2026-10-26 - Board of Representatives Fiscal Committee

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the meeting of the Fiscal Committee on October 26, 2026. Time is exactly 7 p.m. We will start by taking attendance. I see Representative Bouchard, Representative Camparelli, Representative Ex-officio, Representative De La Cruz, Representative Goldberg, Representative Parker Johnson, Representative Noah LaPine, and I am Andrew Zachary, the co-chair of the Fiscal Committee. Excuse tonight is representative co-chair Eric Morrison. I do not see Chante Graham or Kira Dorsey. Anybody I missed? No. Tom Chuck is also on. I see that. And so item one has been held for later. So we'll start immediately with item two, which is F32.126 for $150,000. It's an additional appropriation capital. Project C56174, citywide signals, operations, traffic engineering, traffic signal improvements on Long Beach Road from the development at 120 Long Beach Road. I'd like to submit that for the board for the Fiscal Committee. Is there a second for that? Second. Luke or Tom? Sorry. Would you like to speak? Sure. So items two and four are related and items three and five are related. So the explanation is going to be a four. Two is also applicable to four as well. Okay. So and essentially there's a development at 121 Long Beach Road as part of the zoning review and approval process negotiated as traffic improvements with the developer. This specific guidance is for traffic to cooperate Long Beach Road at the site driveway, which is also the whole foods driveway or the Taylor driveway. So yeah. Okay. Are there any questions from the floor? Just curious if you could explain since that's a state road, what's the dynamic one with traffic lights? The city controls all traffic lights in the city, except the exception of two on Highway Road. So you know, we still have to go through a permitting process or due process with the state. And then even if we want to touch our own signals on city roads, that still has to get approved by the state as well. Are there any other questions? I do not see any hands, but if I'm missing someone, please speak up. Seeing no further discussion, I have to do this by voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? In that case, the motion carries one, two, three, four, there are five of us, so five, zero, zero. And then the second item, which is F32.127 for 991,100. Excuse me. I'm sorry, I think it's six, zero, zero. I think there's six of you. Did I miss somebody? Representative Bouchard de La Cruz, Wilbur, yourself. I missed me. Yep, thank you. Okay. Hang on a second. Let me do my own numbers here. Thank you, Sheila. All right. The second item on the agenda is item three, F32.127 for 991,192 dollars. Additional appropriation capital, CPE2214, parking meter replacement, installation of all new parking meters of the city to lower operating costs. I'd like to submit this as a motion to the floor. So move. Can I hear it? Move and second it. Will you be doing the discussion? So first of all, I wanted to note that this money is all surplus for the parking fund, but essentially the city's parking meter is about 10 years old. We're getting a new contract. It's a negotiation process. That contract should be before this board in a couple months. Essentially, this is just the capital money to upgrade the parking meters throughout the city. We're about 600 meters. It's also the pay stations in the garages and the lots. We are looking for some efficiencies and operating and maintenance with trying to expand our pay station program physically development in the city. Are there any questions from the floor? I don't see any hands, but if I miss someone, please let me know. I have my hand up. Oh, I'm sorry. Great. Representative De La Cruz. Thank you, Chair. Look, what is the expected life of the replacement equipment? About 10 years is what we're looking at with parking meters these days. So as the meters be replaced? Yeah, so the car ones are kind of towards the end of their useful life. I mean, they're still, you know, the maintenance costs are going up. I don't know, this may have been a few months ago. I was at this board, you know, for instance, for a big waiver over $100,000 due to, you know, buying more parts of materials from our contractors. So we are seeing kind of the meters at their end of life. They were installed about 20, 26, 2017 or so. Okay. One benefit is to lower operating costs. Was there a return on investment, Don? So we were able to compare the cost of the, you know, same space meters for multi-space meters, for instance. Yeah. I'm sorry. It was a little garbled. Could you repeat? I'm sorry. So we did compare the operating costs from the current meters to the proposed meters, and that will be more outlined in the contract with the new company. Well, not new company. It's actually the same company, which we are still working with the contracting process on. But yes, we did look at the pricing between what we have now, what we will have. I see. Okay. That, I guess, would be equivalent to doing an ROI calculation. I assume that it wasn't done. But that's okay. All right. I have no further questions for you. Thank you. I believe, if I had the order right, it's Representative Camparelli next, and then Representative Bouchard. Thank you, Chair. My question is for you, Luke. Originally, I thought we were removing all of the meters and replacing with pay stations. Are you saying that we're replacing the current meters? Sorry. So when I say meters, so there are different types of meters. There's single space, which are like your traditional, you know, heads, and then there's the multi-space meters. So we are working on a phase transition plan for single space and multi-space meters. Those do have a little more of a better operating cost, essentially, between the multi-space. There's also less materials on the sidewalk. There's less mechanical parts, right? So you can replace 10 single space meters with one multi-space meter, which is a pay station. That's also where we're getting efficiencies from as well. So yes, to answer your question, we are kind of starting to phase out the single space. I would point out every single meter is still going to be able to accept coins. And of course, also, you can always pay with your phone through our mobile, for instance, as well, and credit card to them. One more follow-up question. What is the current plan phase out in terms of single space meters? Is it 40%, 30%? We're still working through it. It's about a three or four year plan, essentially, but it's not, you know, we don't have that level of detail patched out just yet. We just, you know, in terms of what is year by year, but we are focusing on the higher use locations as well as upgrading the garage meters as well, pay stations. So the money that you guys are asking for now is just an estimate and it's just part of the money. I'm just trying to understand the full project, sorry. Yeah, no. So it's an estimate basically for all the new pay stations and meters in the city. There's also concrete work has to go into that, right? Every single meter is basically a flood or two into the ground that's going to require having to rip out the concrete, fix every single sidewalk that's at, you know, 600 meters, and then obviously doing some new electrical work in the garages as part of the install of the meters as well. Can't really do solar inside the parking garage. Everything out on the street more or less is going to be solar as well. Why? I'm sorry. No, I was going to ask why are the single space meters needed at all? Help me understand because they seem like they're antiquated and I just, I don't understand why we have to have those at all. Right. So that's why we're moving to the multi-space pay stations. But you're actually replacing some of the single use meters with single use meters? No, we're really, I mean, there are going to be some locations, right? Where like there's some streets where it's a five or, you know, reading smaller meters or it may make sense, you know, longer term, especially those are brand new meters because installed, you not necessarily rip those right out. You keep those in the end of the phasing plan. We are looking at locations where we have very low usage of those meters in a meter zone and may transition those to parking hall only zones. So yeah, we're still kind of hashing out the finer details of the transition. Oh, gosh. So the ultimate plan is to pretty much get, not replace any of the single use meters because they're not as cost effective as the pay stations. But you just don't know what the percentage is at this point, but whatever new stuff goes in would be the pay stations, correct? Right. You know, if I just install a single space meter last year, that's not going to be the first meter I'm going to take out. It would be, it is part of a phase multi-year plan. Thank you for helping me understand this. I just, I didn't understand the project and I basically signed onto this meeting because I wanted to understand and I understand now. So thank you. And I yield the fortune. Thank you. Representative Bouchard, you're next. And then I see Representative De La Cruz again, assuming that that you have your hand up a second time. Representative Bouchard. Yeah, good evening. Luke, quick question. You partially answered it, but is there going to be any substantial changes to the methodologies or methods of payment? I've heard some constituent concern relative to folks who might not be up to speed as far as having cell phones with current operating procedures that allow them to be mobile. So can I confirm that they will take credit cards and cash? Yeah. So I would say the majority of our payments are through pay by phone. The next year is actually paid by credit card. And then the last year is coin operated or coin-based. Of course, all of those options will still be available going forward with this plan. So every pay station is going to accept a quarter. You can still pay by phone. You can still pay by credit card. Some of the garages, for instance, you know, we may have four pay stations now. Some of those may get transitioned over to credit card only pay stations because those have about half the operating costs. There's no mechanics involved with them, but we still always have a coin-based option wherever you're parking. Representative Bouchard, you've muted yourself. Yeah, I appreciate it. That answers my question. And just to clarify that point, just a little finer, there are zones existing now where they are park mobile only. We are looking at zones where we basically have meters and there's just no like the meters actually lose money. So those may start getting transitioned to park mobile only. But like downtown core where there's high meter usage, those have remained at the coin-based coin option. Thank you. Representative Dola Cruz, are you back for another set of questions or is your hand up from last time? Yes, I have another other question. Thank you, Chair Steigeri. Like Representative Camporelli, like Karen, I had a different impression of the project. I thought we were going to all pay stations and clearing up the sidewalks, which I think is, you know, quite a good thing to do. But now I understand that things are not quite established as to what will be replaced when and so on. So I'm wondering, one question is in the almost $1 million for the project, reference was made to concrete work that needs to be done on the sidewalks and other installation costs and so on. Are those costs in the $991,000? No, that's included in the installation in this appropriation request basically. When will there be some better understanding of how much will be replaced when? So we are working on finalizing the contract with the vendor. We are, we have a draft meter transition plan, frankly. We're just going to work with our vendor in terms of supply, you know, so we need 100 pay stations, you know, what does that look like for supply, what does it look like for turnover, what does it look like for materials, you know, for maintenance and stock, a little bit for contractor availability. So we are working, we do have that draft plan, which I believe is about a four or so year implementation plan, which may change, right, we may be able to do that, we may be able to slow that down, but once we kind of have a contract side, we'll have much better implementation plan when we have the vendor fully secured on board. Okay, I assume the contract with the vendor will come before the board and that will have more clarity as to how the project is being phased in. Correct. Which will be coming to you in the next, you know, two months. Granted, we wouldn't expect our vendor to start, you know, work without a signed contract. So I know, anyway, I can't say definitively at that point, it has something, but hopefully that contract is coming in a few months or so. And our goal is to really start implementation of this in 27. In general, the direction is correct to go to pay stations and clear up the sidewalks. It might be helpful if an actual return on investment is made on the project for the next, for the contract presentation. That's a suggestion. Look, I can always have a return on investment. Okay, that's it. Any, anything else? Look, those are my questions. All right. Thank you, Representative La Cruz. Is there anyone else who asked questions? I do not see anyone else's hand up. Let me double check. Sorry, Chair. I do have one more crazy question. I got my hand up kind of slow. Luke, maybe this is just like the total, like, nutty idea, but are there any cities that are simply just removing the head of the meter, capping it off and leaving it? The reason that I asked that is because it seems like it would be cheaper, but also those meters, you know, those poles would be sort of a barrier to a car running up on a sidewalk, etc., etc. So any, any thought to that? I think some cities, San Francisco, Philadelphia, have done that where they just remove the head of the meter, just thinking of ways to save you guys money. Yeah, no, I mean, a large part of this is also just like clearing up the sidewalk, right, ADA compliance, snow removal, just more pedestrian space on the sidewalk. So keeping the meter poles in there would kind of run counter those goals. So that's why we are, you know, selecting to remove them. Okay, thank you. I yield. Any further questions? I did have one from a constituent who has a disabled sticker and wanted to know if they were, if we switch to the pay station model. Right now he doesn't, he said that he doesn't pay or he pays a reduced rate because he has a handicap sticker. Is that still going to be true with the pay station? Yeah, it's free on, it's free on the street, paid in the garages. Yeah, that's based on the time. So the garages are unlimited time and street is time restricted. So it's the time restriction component. That's, that's where the ADA kind of comes into play. Great, thank you. Now I can pass that information. Thank you. All right. Hearing no further or seeing no further discussion. I hate this. There it goes. Okay. I would like to call for a voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Anybody opposed? Anybody? Danny, that the motion carries six zero zero. Nope. All right. And next item up is item four on our agenda F32.128 for $50,000, which as you put it up is paired with item two. Additional appropriation capital project CT 7306 High Ridge Road and Long Ridge Road. Roadway pedestrian improvements at bull head from the development at 120 Long Ridge Road. I'd like to submit that for approval by the board, the fiscal committee. So we'll move. Any second? All right. Luke, would you like to speak on this? Yeah, yes, this is, as I mentioned before, from the zoning approval of 120 Long Ridge. And this is just for going towards design improvements to kind of the bull's head intersection, which is basically how the cold spring, Long Ridge, Cold Spring, and High Ridge, Summer, Bedford, and High Ridge Long Ridge for design, for, you know, helping the state grants basically upgrade the pedestrian infrastructure, the infrastructure in that area. Are there any, anybody from the, have any questions? I do actually have one. The question I had was, I think that there's a broader project, right, that shows it's about 2.9 million authorized for improvements across here. That I think is very, might be going back from 10 years ago from, I think that's anticipated grants, so it's nothing. It's not, it's not, it has materialized or it's not? No, I mean, I think that's not obligated money here. Okay, thank you. Just wanted to confirm, reading the books, you know, the sheet that came with this, the approval request. I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something. Yeah, no, there's no, I think that's just not even approved money. Okay, great, thank you. And with that, nice to see no further questions, no hands up. Let's call for this by voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstaining? All right, the motion carried six zero zero. And the last motion, the last item on the agenda rather, is item five, f32.129 for one million even. An additional appropriation, capital project CP8500, parking improvements for a parking garage, capital upgrades. I anticipate that for approval by the committee. So I hear a motion here. Sorry, somebody moved it. Is there anybody seconding? Seconded. And seconded. All right. Luke? Yep. So again, this is all surplus from the parking fund. This is going for a capital upgrades for parking garages. We have a whopping $9,300 available right now for capital upgrades in the parking garages. We are actually just embarked last week on a $2.5 million upgrade to the Bell Street garage. So this is basically just going to replenish that. So, making projects, do more capital upgrades. Our parking garages are with except, you know, Bell and Bedford are of an older stock, I should say. So, you know, they require continuous capital upgrades. So this is just kind of replenishing our capital account. And again, this is all from the parking fund surplus. Do I see any hands up? I'm not seeing any on the screen. I don't see the full screen. Any questions? There's a question for Representative O'Brien. Thank you. I just want to make sure I understand correctly, Luke. So this is that there is no specific garage earmark for this money right now. It's just moving funds into this account for anticipated needs and upgrades. Yeah, of course. Correct. And, you know, to be frank, it's probably going to go towards some upgrades in the Bedford Street Garage. Okay. Yeah. The total amount of it. I can't say the total amount. I don't think we'll do the total amount, but we are looking into it. You know, we're doing a dollar right now, probably going to hop over to Bedford. So let's see how we can scope for the little funds we have. But it's also always good to have funds available personally. Okay. Okay. So if I may, this sort of I reserve fund at this point, it's good to be there when you need it, but it's not specifically dedicated to a particular project. Correct. Yeah, it's for upgrades. Great. All right. Any questions from anyone else? Seeing none, I'd like to call for this by a voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstaining? With that, this motion carries 600. I'd like to call for a motion to adjourn. So moved. Seconded. All right. And I now call the meeting of the fiscal committee on October 26, 2026 has adjourned. We are done at 7.25 PM, which may be the record for the fastest meeting we've ever done. Thank you, everyone. Good night, everyone. Be well.