parcade, <br />estimated to be a future cost of $1 million. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Ms. Solomon, Mr. Petry explained that an effective parking program <br />included management, communication, enforcement, and adjudication components. He noted that in Eugene <br />the Municipal Court served to adjudicate parking violations and employed five full time equivalent (FTE) <br />positions to do so. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon noted that Mr. Petry’s presentation had included the projection that costs would exceed <br />revenue in six years. She asked whether he meant that this would be an incremental decline. Mr. Petry <br />affirmed this. Ms. Solomon asked what other options there were. Mr. Petry replied that the program could <br />increase the monthly off-street parking rates. He said the daily on-street rate in the campus area had been <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 29, 2008 Page 3 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />