- This meeting will come to order. This is the July Regular hearing of the city of Bloomington Transportation
- Commission Can we have the secretary call the roll? Did you say roll sorry, yes the role, please Davis
- here Coppock here Stossburg here Poland here Flaherty here Stramitis here
- Anyone attending online? All right, we have a quorum we'll conduct our agenda as follows under reports
- and communications will hear from commissioners and from staff specifically a staff memo on the process
- for selecting a parking kiosk vendor Under cases will hear TCR 26 16 a title to amendment of
- on Transportation Commission appointments
- Under discussion of topics not on the docket. We will hear from commissioners resolution by me to submit
- findings regarding the 2026 Walker parking study and to form an annual report task force and from staff
- an update on local motion grant 2025 and introduction to local motion grants or 2026 and also a an annual
- report on safe streets and roads for all or SS for a And then we'll have general public comment and
- then we will adjourn
- Let's start now with reports from commissioners. Are there any reports from commissioners to my right?
- To my left Did you ever report No, okay We now go to reports from staff. Let's hear about the selection
- process for our parking kiosk vendor I see Michelle wall parking services director Hello. Hello. How
- are you guys? Good. How are you? I'm good. Thanks. Good
- Michelle wall parking service director the city of Bloomington In summary parking services has provided
- the transportation commissioners with two demonstrations of integrated parking management platforms
- as attached in the following staff memo arrived pulse accompanied with a written statement provided
- by Josh cedar is affiliated with Sloberg kiosk system elevate populist brief is accompanied with a written
- statement by Braxton Ratliff and
- and is affiliated with the IPS kiosk system. The design of both platforms aligns with the recommendations
- detailed in our 2026 Walker Parking Rate Study and Comprehensive Review. The use of each platform is
- conditional on the adoption of specified kiosk technology and cannot be substituted. Also, we have launched
- on July 8th two of these kiosks in our lobby for public use to try them out, to see them, and to take
- a short survey.
- Thank you Also, by the way both representatives from IPS IPS and arrive are in the audience. Thank you
- Okay, are there any questions for staff on this item to my left Don't be shy have a question Yes, I
- think that's the idea
- Okay, get really close to the mic. And maybe turn the mic on.
- Sorry, sorry I Have some questions for arrive I work in the transportation software field and particularly
- but one of my roles was to vet our vendors so Arrive you're based in May have your name Matt Brooker
- regional director. Yes. So arrive is does have headquarters in Sweden as well as Atlanta, Georgia several
- US offices and for this
- for Bloomington, Indiana as a customer, would the data be stored in the United States or would it be
- stored overseas? Here in the United States. Okay. Do you have any security certifications such as ISO
- 2701 or SOC 2, type 2 that would govern data privacy or data security? We do, yes. We're fully PCI compliant.
- We do have SOC compliance as well, happy to follow up with whatever certifications the body may like
- to see. Okay, thank you. I didn't see those on your website.
- questions for IPS Hello sir, can you hear me? May I have your name? Brexton Ratliff. Thank you. And
- you are based in the US? Yeah, IPS is based in San Diego, California. And I saw on your website you
- already have the PCI DSS certifications? Yes, sir.
- Do you have other data or privacy certifications like ISO 2701? Correct. Yes, sir. Oh great. Thank you
- I think those were my primary concerns. I was checking on the websites to see sure if you had
- the certifications Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it Questions to my right from commissioners
- Okay Commissioner Davis
- I'd like to hear from both of you about what accessibility features these systems have. I've tried them
- both, and Michelle and her staff told me what they knew, but I don't believe we had the full suite of
- accessibility features on either machine that's here in town.
- So I'd like to know what you have for blind or visually impaired users. Good evening, Josh Deeder with
- the Rye Regional Sales Manager. Yes, we do have full ADA compliance in terms of height of our machines
- as well as separate configurations in terms of
- color in terms of hearing impairment, we have the ability to add audio jack for auxiliary accessibility
- as well as a speaker system to assist with guiding you through our payment process. In addition, we
- do have a 24-7-365 support line as well via IVR that can support making payments over the phone as well
- as paired with our park mobile application that would have the ADA-compliant settings already programmed
- into the individuals. But all of our machines do come fully.
- with our ADA compliance as well as the PCI compliance budget earlier. So the fact that the machines
- here didn't have those features, or did they and I just didn't see them? You are correct that the audio
- jack would be custom and build. We do build our machines to service the towns and clients that we meet
- with. So once we have all the configuration requirements and requests, we would custom build and make
- sure that it does allow. Our stock machine here does not have the audio jack, you are correct.
- Okay, thank you. Further questions. Oh, let's hear from the other vendor. It's going to be more or less
- the same. I mean, we we meet all ADA compliance that you guys would run into. I mean, federal regulations
- mandate that we have in terms of standing it up in terms of the demo environment, not something that
- Commonly requests, but we would be more than accommodating to you know adhere to any 80 80 compliance
- that you would have on on the street higher requirements like the The folks from arrival were saying
- anything on the back end Collins blind hearing impaired Colorblindness anything that you would have
- related to that. So yes, ma'am Okay. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you All right I'm sorry the
- It's not a let's see I did want to give each vendor an opportunity to just generally speak on behalf
- of their product since we didn't really get a sense of I mean in addition to what you submitted if you
- would just like to say a few words in general explaining your product and why you think it would fit
- the city. I'd be happy to start with arrive.
- Just general overview of your product and why you think it would work for us. Absolutely. Thank you.
- Yes So very similar to the parking department's initiative of park simple our goal and initiative as
- a company is to assist your city and becoming more livable through an accessible Parking payment provider
- that allows you to have full control availability insight to your on-street city inventory occupancy
- and be able to show the proper balance so with the tools that we provided
- With our flow bird hardware machine as well as arrive pulse and insights as it back office services
- for additional parking studies research and collaboration In congruence with our park mobile application
- is already on street It will allow a simplified platform to update rates have event rates have progressive
- rates and be able to accompany all of your constituents needs as they go on an ongoing basis I Would
- just add to that that you know, we
- Is our parent company but essentially the park mobile application is one of our core services that's
- been operating here in Bloomington for many years and currently over half of the parking revenue collected
- through The on-street system is coming in through the mobile app and that's the direction that we see
- Most cities heading toward as more and more people adopt the app. So by layering on our
- Infrastructure as well, which is also the most widely used throughout the US and another major major
- and mid-size and small cities Really provides the parking department with one place where they can manage
- operations, but also groups like like this body to evaluate
- real ground truth data, not just better visualization of transaction and other data that is in the system
- already, but through our insight solution, which is capturing actual occupancy at the block. Those are
- blind spots. That's data that doesn't often get collected if someone parks and they don't pay and they
- haven't gotten a ticket. You don't have that in the data, but the solution we're proposing
- Folds that in and includes that so that decisions can be made on what's actually happening at the curb
- and then you can evaluate and see what the impact of those was on reducing congestion creating turnover
- supporting businesses So just better visibility better tools for the team Very good. Thank you. Appreciate
- it. Mr. Ratliff from elevate Yeah, so
- I mean, we, in parking, you know, we all know each other. We all know these guys. I mean, I can sit
- here and regurgitate all the things in terms of what we can offer in terms of data and analytics, and
- we can provide all that. IPS has been in this city for, you know, over a decade. We've been a good partner
- with the city. The city's been a good partner to us. My message would be why IPS is that, you know,
- we are at a state now where I really think that
- We're truly becoming partners with cities and municipalities and this would be one that would would
- mean a ton to us And so not to bore you you're gonna see Analytics and data and how a paybox works and
- how machine works But truly at the end of the day what we're offering is a true partnership and how
- we can better serve the city of Bloomington and the people that live here you know, I'm a you know,
- I live in my own city and I
- with parking and you know, I know nobody wants to pay for parking parking is not the coolest the coolest
- thing so We truly believe that you know what we can provide is a true partnership And we can get into
- the analytics and the way we can save you save you money and save you, you know do all these cool things
- But we want to be partners with the city of Bloomington and help the people here at a very baseline
- level. So I
- I'm not sure any of us get into parking to be cool per se but yeah, I always compare when I talk to
- Michelle I always say it's like a referee at a basketball game, you know You kind of just want the referee
- to be in the background and let the I mean to their credit parking services here makes it cool But you
- know is cool with it. Well, just one of the one of the best teams in the country I hear I go all over
- the United States So you got one of the best groups around just for the record. Oh go on. I
- Just kidding. Just kidding. Thank you. I appreciate I appreciate that Thank you. I appreciate a couple
- of questions for Michelle wall This wall what is the the timetable for the decision You you began this
- in June I guess after the report came. Yeah, so we were about six months behind and There's no timetable.
- Okay, it's the conversation between Transportation Commission the community
- and the council. Well at least you have you're saying that the public testing will be available through
- mid-August. Does that mean perhaps that will convene again in September to discuss details or possibly.
- Or we might extend the survey. There's only I believe right now 12 people that's taken the survey. So
- we encourage everybody to spread the word and we want their feedback. We need their feedback to make
- a collective decision.
- Regardless of the vendor it is your hope I guess that all the prior data we've had will be integrated
- into a new system. OK. That's great. Yes. And am I hearing correctly from both vendors that I mean we
- made a choice back in 2013 not to integrate the meters with park mobile.
- Are both of their presentations are both of their offers automatically integrating with ParkMobile.
- Absolutely. Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any further questions. Mr. Midas.
- Yes. Why are we we're only looking at the like single block machines and we're not looking at the like
- parking meters by
- So currently the Walker report the study Suggested kiosks. Okay, so so I mean that's not off the table
- I mean if the community wants meters then we'll discuss meters, but right now the Walker report Stated
- that they would recommend kiosks to lower the infrastructure on the street. Okay. Thank you. And then
- for the folks from flow bird or whatever it is I was
- I just had a question about your relationship between, there's like Flowbird for transit systems payments,
- and you guys, and then there's also Arrive, and was curious about, like I know in Indianapolis kind
- of the TVMs all shut down very abruptly, and I know that's related to Flowbird, and was just wondering
- if you could talk to the relationship between the different entities.
- there so flow bird is a manufacturer of Parking kiosks ticket vending machines those kind of things
- and park mobile mobile payment platform merge last year to form arrive That's so there's a
- little clarification on the brands Yes, that would those I would be the machines used in Indianapolis.
- I don't have context specifically on the situation you're referring to on transit, but we do have a
- transit business unit who
- Supports transit operations happy to follow up with more information about what you're referring to
- Did I hear that correctly that flow bird merged with park mobile correct. Oh, okay. That's news to me
- All right any further questions from commissioners on the status of the parking kiosk vendor selection
- process See none we thank both vendors for their presence here today and we look forward to working
- with you both in the
- this further discussion. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Let's move now to cases. We have now TCR
- 26 16. Who is here to present. Well if it isn't a council member Hopi Stasberg. Hello council member
- Stasberg. Welcome.
- Thank you. Good evening Hopi Stasberg district 3 City Council and I'm here to talk about proposed
- Transportation Commission membership changes that I'm making kind of in conjunction with the committee
- on council processes So you know, it's like next slide. Let's see. There we go So I wanted to start
- with the purpose of the Commission, which of course I'm not changing but I wanted to specifically highlight
- that the purpose of the Commission is to
- Guiding the city's transportation endeavors through a comprehensive framework which seeks to provide
- adequate and safe access to all right-of-way Users as kind of the primary mission you could say of your
- body And when we created the Transportation Commission last year, there was a lot of discussion that
- I had both both in public at City Council meetings then also privately with colleagues and staff about
- the importance of the inclusion of representatives from Monroe County Community Schools on
- the body of the Transportation Commission that MCC SC manages transportation for about ten to twelve
- thousand students a day during the school year in Bloomington Monroe County. Of course a lot of that
- happens within city limits. And so somebody you know deeply invested in Monroe County Community Schools
- transportation would be a really apt addition to this body.
- And so this led to in the original membership of the commission including language of preference preference
- for an MCC SC related representative and I had spoken with the MCC SC superintendent at the time and
- she was excited and Recommended one of her Cabinet I think apply for the position and they were not
- Ultimately qualified because of a residency issue. They did not live within city limits and all of the
- appointments That were related to that. We're only for within city limits And so at that point once
- that problem came out we started going like oh do we still care about that? And you know, should we
- do something differently? And so the committee on council processes Started discussing this issue. So
- what follows in terms of proposal is kind of what came out of those discussions so
- Just wanted to go through everything That I might be changing in this and the first thing of course
- is not substantive It is capitals and we had this whole discussion last week at the committee on council
- processes meeting about whether These different bodies should be capitalized or not and that discussion
- I will say is ongoing. That's why this is a draft So don't ask me questions about this right now because
- that is a discussion that neither you nor I Honestly need to make and I don't think it matters either
- way as long as it's consistent
- So the first real change comes with number six and it might look like we're eliminating number six But
- really we're just changing the order of things. So in order to get that MCC SC person We have a special
- seat for them dedicated to
- The mayor is on board with appointing this person. So I will go ahead and read it for those who may
- not be able to see the slides. One member appointed by the mayor shall be an employee of the Monroe
- County Community School Corporation involved in student transportation.
- Monroe County Community School Corporation superintendent shall recommend up to three applicants to
- the mayor for consideration There are no residency requirements for this appointment They will be qualified
- for the appointment by merit of their employment with the Monroe County Community School Corporation.
- Oh Okay, and So then of course if we go back here this
- Previous number six to members appointed by council with experience using forms of travel other than
- personal motor vehicles that moves to number seven Okay, and you can see the original number seven did
- have that preference for application for somebody related to MCC SC and also had a second potential
- preference as a member of a community organization dedicated to serving a marginalized group so number
- six became number seven and Then we created a number eight
- To have that additional seat that was in number seven Continue it will be appointed by common council
- And once again the mayor supported that she take the seat the MCC SC appointed seat and leave common
- council with the residency appointed seat There where the preference will be a member of a community
- organization Dedicated to serving marginalized groups, especially safety marginalized transportation users
- And...
- Then the other thing and so this is a relatively new change. So if you read the packet too early It
- might not have been in there because I worked on this this weekend because at the CCP meeting last week
- It was also discussed that currently the terms on Transportation Commission are not staggered. So right
- now there are several terms that are set to expire January 31st of next year And so in an effort to
- stagger those terms the Novak report recommends staggering generally speaking. It's good for consistency. So
- This is you can say a very first draft at Proposal of how to stagger once again We have some capitals
- that we're fixing and then I changed instead of members appointed from the Council for Community
- Accessibility I said members appointed by the mayor which is more inclusive Because it includes both
- the Council for Community Accessibility seat and also this MCC SC seat and
- That generally those will be two-year terms, but starting next year. So with the fresh terms two of
- the council appointments will just have a single-year term and the third will be a two-year term and
- then one of the mayor's appointments will be a single-year term and the other one will be a two-year
- term and so that will after next year allow for staggering and I think that's
- Oh, I think the only other thing that I want to mention that I forget about is that none of this would
- Go into effect until the current residency appointed seats expire, which is January 31st of Next year.
- Okay, and then everything else in the code powers and duties procedure scheduling and staff There are
- no changes proposed in that so any questions or comments at this point?
- Thank you for the presentation councilmember Stasberg are there questions on this resolution to my right
- Commissioner Flaherty Thank you the new paragraph eight which References group serving marginalized
- residents, but especially a safety marginalized transportation users that used to be in a in a paragraph
- that had it was it was one in a handful of
- considerations and just wondering like what your perspective is on so for For a dedicated seat for you
- know with this priority for appointment like what type of organizations are you thinking of in Bloomington
- that would meet the definition of Serving safety marginalized transportation users You have any in mind
- that well, that's a great question I don't necessarily have any in mind because I
- for the sake of full transparency, I just took this one and replicated language. I did hear from the
- office of the mayor. So I originally had all three of those folks in number seven and included both
- of those preferences for appointments all together in the same paragraph. And at the request of the
- administration, they really wanted to set out
- serving marginalized groups as a second I'll say standard and it is valuable to note that I did make
- sure to put preference for appointment in those as opposed to a requirement for appointment just in
- case there's somebody that you can't find in terms of Marginalized groups. I think that we have a lot
- of marginalized groups that exist in the world, right? We can think about black and brown we can think about Age
- We can think about ability so we can think about like stone belt for example. Those folks might be safety
- marginalized. We can think about beacon and the unhoused because those folks are also safety marginalized.
- They're more vulnerable. We can think about El Centro.
- for example, because they work with immigrants. And right now, immigrants sure are a little bit more
- vulnerable in this world. So I think that there are several organizations that could potentially be,
- but I wasn't necessarily thinking of one in particular. And in addition, it says a member of a community
- organization. And we could play with that language, but in my mind, member of a community organization
- could be somebody who works there. It could be somebody who's served
- That organization it could be a volunteer or a board member It could be a lot of different types of
- people. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a professional in that space Thank you. Sure other questions
- questions to my left from commissioners anybody All right. I've got two I think one is Can you go back
- to the slide about empty CSC? It says
- the superintendent shall recommend. And a problem that just occurred to me is that, uh, they being a
- separately, a separate jurisdiction, our code can't bind a superintendent. Uh, so this shall here may
- be, um, uh, inappropriate. I don't know. Like it doesn't really have meaning here. You're, you're saying
- you want them to make the recommendation, but we can't make them. Do you see what I mean?
- Maybe it's a may here or rather shall be limited to recommending up to three applicants but it's I Mean,
- how do we bind the superintendent to make this recommendation to the mayor in the first place?
- At this point, I've spoken with Superintendent Mark a dr. Winston and I I think
- She was going to try to tune in on Zoom today. And so maybe she can speak to the current intention.
- She is very on board. I think you're potentially right, though. And so this is a question, honestly,
- to bring up with attorneys and legalists, whether we should change that from shall to may or will. I
- just want to bring that to your attention now because it's problematic, not with this situation. I'm
- sure that Superintendent Winston is
- Is on board and willing to cooperate. It's just that Again, we can't bind a city code can't bind a non
- city employee. So Fix that. Yeah, I'll talk to it with the attorney is about the best way to Okay Be
- accurate there. The other question is And I think I've mentioned this to you at the council processes
- meeting. I
- Despite appearances, I think that we're doing pretty well in getting at least six members present. And
- I wonder if you thought about expanding the commission by two members rather than repurposing a seat.
- I say this because when parking commission was created in 2017, we had very specific limits on,
- for example, two seats had to be merchants within the meter zone. And those proved to be very hard to fill.
- Uh, and so I wonder if, uh, maybe, uh, expanding so that you can get a very specific appointment in,
- uh, cause this day has can hold 11 and as long as we have six, we could have quorum to, to make decisions.
- I'm a little concerned about, um, uh, so many specific appointments that, uh, the commission becomes
- that much more inflexible, uh, in staffing itself.
- Do you have any thoughts about that? I think the only thoughts I have are pretty much the same ones
- that I shared at the CCP at this point That's not what the CCP thought would be a good way to go. There
- was concern about not having the applicants and so I think the conclusion that we came to at that point
- was to leave it at 9 for now and wait and see and if there seemed to be a plethora of applicants that
- would provide, I'll say, a diverse representation. Because if we have like five or six applicants and
- they're, I mean, if we look at, oh, it's not moving for me.
- Anyway, if we if we look at the current number seven, which is the struck out up there You know if we
- have five or six applicants for two seats But they all use bicycling as their primary method of transport.
- It's their alternate primary method of transportation they're not necessarily gonna have like a diverse
- set of kind of views that might be most
- Useful for y'all or if they all live in the same area of town or if they're all the same age or whatever
- it is but if there's you know a lot of different applicants and there's a transit rider and there's
- a cyclist and there's a walker and there's a Young person and an older, you know what? I mean, then
- I think that there was that openness to the idea of expanding it. So for now CCP was like not at the
- moment, but we're leaving that possibility open
- Okay heard. Thank you. Thank you any further questions from commissioners before we go to the public
- on this resolution commissioner Flaherty Thank you. I wanted to follow up on the mayoral appointment
- as well First of all, I just wonder if like reversing who has the responsibility there. So like if the
- mayor shall request a list of nominees, you know of a maximum of three applicants you know from the
- MCC SC superintendent and
- The other thing, I'm also mindful of past experience and how these things change over time. It's great
- that the school corporation is excited and on board, but we don't know what the future holds. And there
- was a time when the Commission on Sustainability had a ex officio seat voting for IU, a sustainability
- director. That seat, over time, became one that wasn't really filled. We even kind of accepted, not
- the director, but their designee, and then it turned out that
- It was really hard to sustain and, you know, just through different directorships over time, they just
- kind of didn't see the value in it anymore and didn't prioritize it. And that caused quorum issues and
- other, you know, challenges for the commission. And so, again, I do wonder if even adding an additional
- sentence that's like, in the event no qualified applicant meeting this criteria can be found, you know,
- the mayor shall, you know, make an appointment
- meeting some other criteria, keeping in mind the criterion paragraph seven and eight or something like
- that. Just so that we don't run into this block in code where for whatever unforeseen reason, we just
- can't fill a seat for months and months on end. Absolutely, thank you so much. I wrote down both of
- those language suggestions and I'll wordsmith that a little bit and go back to CCP
- All the things thanks anything else any further questions commissioners before we go to public comment
- Seeing none. Thank you Council member Stasburg. Is there any member of the public who would like to
- speak to TCR 2616 if so, please come to the podium state your name and sign in for the record You'll
- have three minutes. If you are online, please use the raise hand function and we'll call on you in due
- order. Is there anyone?
- Who would like to speak to TCR 26 16. I don't see anybody in the room coming to the podium anybody online
- raising their hand. Last call for public comment on TCR 26 16 going twice and we're back to the commission.
- Are there any debate on TCR 26 16 to my right to my left. OK.
- I'm just going to say that we did. The commission did have more applicants and it had seats and I remember
- being in a group of three and being interviewed en masse and there were three people right before us.
- Not everybody was interviewed was appointed to the commission. I don't think that this commission is
- suffering from a lack of applicants which is why I'd like to ask Councilmember Stossburg and
- the council in general to consider maybe amending the language to say nine to eleven members that if
- we were to expand first we wouldn't have to expand past nine but we could if there were enough applicants
- present whether it was ten or eleven members it would still require a six member quorum but adding a
- member or two would preserve the people who some of whom have served for a very short time on this commission
- while expanding the diversity of the commission. It's an opportunity for there to be more points of
- view without having to choose between points of view. And 11 isn't too big a number again this day as
- was built for it and we regularly meet in this room. I think the question is significant enough that
- it could withstand an expansion by as many as two members but phrasing it as nine to 11 doesn't require
- it only requires nine.
- So at least would give council and the administration the opportunity to expand. So that's my only thought.
- Other than that I recommend this these changes are there any last call to debate on TCR 26 16 seeing
- none. Will the secretary please call the roll on TCR 26 16. Oh we need a motion. We need a motion to approve.
- I'll make a motion we approve TCR 26 16 Need a second we have a motion in a second will the secretary
- please call the roll Sturmitis. Yes Boland. Yes Flaherty. Yes Davis. Yes Stasberg Epstein Coppock. Yes
- That passes five zero one
- Thank you very much. Let's now move to discussion of topics on the docket. This is where I pass the
- gavel and bring up the resolution I put forward which has not been placed as a case and we probably
- should discuss that. But Mr. Chair I would like to well I guess I have to ask questions of staff now.
- Staff can we vote on this resolution today.
- I'm so sorry. I was trying to figure out the vote from the last. Can you repeat your question? Okay.
- Well, I put forward a resolution to discuss the parking report Can we vote on this resolution today
- if it's under? Discussion of topics not on the docket. Yeah, of course if you make a motion if the body
- makes in seconds emotion You can vote on it tonight. All right, so we can just like with this previous
- resolution We can hear it as a resolution correct. All right, I like to move it doesn't have a number
- So can you give me a number?
- Yes, but I have it as TCR 26 xx. You don't need to move anything unless you're making the motion right
- now I am making the motion. Okay, sorry You passed the gavel. I'm catching up. I'm so sorry. Do we have
- a number? It's okay The resolution number would be 26-17, okay, I
- I'd like to move approval of resolution TCR 2617, formerly known as TCR 26XX. Second. Thank you. Okay.
- I hope all of you had a chance to read your packet. This basically says that it is our duty to oversee,
- where does it say it?
- to make recommendations on public parking policy including but not limited to pricing hours of operation
- additional removal of parking supplier parking spaces changes to city code changes to applicable city
- plans enforcement procedure or any other asset of parking management policy and also that the commission
- should coordinate supervise and when necessary approve transportation related studies plans consultant
- reports activities programs and projects.
- So this report is right up our alley but it was commissioned before this commission existed at any rate
- in addition to the fact that we have an obligation to produce an annual report of our own which is part
- of this resolution. The the report is something that we should be weighing in on.
- And so I've prepared a simple slideshow putting up the recommendations made in the report for us to
- discuss here. And I'm going to connect now. Let me see here. Share. I have to find my slideshow.
- One second, please.
- Okay, can everybody see the screen? Okay. So just to begin, there's nothing in this slide show that
- isn't something, a document that's already available to commissioners except for the recommendation
- we'll talk about here now. Anyway, this is the, oh wait, it's not going.
- Okay, we'll just start like this. Each of you has received a copy of the comprehensive policy passed
- by the Bloomington parking commission in 2022. It's printed in front of you. It's also available on
- the appropriate city website. And it's just a reminder of the policies that the parking commission,
- which is a predecessor commission to this body,
- Came up with in 2022 and reaffirmed in 2024 I only say it now because this resolution calls for us to
- look at the Walker report through the lens of the comprehensive plan the transportation plan and this
- policy So here are the 12 Recommendations made by Walker I think that
- Most of them are pretty good. Some of them deserve a rethinking and I wanted to go over each one but
- I'm going to make a motion at the end of this presentation summarizing my recommendations and asking
- you to endorse them or amend them or reject them. So let's start with the first one. Can I ask a point
- of order. Yeah. I read the.
- resolution as Creating a process by which the Commission would Make recommendations about the Walker
- report, but are you suggesting that? Adoption of this resolution would endorse the specific findings
- you're presenting now adoption of a motion would adopt those findings the the resolution says
- The Commission should give its opinion of the overall quality and merit of the report with a specific
- focus on it as a template for filling the Commission's duty under BMC to 12070 for and then it says
- it shall review for its endorsement each other recommendations made by Walker in the report Got it.
- I was I was reading that as like a future tense. So shall review for its endorsement and that the task
- force would maybe be responsible for Proposing to the Commission for adoption at like a future meeting
- recommendations, so I just misunderstood maybe the the intent and I'm a little if I would find that
- acceptable we didn't have these your your proposed findings in advance of right right now, correct and
- I have not shown the findings yet and I can stop here and Yeah, I mean I believe that the Commission
- should weigh in on the recommendations. I'm fine with taking the time to do it I the only concern I
- have is that
- report is going to be presented to council the first week of August and I don't know what's appropriate
- for Again, we didn't oversee the production of this report. I want to make sure the council knows that
- we didn't So I'm not sure how much long after that council should hear the Commission's recommendations
- on it I thought it'd be appropriate to do so now while we had a slow docket At this at the very least
- I'd like to discuss the recommendations as a
- As a an advance I can just tell you my But I'm also happy to defer to a later meeting But keeping in
- mind that we don't have an August meeting. Is that correct? We don't schedule a regular session August
- because of budgets We do not have a regular hearing scheduled for August. There is a planning session
- scheduled for the 18th 17th, okay. Oh
- 24. Thank you. I'm thinking of September September 17th is the one so the the the next opportunity we'd
- have to give our official opinion would be the September meeting and Sorry to continue on this thread,
- but my I'm not sure what If anything is being asked of the City Council in the August meeting if it's
- simply a presentation I don't know if this wall if it's yes, just a presentation Okay, so so recommendations from this
- Commission that followed from that wouldn't necessarily be untimely so to speak like in and to me it'd
- be much better to I don't mind walking through your recommendations Commissionable and if you'd like
- as a item for discussion, but like I think just My preference would be to have the ability to review
- them in advance to come prepared to make any recommended adjustments at a future meeting so
- I would be happy to I mean that's fine with me I'd be happy to present these only as my opinions and
- not ask members to vote on it today, but The the resolution is written so that doesn't specifically
- say that The Commission shall give its opinion with this, right? It doesn't doesn't set a date. It sort
- of anticipates a future set of
- future opinion and endorsements Okay, so I will stop the presentation there and pick up on it in a second.
- I just want to say that section 2 calls for the formation of a task force or Let's call it a committee
- We've debated these terms a lot over the years a subset of members of this body plus select members
- of staff who have relevant experience towards the Commission's obligation to
- to produce an annual report on parking. So that's the gist of it. And with that, I'm happy to answer
- any questions before I go into my own recommendations, which I can give in the debate portion. Any questions
- for Mr. Volum? OK, question. Mr. Coppock. I have a question. Should we not deal with the resolution
- Well based on what Commissioner Flaherty has just said what I'm going to suggest is that we Pass the
- in the course of passing the resolution I can give my Take on the recommendations for future consideration,
- but it's not it's just something to To inform you and not something I'm asking you to vote on at this time
- questions for mr. Volin Yeah, the This commission or the task force. Do you have a concept so much of
- how often it would meet? It's an annual meeting Is that a single annual meeting with staff or is this
- something that would take multiple meetings? It's a great question the short of it is that it took the
- parking commission a lot of time to produce the report more time than it had and
- And it fell behind to the point where it got stuck in 2019 So it's a not trivial Walker parking has
- done an extraordinary amount of work and so we have to be practical about what can it can't be done,
- but the ordinance does call for more detail than was provided by Walker and so it's got to be a joint
- effort between commissioners and city staff and perhaps
- Outside contractors if necessary, we've got to figure out how much it would cost to do it And so it's
- probably going to take several meetings before we determine a course of action Okay, I don't think it's
- a one annual meeting. Okay, and then With those meetings in your Hypothetically, would they be open
- to the public or I assume they'd be closed or I mean It's any
- That's a very good question. That's fraught basically any sub body is a public body and has to To meet
- according to open door law. So yes, they would be public meetings Mr. Flaherty Thank you first I appreciate
- the attention you're bringing to the one of the duties of the Commission which is to produce or oversee
- an annual analysis of parking asset management
- And it includes but is not limited to a variety of things related to costs utilization Parking data
- analytics and recommended policy changes You're quite right that the Commission the former parking Commission
- Did have a hard time Producing such reports in a timely fashion and in my mind like like part of the
- language here about producing or overseeing is
- and some of the broader ideas in the Walker consultant report and in past conversations we've had was
- to get to a point where we have the data tools to relatively simply produce a consistent set of metrics
- over time every year, year over year, so that we can analyze those trends. And then the primary role
- of this body would be to, in conversation with our parking services staff, possibly other engineering
- or planning and transportation staff,
- Consider the policy dimensions and make recommendations on the policy dimensions and so I guess it gave
- me a little bit of pause reading the in the resolution just the To begin production of the annual analysis
- of parking mentioned above it sort of like a little bit implies to me that the The task force would
- be the ones producing it Maybe that's not wrong but but I'm wary of trying to recreate what was done
- in the parking commission
- Versus figuring out how to do this in a sustainable way And so this is this so what are your thoughts
- I have another point I want to dig into but like what are your are you aligned with my thinking there?
- Like what are your thoughts? I am I mean I I suffered many a lonely night trying to process several
- million parking transactions in my poor wheezing database and
- I know how laborious it can be with the wrong tools, and this is also talking as long as seven years
- ago or more. Our technology has advanced since then. It should be, as you say, relatively easier now
- to produce a report that would meet the standards of the ordinance. I do want to point out that
- The commission did its made its effort to develop reports with no support whatsoever while the commission
- got raw data from the administration. There was no money contributed for outside consultants. There
- was no staff helping produce the report. The commission tried to do it by itself and that's not tenable.
- So we have to find a process that everybody can live with and yet be able to
- get the data that we need to make rational decisions like how much you'll be charging for parking on
- the street in the garages. How often should we adjust it. You know we can't do that without hard data.
- And also where is the money going. Where what. Where does the money flow from. Where does it flow to.
- What parts of the system are are breakeven or generating excess revenue which ones are not expenses.
- so these are all things that Should interest every every one particularly this members of this body.
- Mm-hmm Follow up on that front is that okay or do you want to I can save it for another round? Yeah,
- I'd like to take a bite out of the apple I share these concerns about the workload Mr. Volin, we have
- this the vendors still here Would you like to ask them if you just gave a list of things you might like
- an annual report?
- Would you like to hear if these products might help us with the I would like to ask both vendors a very
- specific question since I'm you're passing me the opportunity to ask the question which is can the report
- provide visualization of Usage of given meters by block Whoever likes to go first, please come up and tell us
- Yes, so we actually your name and your Braxton Ratliff IPS group Yeah, we've actually already stood
- up an instance where a lot of the issues a lot of the concerns That you're they're talking about right
- now. We actually have that data flown into our platform to where we can Look at block faces and see
- the revenue coming in. We're able to ingest citation data from your enforcement operation We're able
- to ingest any mobile payment provider out. There's data as well and
- Yeah, it's your point. We're able to provide you know starting tomorrow with our meter data as the current
- meter provider All of the support that you would need to stand up this, you know This this report to
- stand up this commission and help you make decisions I might ask a follow-up question. How long have
- you been able to do that? So IPS we we tried to do it on our own and we actually went out and acquired
- a company one of the top data aggregation companies in the industry company by the name of populace
- And so they've been able to do it for quite some time. So it's been a really good thing for us.
- But yeah, we were able to go back and get all your historical data. I don't know if that's more in the
- line of what you're asking. So the Walker study is nice. The parking studies are nice. But what we're
- able to provide is, in a sense, an ongoing Walker study. We can provide the ability to do predictive
- rates, or what does the rates look like when IU is playing?
- Football school now I guess or when I use playing, you know, whoever I mean we were able to put that
- predictability in there Again to help that report and help you make decisions. So very good. Thank you.
- Yeah, absolutely Josh Deter with arrive. Yes. Thank you for the follow-up question So similar to what
- Braxton mentioned we can also supply very similar data in terms of visualization on anal bases for your
- occupancy and
- If the Commission allows I do have an example I'd be happy to leave behind so you have a handout in
- front of you But with that said we do have that current ability actually also loaded in your current
- park mobile dashboard That does allow for historical data live view as well as future forecasting as
- well as with our proposed insights tool that does allow for true vehicle capture in terms of satellite
- imagery lighter scanners and etc that
- Will allow for what my colleague Matt mentioned earlier of all vehicles whether they are paid unpaid
- time of day provided true holistic approach to your occupancy inventory and Planning for the future
- on your street faces and I don't need a verbal answer But I trust that both vendors can integrate IPS
- meter data with park mobile meter data. Is that correct? Okay, thank you So
- I think one one process I see here is to defer this conversation until one of these vendors is online
- and for this cycle work with the Walker report is something we oversee rather than Reproduce and then
- as we see these new reporting tools Maybe in for the next cycle will have an easier and different process
- that might be manageable by a commission in a way that it wasn't previously with the parking commission
- Well, I think that the Walker report goes beyond Questions of equipment. That's one section of the report.
- There are other recommendations that I think are That the Commission needs to be thinking about now
- and not wait till next year. Thank you Mr. Flaherty Thank you. Yeah, I think so following up on on the
- role of the Walker consultants report and my understanding of that from prior conversations with
- Michelle wall when she was here and just what the report covers is that it's not Something that we anticipate
- producing every year nor is it the exact same thing as what the mission the commission is charged with
- It's like a companion but distinct piece. It's it's analyzing some different things making a set of
- recommendations We might do something like that every I don't know five to ten years, but we still want
- to track the the data trends annually to understand, you know how to make policy adjustments and
- I guess a Seeking again just is that how you're understanding Commissioner Boland like the role of that
- report. I feel like there was something in the text of the resolution that Made me think otherwise,
- but I could be wrong. Maybe just how we discussed it. I should say that Just for the sake of history
- week first commissioned a report in 2007 from Walker I had a 2012 follow-up study the parking commission and
- Commissioned report in 2018 and went with Desmond out of Chicago And now we the city has hired Walker
- again in 2026. Sorry just to clarify it was this section 1a that says In reference to the Walker consulting
- report Specific focus on it as a template for fulfilling the commission's duty to producer oversee an
- annual analysis of parking So that's that's the language that gave me pause this idea that the Walker
- consulting report is a template for something that would be produced each year
- Because I understood it conceptually as something quite distinct from what we would be doing on the
- annual basis Okay, I see your point and I will just say the phrases with a specific focus on it as a
- Template not the template and that it's a certainly a good starting foundation. It's a foundation we
- can change it if you'd like but a template simply means that
- Why would we want to start with something else? We could start with that report and with prior Parking
- Commission reports in creating something new. So I mean I'm Agnostic about it. I'm happy to change it
- if you like To to a different word as a foundation Template I don't think there's that much difference
- Up to you Okay
- I might make a quick motion to replace the word template with foundation in section 1a of the resolution
- Second I second second. All right. We'll just do a voice vote all in favor Motion carries Thank you,
- okay Mr. Kopp
- Well this this simply calls for the Commission to weigh in on the report produced this year by Walker
- Yes Questions questions, mr. Bowen All right
- None what we all right any comments from the public on Mr. Seaborg Point of order we might separately
- want to invite staff comment or perspective. Thank you from from public. I could start this Okay, mr.
- Seaborg staff Sure. Thank you Andrew Seaborg City engineer
- Just appreciating the questions appreciating the discussion Recognizing that in August there is an intention
- for a mayor's office report to City Council of the Walker study I think the intention is that is just
- a report similar to what you received previously I'm just to raise awareness to what the report is saying.
- It's not an endorsement of recommendations It's just here is what Walker's report is including specific
- to this resolution
- I think the main thing I wanted to raise and I think tried to in an email before is maybe focusing on
- section two and just what the commission's duties are to produce or oversee. And I guess fundamentally,
- those are two very different things that are, as staff, I want to have clarity on what the expectations
- of each of us are.
- I will just admit I was not a part of the parking commission, but generally my expectation would be
- that the administration and staff is in the best position to produce reports and Commissions generally
- are in a great position to oversee reports and review them but if Commission members want to form a
- committee and do the work that staff then no longer needs to do that also has some appeal but I do just
- honestly worry about what those meetings would look like and
- From a staffing perspective from a minute taking perspective from getting commissioners at those meetings
- Routinely and and just imagining this commission ten years from now with maybe very different members
- And is it fair to expect of them to do what I would generally expect of staff? So just that's one of
- the fundamental questions in my mind that just really hoping for clarity and having some real concern
- or pause about what section two really means and the implications of it So just wanted to highlight those
- for the consideration of the group but Happy to answer any questions Thank You mr. Boy, mr. Wallen,
- I just wanted to ask your opinion of Bloomington code to 12 070 4g which says the Commission is required
- to quote produce or oversee an annual analysis of parking asset management I was quoting from the ordinance.
- Yeah, so I agree with you that produce or oversee is a
- a little ambivalent. But I guess all I'm saying is we've been at this for a year and we haven't even
- begun the discussion of producing the report. And I feel it's at least incumbent on us to push the question.
- And so, you know, at the very least what this body can do is name three members to a committee that
- can then meet with staff
- Focus on this task. It doesn't have to have the concern of every member at every meeting And that was
- my goal. So is that does that alleviate any concerns you have as as staff? I think I still have the
- fundamental question of whose role it is to actually write and do the report I think that is that is a
- I just don't have clarity on and would very and which is a result of the code that form this commission
- So if there's an opportunity to clarify it that that would be helpful, but it leaves a very divergent
- track there Shoot I'm honestly forgetting a part of your question. I mean I if I may I would suggest
- that It is asking a lot of volunteer commissioners to produce report we get some of us veterans of that
- commission
- Can tell you that it was basically impossible We we did as many as we could before we conked out So
- we need staff's help. There's no question about that So I also though think that commissioners can and
- should be involved in the writing of at least high-level Overviews of the data that might be provided
- by staff or outside contractors. So it's going to take a lot of heads in the same room with different
- expertises and
- for us to figure it out. But that's what we have to do. That's where we're the ones who have to make
- you do it. I guess maybe I disagree. And so like as a commission staff will write a report that I think
- is intended as guided by the code.
- I think it has this commission has been now for about a month or a year and staffed I think the annual
- report is something staff in the background have already started to talk about And strategize about
- how to develop it has this is a new commission. We're getting very much up and running We also haven't
- talked about an annual safety report, which is also something we need to do but those things are in
- the works in the background and
- and a reason the parking study or annual parking report also is behind is because we've had this Walker
- study that Has as you know has experienced some delays too, and we didn't want to we couldn't do two
- things at once So those are very much in motion and intended to come to this Commission And no matter
- who is writing will be discussed for sure You're making a point for me in that We could and should have
- been calling for this anytime in the existence of the Commission
- That the Walker study was being done. It was a great convenience, but it didn't change our obligation
- to produce that report and having been Commissioned in existence for literally 13 14 months now We should
- have produced one by now. So I'm I'm fine with what you're you're saying Just that I think it's our
- obligation as a commission to require that the report be produced by whatever means we must
- collectively Thank you Other feedback from staff We'll move on to public comment if anyone is in the
- room or online who would like to comment on this Seeing none come back to the Commission for further
- comment Mr. Flaherty
- I Generally support the resolution. I do think it's it's worthwhile for the Commission to So looking
- at section one first To weigh in on the recommendations of the walk Walker consultants report. I think
- that can be done You know following this meeting it sounds like our chair would like to take would like to
- Put forth a set of recommendations and if we can do that in a way that's that's timely For review and
- an input prior to the next meeting we could we could make any adjustments vote on them and
- forward recommendations then I think that's worthwhile and a good idea Section two actually do like
- the term task force Commissioner Roland started saying committee, but I think task force is more of a
- Not a standing thing that will last in perpetuity but rather like we're getting it started for the purpose
- of figuring out this exact thing of What does it mean for the role of the Commission in its duties to
- oversee or produce a report? I agree that the data analytics piece in particular is far too much to
- expect a volunteer Commission to be able to do
- I'm a little agnostic on, like, the writing of a report. I'm envisioning a relatively brief report.
- Some of the reports produced by the Parking Commission in the past actually were, you know, at the end
- of the day, the synthesized bit was relatively short, four or five pages, and I'm imagining we're gonna
- get to a point where we have a template of a report and a given set of metrics that we produce each
- year. We could make adjustments to those as needed, of course, but it would kind of give you that template
- You know that that we use our data tools from vendors like those here before us to produce and then
- I think again It could be a commission a commission task or maybe it is a committee task To do the writing
- or that could be staff and and then it's presented, you know, and this body can then You know propose
- amendments essentially to to a report bought by staff I do think that if this is already underway to
- some degree for the year 2026 That
- We should start collaborating sooner than later like it's it'd be better to have some input on the Formation
- of the report rather than like waiting for a final draft from staff to be the first, you know review
- in the first instance So I think this task force can serve that purpose as well So those are my thoughts.
- I think it's there are some some questions outstanding. There are some things to figure out I was sympathetic
- to I think everything director seabor said I don't think there's strong misalignment there in my mind,
- but I think it's gonna take a few meetings anyway to sort it out
- Thanks. Thank you. I think those are good comments from Flaherty. I agree. Again I would like to formally
- adopt kind of some of the recommendations from the Walker study in section one. I like section one of
- this resolution section two. I'm like very opposed to creating a task force. I kind of see this commission
- as wonderful because it eliminated the separation of subcommittees and different meetings and groups
- and things and I would like
- I don't know if there's a way to do this and the resolution some kind of confirmation that this would
- indeed be a limited time task force and would not be an ongoing thing. And I would think even given
- how things can get drawn out and staff time can be kind of over accessed maybe even like a time limit
- of like the task force will exist until this date some type of deadline. I don't know.
- And I think we there is a real tension to resolve about produce versus oversee I think we should have
- a goal of removing one of those verbs It sounds like everyone here had some Concerns about the production
- part of it. I also have concerns about section 2 To speak to go back to the Parking Commission and the
- trouble they had producing the report. Those were 11 people who were there 9 to 11 to focus specifically
- on parking and
- Now, we have a more diverse group here by intention. People come here with background in public
- transportation, with accessibility, with cycling. To find three people who have the time and expertise
- to really focus on producing a detailed parking report is going to be even more of a challenge here
- than what you described as a nearly impossible task of the parking commission. So I think we'll probably
- be well served to resolve this language in favor of having
- Our role to be oversee and then work out the details of how that is produced I agree with mr. Seabor
- that generally the staff is in a good position to over to to implement reports Thank you Okay, first
- to address some of the comments I've heard I don't like the word task force. A lot of people don't like
- the word committee but the simple purpose of the committee is to
- Create an informal smaller group to help develop recommendations to the full body. I wanted to call
- it a task force because it didn't need to be as formal as this body and it needed to be able to have
- open and frank conversations with between commissioners and members of staff.
- So that was my only goal in calling for a task force. I still think it's the right idea. I do agree
- with Mr. Flaherty that it can and should be limited in scope, that it's meant to help create the first
- one and hopefully that future reports will be more easily produced by staff and overseen by the commission.
- But as to what should be in the report, if it's up to staff alone,
- to decide what should be in the report then effectively the commission is not overseeing the report.
- They're simply receiving something that staff decides it should be a conversation between both that
- both are necessary to produce the report. Now remind everyone that the parking commission as far back
- as 2017 was all but starved of resources by the administration whose mayor vetoed it. So this is a commission
- that has been created
- Between council and mayor there's a lot more agreement on it. It's more substantial. I disagreed with
- the elimination of the parking commission For this reason that it was that many more people devoted
- to there's plenty to talk about just with parking But this is the what the city has decided they need
- to do to create this Commission that is a broader scope and so within this new paradigm we have to figure
- out how to produce a
- this report. It's just as important as it used to be. It's just now part of a bigger commission.
- With that, I was going to take this opportunity to give people a preview of what my recommendations
- for the report would be. At the very least, you can think about your opinions of it and we can vote
- on it in September. These are, again, just my opinions and not the opinions of the commission. I'll
- start with there are 12. You can see on the screen here this is
- Figure one of the report it gives 12 recommendations three each under organization policy operations
- technology and communications branding and wayfinding the preview is I endorse eight the twelve one
- I am Concerned about and I give it a yellow flag and three I oppose So let's talk about them each the
- first is this recommends transferring all citation appeals duties from the city clerk's office and
- the parking services division briefly the clerk is already essentially municipal court the The Walker
- study says that in another city municipal court might be the court of appeal I think we already have
- that system and I don't think this is necessary the fact that parking services is no longer in City
- Hall makes it a customer service issue because people who go there to appeal a ticket finally have to
- go to another office and
- But that's something that can be addressed by a different recommendation in the study. The
- second organization recommendation was to develop a mission for parking services for the division that
- is supported across city departments. I agree with it and would love to go into more detail at a later
- time. The third is adopt a data driven approach to parking operations and management with recurring
- transparency of key performance indicators. I also heartily endorse this item under policy.
- The first item was implement on-street meter parking rate changes utilizing a zone based system considering
- high and lower demand areas. This has been overdue for a decade. We can't do this fast enough. I emphatically
- endorse this recommendation. The second one was to implement parking changes off street. The garages
- cannot are not a vacuum. The garage and lots and the meters.
- Together create a single system. This was the point of the Parking Commission's report that it's we
- treat the system unitarily and not as separate silos The third was to reduce on-street paid parking
- enforcement hours. This seemed to be a customer service style reaction, but Consistently we seen in
- the city that parking after 5 p.m Is as robust if not more than parking during the day and that people
- who? ask for this
- Mean that no one has ever wanted to pay for parking So it's it's just not something that I would recommend
- Under operations technology transition to multi-space on sheet meter pay stations operating using pay
- by plate I don't know whether the the era of the single space meter is over in Bloomington perhaps at
- at Handicap spaces they might need to stay but I
- I for one endorsed the idea that we certainly need to upgrade the technology we're using it was used
- when we bought it in 2013 and It's I I can only imagine the horror stories that parking services has
- about maintaining them The second item on moving to a pay by plate a multi-space meter system update
- the enforcement system to mobile license plate recognition technology and transition digital permits
- the problem with LPR technology, this is why if
- flagged this as a yellow is the same category that we've just seen debated in the city with flock cameras.
- The privacy issues are significant. I don't have an opinion on this. I just know that political concerns
- may hold this up and it's something that we need to think about. But I don't think we can think about
- it outside of a greater discussion about city privacy policies which transcends parking.
- And finally in operations technology replace the existing Austrian gated parking equipment for the same
- reasons as the meters before they're in need of a refresh under communications branding and wayfinding
- create a recognizable parking system logo and brand identity separate from the city's brand identity.
- The issue I have with this is not the idea itself. It's that anything that I mean if we're having trouble
- with the communications and wayfinding
- And this isn't done as part of a large I think that there's a body outside of parking outside of any
- department. Perhaps it's out of the mayor's office. That should be it shouldn't be reinventing the wheel
- in a different silo. It should be done as part of an overall city refresh wayfinding refresh. It can't
- just be done by parking services specifically. Number two C2 was develop and launch.
- A marketing campaign. Absolutely. We need more of this, not less. And finally, installing informational
- signage at key locations. The same thing. So, uh, of the, the 12 I recommended eight, uh, I'm opposed
- to three and have concerns, believe that the commission should be concerned about one.
- And that's I'm going to ask that my colleagues to do the same thing with this report to come up with
- your Opinions about each of these recommendations. They're extremely relevant to our mission and we
- should be I think this is what council expects of us so with that I would ask for approval of this resolution
- and I can just finally say with regard to section 2 I don't want to limit
- Such a body to three members. If there are other members of the body who would like to sit in on the
- task force, you are welcome to. I'm simply trying to save some commissioners work, not trying to exclude
- them from this important discussion. But it needs to happen now and not wait till the September meeting,
- which is two months from now. We need to be getting moving on producing this report. Thank you. Thank you.
- Now We're looking for a motion or more public comment I think was introduced with a motion to adopt.
- So I think the question is pending if we're ready to take a vote on it Okay I'll ask the Commission
- any further comment before we vote on this I Will have one sure brief follow-up, which is that I I heard
- things they agreed with from other commissioners about you know if I guess if
- We had an August session or if we had more time, I would favor setting a time limit and a narrow scope
- for the task force for the purpose of basically helping us define the first version of this annual report
- and what we want it to look like. So that's my intent in supporting the resolution. But I think because
- we don't have an August session and when it faced two months of delay to, you know,
- Hold on the resolution and make such such amendments to it or edits to it I would I'm still in favor
- of moving forward tonight. So just wanted to clarify that Thank you All right, is there a motion to
- adopt commissioners Olin resolution TCR 26 17 as written I'm so sorry
- Wait, I would it's not as written. It was amended previously. Okay, and you've already have a motion
- and a second So I just need to call roll when you're ready All right, then roll call Bolin Yes,
- Flaherty Yes, Davis. Yes, Stossberg. Yes Coppock. Yes, sure might yes All right motion carries, thank you
- And with that, we will return the gavel back to Mr. Vola. Thank you, Mr. Sossberg. Let's now move to...
- Can I actually... Sorry, can I ask another point of order? Yes. Which is whether the chair intends to
- name members of the task force and if that needs to be done in a meeting versus outside of it. I was
- going to do it just a second since the resolution has been adopted. Before I name members, I'd like
- to ask if there's any volunteers.
- Anybody who desperately wants to be on this task force? Is there am I seeing any hands? Over here.
- All right. Oh, I'm going to name myself comes with a flare or Commissioner Flaherty and because he's
- not here Commissioner binder Who was also on the parking commission before so if anybody else wants
- to be on it, please let me know Let's move on now to the update of the local motion grant from staff
- Who is here to present that
- I'm David Brant as the alternative transportation coordinator Please go ahead. Thank you so just to
- refresh everyone's memory on the local motion grant program, this is an annual cycle where Community
- organizations submit a proposal their project idea that promotes walking biking rolling in the community
- applicants
- Provide to us a short narrative describing its impact and how they intend to implement that So there
- will be a timeline of how they will complete their small project over the next year and then report
- back to us a 10% cash match is required. So they have some skin in the game there So 2025 awardees you
- may recall we had five splitting a pool of eight thousand dollars
- so the Bloomington community bike project with and The Monroe County Public Library and Summit Hill
- They all received $2,000 each and then as you can see up there the boys and girls club and the YMCA
- Got two more They each got $1,000 so a couple examples of what we're talking about here is
- Summit Hill, for example, they had a bike repair station installed Sight with them the boys and girls
- club. They recently sent a couple pictures of their club riders program In operation and then like the
- YMCA had healthy kids state event that this funding went towards So that's sort of the scope of what
- we're looking at here To give you a preview of the 2026 cycle
- We hope to send out a press release sometime in August announcing the call for projects And then the
- tentative timeline is that we would bring those to the October Transportation Commission for your review
- So tentatively those dates that are important to applicants are October 5th would be the application
- deadline and then they would submit to us a
- Materials for their presentation by October 19th to be included in packet and then October 26 each For
- the for the Transportation Commission each organization would have a five-minute presentation To explain
- what their Proposal would be and then it would be up to Commission members from there to decide how
- to allocate funds and ask any questions of those organizations
- So with that most, just to summarize, most everything is staying the same as last year, but please do
- take notes, relay any comments to staff. If you have ideas of ways to do it different in 2027, questions
- about the process, we're happy to answer that. So that's the end of my update there, and please let
- us know if you have any questions for us.
- Thank you. Are there any questions on the local motion grant awards to my right? To my left Thank you
- for the report much obliged Let's now move to the safe streets and roads for all SS for a annual report
- who's presenting this one? I see. Mr. Duncan Hello, my name is Hank Duncan safe streets program manager
- as part of the safe streets for all action plan adopted in 2024
- City staff is tasked with preparing an annual report highlighting progress made toward vision zero This
- report will be presented to the Transportation Commission and City Council Before we develop the city's
- first report later in the year We want to talk to this Commission about the performance measures included
- in it Within the staff memo. There is a list of performance measures we plan to include in the report
- and as transportation commissioners
- We request that you review the measures to be included in the report and make suggestions as to any
- other Items that should be included in the final report. Oh I'm sorry. I thought you were Yeah, I have
- one like that's a question mr. Stossberg, I'm so sorry. I completely yes. I
- The metrics are great. Do you anticipate the annual report will include maps? For example, I'd like
- to see the Map of the high-injury network shrinking over time as we approach zero miles of high-injury
- network so the high-injury network is the network of the highest percentile of the streets with the
- highest percentile of fatal and severe injuries in Bloomington so
- It will never shrink unless we get to zero The streets will just change and the numbers required to
- make it onto the high-end your network will just decrease So it could work if the framing was not a
- percentile, but some sort of absolute number of crash. Yes. Yeah Thank you further questions to my left
- To my right this comes from a commissioner Flaherty I
- Yeah, thank you. Um, will there be like geospatial analysis as part of this? Like do you think some
- of these metrics will be presented in that way or it would be purely like aggregate numbers? You know
- that is a good question. I'm not sure yet We've been looking at reports from other cities Indianapolis
- just published their first SS for a report earlier this year as you and Commissioner Strasburg said
- maps and geospatial analyses and visualizations that
- We would like that to be a part of the plan. I can't commit to that yet just because I don't know what
- that entails yet, but we would like to Thank you further questions Let me ask one first. These are the
- reason I was Proclaimed there for a minute is because I was looking in the ordinance creating this commission
- as to whether there was the same obligation that mr Seabor pointed out for us to oversee the SS for
- a report and there does not seem to be
- Is this the first such report that has it not been produced yet? Yes, correct. Okay What is your rough
- timetable for getting it done? Part of it depends on the performance measures that you all would like
- to be included in the report, right right now It's late. July. We would like to do it by mid to late fall and
- Sometime before the end of this year, but I think around October was that happy medium time that we're
- expecting it But again things can change but sometime this year, okay How many of these items here on
- this list are Hard to get easy to get do you have them? I mean do they require some of them require
- more work than others? sure, so a lot of these are easy to get because we have a
- Great crash dashboard and in crash data provided by the state There will be other items and some of
- these items there is an element to subjectivity For example the very last one dollar amount invested
- in infrastructure improvements along the high priority network as a percentage of all transportation
- projects I Would argue that just about all of the city's infrastructure projects include some safe streets elements
- That could be as little as adding in as a repaving project that adds in a curb extension or a curb ramp
- or a signal replacement that changes the geometry just a little bit. The challenge on our end will be
- how much of that money that went to the car centric maintenance project, how much of that went to the
- safety improvements as well. So that one may be the most difficult one because we will be going through
- each of the projects and looking at
- the individual items or even making an estimate as to how much was actually Made towards that safety
- improvement How might you go about distinguishing And I'm like from for one Item how much of it is safety
- related how much is not safety related? I mean like how do you Is there a way is it arbitrary is it?
- Yeah, that's
- That is one of the questions I have right now. What I would like to do is go through the cost the engineering
- incurred throughout those different projects and I'd like to see what the labor materials costs are
- for those safe for those individual safety improvement items But I'm not sure that exists for every
- project because it is under one one contract and labor is labor Okay further questions mr. Stossberg Yeah
- We want numbers that in five years, in 10 years, we can have useful trend lines and that works the best
- if we put the right numbers on there now. Absolutely. Bloomington seems to be doing a good job at growing.
- So we want to be able to show progress even as we're putting more cars on the road, perhaps more cyclists.
- What I'm not seeing here are some relative numbers that might scale over time, like number of injuries
- versus miles traveled or
- number of injuries versus the population of Bloomington so that If we grow by 2% our crashes grow by
- 1% we could show that we're making progress and at least in a relative sense That is a great idea and
- that's something that in dot does a good job of we and I don't know if we have or are capable capable
- of getting a number of total miles traveled in this throughout the city of Bloomington, but we do have
- traffic counts for example
- Walnut Street has an average daily traffic volume of about 13,000 motor vehicles per day if we know
- that there are X number of fatal severe injury crashes today Versus 10 years from now when traffic numbers
- have gone up which we can calculate compared to the FS eyes in that year that can be that scalable number
- that you're thinking of and Maybe population could be a proxy for how are we keeping our community safe?
- Do you think mode share is an interesting? number or set of numbers like our
- Are we helping if we shift more people from single-family occupancy to other modes? Oh for sure and
- That that is absolutely part of the goal of what we in planning and transportation do it is not just
- about improving the existing Streetscape network. It's about improving the network so that mode shift
- occurs and we get more people Walking more people rolling more people using the bus rather than driving
- their car because most crashes occur by people driving their car
- Thank you. Now, in terms of getting those figures, right now, we use census data, which is every decade.
- And most, if not all, of the questions revolve around community going to work. What percentage of the
- time do you bike going to work? And that's a part of it.
- But that's not all transportation. We also use mode shares to do things other than going to work. So
- the census is a Number that we can use. I'm not sure if it's the number that we should use. Thank you
- Further questions to my left Yeah, thank you You're to my right. Oh, that's right. Yeah, let's go to
- second round questions to my right. Mr. Flaherty Thanks
- Yeah, similarly, I think, I know this is the first report, but thinking ahead, we'll want to, I think,
- include, like, longitudinal trends, so like, how does this, you know, how do these numbers change over
- time? I think the absolute number is useful, but in some of these metrics, like having, yeah, relative
- to what would definitely be useful, even just as a percentage, the number of crashes involving speeding
- or distracted driving,
- All crashes what percentage you know, maybe those things are planned already, but just looking at the
- list it says number similar number of action items completed from the the the I guess the countermeasures
- like policy roadmap, right? Maybe we only get so like also the total right so as we have two three four
- years down the line like the number completed that year the total to date
- so we can kind of monitor those things. Again, that's probably a little more forward-looking than just
- this year. I think the VMT piece, I'm a little, I'm trying to tease out in my head, like we want to
- reduce VMT, I think this is what you're saying, and so we want to reduce VMT, even if we have a reduction
- also in the absolute number of crashes that result in death or serious injury, it could look like, if
- we're comparing it to VMT, it could look like it's actually like worsening
- Even while we're making progress on both absolute deaths or serious injuries and mode shift And I'm
- just I don't know. My gut would be that population is probably the right comparison Figure do you know
- is there Beth like best practice I guess in the field Not that I know of that that is one reason that
- I'd like to look at these other safe street reports because this is a relatively New trend of putting
- out these annual reports and it's a good trend. But again, I
- Because it's the first time we're doing this. We don't necessarily know what are the best metrics to
- use and I what I would like to look at a city that has done a report like this for at least five or
- ten years to see What are the trends that you're asking about because I don't have the answers to those
- questions right now Okay, I wonder about looking to Europe as well just because they've tended to be
- quite far ahead of the US in many instances around design safety interventions. So sure. Thank you Mr. Sossberg
- I'm going to go ahead and propose something which might be out of scope, but including non-human fatalities.
- One of the kinds of crashes I looked at was deer crashes. We have more crashes with deer than cyclists
- or pedestrian. They cost about $10,000 on average each, and they'd be great to prevent. And they're
- also, there's mitigations for them. Those are mostly in the county on the interstates, our biggest
- We do have some in the city and I don't know exactly You know which ones make sense to mitigate in the
- city but Sure, thanks be fun to look at Any other let me take a crack at this first of all, I want to
- endorse that Specifically number of crashes involving deer ought to be measured in this city secondly,
- I wonder if you have considered
- Upping the frequency by which you do simple traffic counts of Streets in the city because in overtime
- when I've looked at traffic counts I've often had to deal with a 15 or 20 year old piece of data as
- the only indication how much traffic there is there and I feel like Can we do it more often? Can we
- get a more frequent standard for traffic counts across all streets in the city? I
- Sure, that is much more of an engineering specific question because our engineering technician who does
- the traffic counts is an engineering not in planning I will say that he is out every week putting out
- new traffic counts. So the limitation is definitely on staff time not on anything else and Because the
- city is working on so many new projects. For example, it could be repaving projects or corridor studies
- or traffic coming projects or potential speeding complaints from the public and
- They're about 300 total miles of city streets and it's just hard to get through all of them because
- there are a lot of them and so I Absolutely hear you. For example, I'm about to start working on the
- South walnut corridor study later this year We don't have any traffic counts on it in the past decade
- or so So it's not helpful to us. But that is just another example that
- We will go out there and do more traffic counts. But you're right. There are there are a lot of streets
- and a lot of locations on the streets as to where we should have traffic counts. Well to that end and
- responding again to what Mr. Seabor asked in the previous item would it be helpful if there was a task
- force or committee to advise you. I mean how soon do you need us to respond to this. We don't have a
- regular meeting until
- In a September we can give some ideas now, but maybe commissioners will have more ideas in the next
- few weeks Can you give us a deadline for getting back to you with recommendations? Sure for recommendations.
- This was the only meeting that we were planning on speaking to you about this But if and and if you
- have ideas after this meeting you have you absolutely have my contact information You can email me and
- we can chat about these ideas. I Would like to get started on this report next month
- But there as you can see there are a number of action items or performance measures included already
- And so if we add one a little bit later on it's not going to delay the whole project Okay, I mean maybe
- I can suggest an arbitrary date of say August 15th that we can get back to you. That's perfect with
- ideas Alright, so let me just direct commissioners to send any ideas on this to mr. Duncan by August
- 15th but yeah, it feels like traffic counts are the kind of thing that are I
- Bread-and-butter data that we is it safe to say we can't afford to do more of them Right now a time
- is the constraint more than anything Because of because of existing staff levels. Mr. Sossberg Is it
- true? There's some new technologies coming online like ever everyone has a phone in their pocket and
- I think Google is Knows like where you are all the time sure and it's selling some of this
- Data is there a way instead of installing more of these devices we can buy it from a vendor who's already
- tracking where we are Yeah, so the city contracts with place your AI and that's a software. I haven't
- worked much with But they do have They do they do have a feature that includes traffic counts. I don't
- know I haven't done a one-to-one comparison on
- The two counts that city staff puts out versus their traffic counts based on cell phone data But that
- does exist and if we are looking for more traffic counts that may be the answer actually Okay, that's
- interesting, thank you any final comments for mr. Duncan on the SS for annual report and again, I don't
- see the specific call in the ordinance for there to be a oversight of this report although
- I think mr. C was right. We should be overseeing it too, but that's a discussion for another time it
- just for clarification purposes that Recommendation layer requirement lives in the safety action plan
- itself. It's one of the action So it is an obligation of the Transportation Commission. Yeah you this
- part of the recommendation was to create a Transportation Commission that would oversee this report.
- All right. Well, then do I need to form another task force now? I
- I think currently staff is comfortable without a task force, but if you all want to but we're Happy
- to check in with you frequently Well, I'll pull the Avengers individual members over the next month
- or two and see if anybody if there's anybody interested in over helping you With the report sounds good.
- Thank you. Mr. Duncan. Thank you Let's go now to general public comment on items not on the docket.
- We have a written submission Is there any member of the public who would like to speak on an item that
- we have not talked about tonight?
- If so, please come to the podium, state your name. You'll have three minutes. If you are online, please
- use the raise hand function and we'll call on you in due order. Please come to the podium, sign in,
- state your name. Again, if you're online, please use the raise hand function in Zoom. Hi, I'm Jill Bird
- and I've lived in Bloomington 50 years. I walk and bike all the time.
- And I feel like a lot of moves made by the city for traffic improvement are really detrimental to pedestrians
- and bicyclists. I'm not very happy with the bump outs on Rogers. I'm not very happy with some other
- bump outs. I know they're to calm traffic but they slow traffic and that makes for
- irate drivers and irate drivers are less patient with pedestrians and bicyclists and I feel like I am
- in more danger with some of the lane reductions and the slower calmer traffic. Years ago they
- were considering a change to the Rogers and Third Street intersection and they did kind of a little
- mock-up. It was temporary and it was
- adjusted the traffic for a few weeks and The city and the community was able to get a real look at what
- truly happened with that calming device and It wasn't good So they never did it and I was wondering
- if the city could move more towards that type of thing instead of jumping in and putting bump outs that
- I'm seeing problems with and I don't know if other people are seeing problems with them also and
- Thank you for your comment. Thank you. Is there anybody online who'd like to speak to an item that is
- not on the docket? Please use the raise hand function and zoom. Is there anyone online? Last call for
- public comment either in the room or online general public comment Seeing then we come back to the Commission
- for final notes. Our next meeting is What date?
- The next planning session is August 24th. The next regular hearing is September 17th 17th is that's
- early because of budgets September 17th is the next regular hearing session. Sorry, September 28th is
- the next regular Yeah, sorry. So once again August
- August 24th August 24th is a planning planning session session that'll be in the Klosky in the classroom
- and that's just planning will be staffed by Planning transportation and our next regular hearing is
- September 28th in this room Any last final announcements mr. Flaherty, it's sort of like I guess agenda
- related future agenda related and I'm curious about We're having an increasingly large queue of items that the
- That were brought before the Commission that the Commission then acted on in some way that are pending
- and I'm worried about losing track of them or losing sight of them and also Yeah, just just time lag
- I think staff capacity surely must dictate some of this at times, but I think just for the sake of future
- agendas and Not losing track of actions previous taken by the Commission but could we include that as
- part of our
- Like a list of pending items that are not on the agenda, you know not action items. I believe this is
- something we've discussed That John Garcy was planning on attending tonight and it is his prerogative
- He has just he is already planning to do that if he was not sick tonight He would have been here to
- provide that update as part of the discussion of topics not on the docket but we can make it like a
- part of our planning for meetings starting in September and
- Keeping keeping track of prior items that we're supposed to be keeping track of. Is that the idea? That's
- what I was trying to communicate like like if Yeah, just maybe it's just a standing part of Agendas
- or packets that like, you know items that that are pending essentially that are out for action of some
- kind and have yet to come back to us to not just for our own tracking as commissioners and for the public
- but also for the You know kind of I guess the the record so to speak So that you can actually see these
- things over time
- Do have a spreadsheet where we are tracking all of this information as part of our administrative duties
- for the Commission I will speak with the other liaisons about Most sustainable way to move forward with
- that request I'll also add that that was a thing that we were trying to start to do your call two meetings
- ago I did it at the end of the meeting and it is something we want to get back on track. Mr. Garzi was
- In that direction, but we could certainly post it somewhere
- This is something we can talk about in scheduling meetings, right? Just planning for it. Okay.
- Thank you. Thank you for that. Any other final questions or comments? All right with that, thanks everyone.
- Our next meeting is August 24th in the McCloskey room. It's a planning session until then this meeting
- is adjourned.