HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-MATC-2019-06-24
MOBILITY, ACCESSIBILITY
AND TRANSPORTATION
COMMISSION MINUTES
PRESENT:
Chair Lerner
Commissioners (7) Parkes, Chang, Brouwer, Roberts, Lyczko, Powers, Barden
OTHERS PRESENT:
Common Council Liaisons – McGonigal and Nguyen
Information Management Specialist - Myers
EXCUSED:
Commissioner Brylinsky
Approval of the May 23, 2019 Mobility, Accessibility, and Transportation
Commission Meeting Minutes- Resolution
By Commissioner Powers: Seconded by Commissioner Roberts
RESOLVED, That the minutes of the May 23, 2019 Mobility, Accessibility, and
Transportation Commission meeting be approved as published.
Carried Unanimously
Statements From the Public:
No one from the public appeared to address the Commission.
Chair’s Report:
Vice Chair for the month of July – Commissioner Barden
City Budget & Budget Process
Chief of Staff Cogan provided an overview of the process the City of Ithaca follows in
order to establish its operating budget each year. The City of Ithaca budget for 2019 is
$75.8 million. The budget is broken into the following categories:
General fund - majority of funds
Water
Sewer
Storm water
Sidewalks
Solid Waste
Capital Projects are funded through the purchase of bonds and are intended for large
investments/projects. The repayment of the bonds, which includes interest, is included
in the budget as debt service, which is paid off little by little each year until paid. The
City of Ithaca’s debt limit is set by New York State; and is currently at 70%. The higher
the amount of debt service the higher the interest charges.
Date: June 24, 2019
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Common Council
Chambers,
3rd Floor, City Hall
Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes
June 24, 2019
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CC Liaison Nguyen arrived at 6:18 p.m.
Due to cuts in New York State funding, municipalities have had to resort to using capital
project funds to pay for things typically paid for out of the general fund. The City has
slowly been moving forward to put money back into the operating budget to pay for
those things, and to pay off more debt each year than what is borrowed; however, this
takes time.
Currently, personnel costs are 72% of budget; followed by debt service at 13%, and
Other costs at 15%. Most of budget is people, in order to cut down costs there would
need to be cuts in staffing because healthcare costs and salaries rise each year.
He further explained what the property tax cap is (which is governed by New York
State), the tax levy, and tax exempt property. Currently, 55% of the City of Ithaca
properties are tax exempt; this includes Cornell (87% of their properties are tax
exempt), school districts, other governments, churches, nonprofits, and payment in lieu
of property tax properties which are the new development projects.
Each April as part of the budget process, departments are asked to submit their
requests for different projects to be included in the capital project budget; their requests
are then due back in May. During June and July the capital project committee reviews
the requests and chooses which projects to fund, typically the most acute or mission
critical projects. This year $26 million in requests were submitted; the City can fund $4
or $5 million. In August a recommended list of capital projects will be given to Common
Council and staff.
Each June, the Mayor issues guidelines for departments to follow as they prepare their
annual departmental budget, which are due back to the Mayor by August 1st.
During August and September, the Mayor will work with the City Controller, Chief of
Staff, and department heads to put together his proposed budget. At the Common
Council meeting in October, the Mayor’s proposed budget is released to Common
Council and the public. During the month of October Common Council has 6 or so
meetings to review the proposed budget with departments and consider changes they’d
like to make. Typically, at the November Common Council meeting the budget and tax
rate are adopted.
In the Mayor’s guidelines for the 2020 budget he incorporated increases in staff costs
for all departments and then gave a dollar amount (about a 1.5% increase over last
year) to see what they would submit in their budget. In addition, departments can also
submit over target budget requests for consideration.
Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes
June 24, 2019
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He explained that ideally, if commissions have ideas or projects that require funding,
they begin working with staff before May 1st to determine costs and create proposals to
submit to the Mayor for possible inclusion in his budget. For the 2020 budget,
commissions could make requests by resolution to Common Council to incorporate
different items or projects into the over target budget requests for consideration. For the
Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission, he would suggest that
discussions for any budget related items begin in January since meetings are held just
once a month.
Commissioner Roberts stated that discussions have been occurring with staff and city
leaders about the request for an ADA Coordinator for the City of Ithaca. He is hopeful
that request will be included in the Mayor’s proposed budget.
CC Liaison McGonigal arrived at 7:00 pm
CC Liaison Report:
CC Liaison Nguyen reported that Common Council, at their June meeting, approved the
recommendation for a e-scooter pilot program pending New York State approval and
provision of a memorandum of understanding from the Mayor for their approval.
Common Council also approved a “Green New Deal” which is an aggressive set of
target goals to meet to reduce greenhouse gases and pollution. This might have an
impact for this commission related to different transportation options. They also gave
conditional approval for the Carpenter Circle project which includes development of a
new Greenstar Cooperative Market, Cayuga Medical Center offices, and residential. He
further reported that TCAT will be removing its Zone 2 fare rate which means one flat
rate for everyone.
CC Liaison McGonigal reported that he was late today because he attended a
neighborhood meeting presented by Sidewalk Project Manager, John Licitra related to
new sidewalks on West and South Hills. He talked about what will be constructed this
year and what will be bid this coming winter. The much needed sidewalk project on
Hector Street is still at least a year away. The big sidewalk project for this year is the
one on South Aurora Street which should completed by the end August. There is
another project on W est Hill at the corner of Chestnut and Elm Streets that he feels is
problematic in the way it's been designed so far; however, it makes it easier to walk to
the Alternative Community School. There is also a proposal for either a sidewalk or
stone dust trail on Giles Street between East State Street and the Mulholland Nature
Preserve.
Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes
June 24, 2019
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Pedestrian Snow Removal Public Input:
Commissioner Brouwer reported that he and Commissioner Chang met last week and
went over the really helpful comments and suggestions that had been provided related
to the draft survey distributed at the May meeting. They did their best to incorporate all
the comments and requested comments and input from various city departments,
including City Clerk Holcomb and Public Information Specialist Faraday since they will
be pulling the survey together online. He requested that comments on the most recent
draft survey be submitted to them on or before Thursday, June 27 th. At the July meeting
they will present a plan for publicizing the survey.
DPW Parking Analysis:
Commissioner Parkes reported that the selection committee met with the proposed
consultant shortly after the last Matcom meeting to determine the scope of work and
discuss the budget. The Consultant works with another group (subcontract?) who will
do most of the outreach to stake holders and handles all the public relations.
The consultant has already reached out to the selection committee, in survey form, to
determine what they felt was going on with parking, parking issues, possible solutions,
and to give them an idea of what type of stakeholders should be involved in the
process.
Commissioner Lyczko stated that there will be a phone interview with the subcontractor
about who should be included in the stakeholder group. They will provide information
about the stakeholder group that Matcom discussed. Matcom was mentioned as a
stakeholder group so the subcontractor might provide questions for the commission that
can be responded to, recorded and given back to them for review.
Commission Lyczko stated that there was discussion about what drives costs for
parking focusing specifically on Collegetown, Downtown, and the West End/W aterfront
Areas. In terms of stakeholder input, there might be multiple approaches from each
group. There will be a need for an internal cost and revenue study. That means the City
has to think about what is the purpose of a parking system . In Ithaca it’s typically not
revenue driven but to support other activities and services - what are those goals. The
more data that the city can provide the consultant the less the cost to the city will be.
What parking is available now, when is it used, cost of parking garages, whether or not
to use surface lots and how organizations would use them during off hours. The whole
transportation system and access to parking in the City will be studied. Do people
perceive parking as easy and/or would you be willing to do this or that to have parking.
Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes
June 24, 2019
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Commissioner Parkes stated that the City received a Transportation Demand
Management Study grant to determine accessibility throughout the city. Economic
Development Director Knipe is the point person and all the information they collect will
be provided to the parking consultant to consider and be part of their scope of work.
How can the City get people out of cars and keep things moving as far as accessibility.
Chair Lerner noted that Matcom has not received a Commission Project Form from the
City Administration Committee for this topic. The lesson that has been learned is that it
is a good idea to have Common Council’s expectations in writing before proceeding
further rather than after. He will put this request in writing to Commissioners Parkes,
Lyczko, Director of Parking Messmer, and Chief of Staff Cogan.
ADA Issues:
Commissioner Roberts reported that the ADA Training was successful and thanked
everyone for attending. There will be a meeting on July 1st of the group that is looking
at an in-house ADA Coordinator to discuss what the position would look like. He
encouraged all Matcom members to participate if they are interested.
E-Scooters Follow -Up:
Commissioner Barden reported that the Mayor e-mailed a number of people, including
herself, to gauge interest in serving on the committee to develop the MOU with Lime for
a pilot e-scooter program. The committee would involve the Department of Public
Works, Engineering, City Attorney, Planning Department Staff, and Ithaca Police
Department. She and Commissioner Powers would both like to participate in the
meetings and that information will be shared with the Mayor.
Meeting Wrap Up:
The next meeting is Monday July 22nd at 6:00 p.m.
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah L. Myers,
Information Management Specialist