WESTFIELD – The Off-street Parking Commission is planning several improvements to municipal parking lots this summer, with much of that focus on lots added to the city’s parking inventory through recently completed road and bridge construction.
Parking Administrator Denise Carey said the new lots need signs and trash receptacles, while all lots need maintenance, such as sweeping and cleaning following the winter, tree trimming and parking stall lines repainted.
The commission has a revolving account into which fees for parking permits are deposited. Those funds, which currently stand at $22,529, are then used for parking lot maintenance.
“That is basically what we have to work with on the spring projects” Carey said.
The Commission voted at its July 16, 2012 meeting to award several service contracts, including trash collection and tree trimming contracts, using the revolving account funded through parking permit sales for the maintenance contracts.
The board voted to commit $5,600 for the trash removal contract that will begin Sept. 1, and end on June 30. The Department of Public Works will empty the receptacles during the summer with equipment used at the city’s schools during the academic year.
Parking Administrator Denise Carey said there are presently nine “overflowing” receptacles in the municipal lots, a number that will steady increase during the current 2013 fiscal year as more trash bins are purchased through the revolving account
The commission is also working to erect a kiosk at the Thomas Street lot that will be used to post parking regulations and information pertaining to downtown events and businesses. One commission suggestion was to request the students at Westfield Vocational Technical High School be involved in the project, designing, constructing and installing the kiosk.
Carey said the administration has suggested that the kiosk design be modeled on the informational signs being installed along the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail, although the Thomas Street lot sign will be smaller because of the limited space.
Several other expenditures are included in the parking budget or budgets of other departments.
Carey said one major expense that will be added to the parking lot budget is the cost of installing new meter machines. Parking patrons can use some of the lots for up to three hours without paying, but longer stays require either a monthly permit at a cost of $10 or a temporary parking sticker purchased through the meter machines.
The present meter machine is located in the Franklin Street lot. The Westfield District Court directs prospective jurors and others who have business at the court to use that lot and purchase a permit through the meter machine which is constantly breaking down.
“The Mayor (Daniel M. Knapik) told me to put a budget item request (in the 2014 fiscal year) to replace the machine,” Carey said. “I think we need a machine on the north side of the river, but I want to have a discussion with other city officers about whether we should budget for one or two of the machines which are expensive, at least $15,000 per machine. My concern is that with the proposed parking garage will we still need a meter machine downtown.”
The other major expense, snow removal, is included in the Department of Public Works budget. The commission hires a contractor to plow the lots and remove the snow because parking spaces are in such demand that using spaces for snow storage is counterproductive.
Carey said the contract usually hauls the snow to the Public Works yard on South Broad Street, but during snow removal following Nemo, the contractor hauled to the grass area behind the City Hall parking lot because DPW crews were also hauling snow from the streets downtown to the South Broad Street facility. Carey projects the cost of snow removal of the parking lots at well above $20,000.
