HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPW-1992-03-04BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
March 4, 1992
NOTES
Present: Commissioners Brandford, Gerard, Reeves, Rusoff, Tripp;
Mayor Nichols, Supt. Gray, Asst. Supt. Shimer, Asst. Supt.
Ferrel, Asst. City Attorney Kennedy, Alderman Berg.
Absent: Commissioner Cox
Commissioner Reeves chaired the meeting.
The following was postponed to a later agenda:
Water and sewer late fees - policy discussion.
1. Free bus passes for City employees. Transit Consultant
Bernard Carpenter and Alderman Neil Golder were present for the
discussion. They presented a plan to give free bus passes to
City employees. They argued this would reduce the number of cars
in the downtown, set a good example to other businesses, improve
the image of public transit by giving more people firsthand
experience with our system, and be nice for the employees. They
said they knew that most of the City employees lived outside the
routes covered by the City buses, but they thought the gesture
was important. They pointed out that both Cornell and Tompkins
County provide opportunities for free transit to their employees.
Discussion followed; items of concern included the costs, the
effect on current and future Union contracts, and how the plan
could be implemented. Alderman Berg suggested that it would also
be a nice gesture to give free passes to all Common Council
members and other volunteers in the City government. The Board
decided to give passes to employees on an experimental basis and
to ask Common Council to endorse the decision.
2. Bus service to Ithaca Farmers' Market on Saturdays. Mark
Shenstone and Transit Consultant Carpenter present. Mark
Shenstone said that the Ithaca Farmers' Market would like to
discuss adding the Market to a City bus route on Saturdays to
alleviate traffic congestion and make the Market more accessible
to people without cars. The Market has built a bus turnaround at
the entrance to the Market. Mr. Carpenter said he did not think
the Farmers' Market could be added to an existing route. He
thinks the only way to include the Market would be to run a
shuttle. Some discussion resulted in a guess of a cost of $135
per week to run the shuttle, and a suggestion that the IFM might
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
March 4, 1992
pay any cost not covered by the collection of fares. Mr.
Shenstone said he would carry the Board's concerns to the IFM.
3. Quitclaim easement - Johnson Boatyard. Tom Cleveland was
present. Supt. Gray explained there is an old 30" concrete
pipeline which runs through the Johnson Boatyard property. This
line has been abandoned. Johnson would like to build over it, in
the right of way which the city still holds for this line. Supt.
Gray said the Department was generally in favor of abandoning
this easement; they would like to straighten out the situation
where part of a City sewage pumping station is on the Johnson
property and abandon the pipeline simultaneously, ideally without
having to have any money change hands. Supt. Gray, the City
Atty. and Mr. Cleveland are going to try to come to an agreement.
4. Outdoor dining permit - The Little Cafe. The Little Cafe,
126 West State Street, asked for permission to serve at three
tables on the sidewalk in front of their business during the
summer. Discussion focussed on how much space would be left on
the sidewalk with tables set up, and whether any changes would
have to be made to the tree grates. A couple of the
Commissioners are going to go speak to the owners and look over
the space and the chairs and tables they propose to use.
5. Request for expungement of trashtag violation charge - Tim
Durnford. Mr. Durnford had sent a letter to the Board asking for
expungement of a trashtag violation charge. Superintendent Gray
explained that this request was similar to others which the
Department has been denying; the only difference is that Mr.
Durnford's trash pick -up had been a day late the two weeks before
because of holidays, and he said that when he saw the trash had
not been removed, he presumed that pick -up was late again that
week. Commissioner Tripp asked if it was true that Mr. Durnford
would not have been charged if he had taken his trash in as the
notice attached to it required him to do - that is correct. The
Board will vote on Mr. Durnford's request at the next regular
meeting.
6. Replacement of golf course maintenance building. Asst.
Supt. Ferrel said the building in which the golf course equipment
was formerly housed had been knocked down for the new transit
facility. A replacement is need to hold equipment and to provide
for federally mandated storage of fertilizer, etc. The City
could renovate the old club house which is near the northeast
corner of the course or put up a new building. The costs of the
two options are similar. Asst. Supt. Ferrel would like the
Board's direction; he favors the renovation of the existing
building. The Board discussed financing this project; they would
like to ask B & A to finance it, with the money to be recovered
over the next five years from golf course revenue. A resolution
will be presented at the next regular meeting.
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BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
March 4, 1992
7. Traffic and parking requests. Commissioners Brandford,
Tripp and Rusoff have set up a general plan for handling the
Board's traffic requests by handling the City's traffic. They
propose to concentrate traffic along specific roads and route it
around specific neighborhoods by encouraging the free flow of
traffic on some streets and restricting it on others. They do
not suggest changing everything at once, but want to have a
general plan of which paths should be encouraged and which
discouraged, and to use that plan as a guideline to decide on
individual requests for signage, etc. The Commissioners were
interested in seeing more specifics of such a plan, and some
examples of how specific requests would be handled.
Meeting adjourned at 6:02 p.m.
Notes by Marianne Hansen, Administrative Secretary.
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