Campus Parking Committee Meeting Minutes
Campus Parking Meeting FM Building Sept. 17, 2003 Noon
1. Student Parking fees being raised from $25 a year
-it was mentioned that more discussion will be held on this issue once the SGA student member is present at the meeting.
-there was discussion on this issue and it will continue.
-one member mentioned that if we raise fees we should assign numbers to the lots and spaces for students.
-One member of the group mentioned that he has talked to some students and they indicated that they would pay up to $300 for a parking space if they could be guaranteed the space.
-one committee member felt that if we charged fees that high it would begin to affect the actual cost of what it cost to attend college at Grinnel College. This would probably be a concern of the administration and trustees.
-one member pointed out that he felt if students have to pay more for permits they would park on the streets.
-Briscoe mentioned that he has sold around 289 student parking permits this year. - what should a student parking permit cost? $25, $30,$50, $75 or $100?
-one member mentioned that we could increase the fee to $30 and number the parking lots and assign spaces for students to park in.
-it was mentioned that higher parking fees could be used to pay for maintenance on lots, alternative transportation programs, financial aid for students and the cost to administer the parking program.
-one member mentioned that we could not set where the parking money goes and that's set by the administration.
-members of the committee were wondering why off street parking could not be constructed off of East Street in front of the new residence halls since the street is being widen.. One member mentioned that it was probably due to the set back of the buildings. Briscoe stated he would talk with Mark Godar concerning the reason why off street parking in front of the buildings is not being looked at.
2. Staff/Faculty parking fees?
-there was talk of charging faculty/staff a parking fee of $5, $10 or even $25 a year for parking with an annual renewal.
-more discussion will be held on staff/faculty parking fees during the year.
-one member that people are willing to pay for permits if they have parking lot access.
-it was mentioned that some employees were concerned about signing off on the parking forms where it says the campus is not responsible for theft or damage to their vehicle. It was mentioned that many parking forms have this info on them and that it still does not release the college from its responsibility if it is the cause of the damage. Briscoe mentioned that maybe the wording on the form can be changed or cleaned up some to indicate that the college realizes it's still responsible for damages that are caused by them. Briscoe mentioned that the college realized this and the rider is to let people know that the college is not responsible for damages and theft that are not their fault. The wording on the form will be looked at for next year.
-it was mentioned that Mark Godar the Director of FM or Jonathan Brand, Vice President for Institutional Budgeting and Planning will be invited to the next meeting to talk about the plans for parking lot deletion, construction and building construction on campus. - it was mentioned that the football parking lot will be going away soon, probably around the 1st of October and there was some concern about where these people will park. Briscoe indicated that he will be visiting with Mark Godar of FM about where these people attending basketball events will be able to park.
-briscoe mentioned that there will be a lot constructed north of the new residence halls.
3. Extra parking Permits for faculty/staff
-committee approved RLC's getting extra parking permits if they have partners who live with them on campus. RLC's are expected to live on campus and it's only right that anyone who lives with them has a parking permit also.
-committee did not approve extra permits for anyone else outside of the RLCs that live on campus.
-committee felt that it was part of an employees job to have one permit, but felt a 2nd permit was not necessary since an employee can transfer one permit to another vehicle. They also felt that the campus did not have room to allow extra permit holders. The committee discussed this issue for sometime. Briscoe noted that he had received a lot of email concerning people wanting extra permits.
-it was mentioned that maybe we could look at a campus shuttle service picking people up at designated locations and dropping them off at their buildings as an alternative parking method.
4. Letter to city Council Public Safety Commission:
-briscoe mentioned that a letter had been sent to the commission asking them to look into signage on park street, kids crossing sign behind the pre-school, making the alley one way behind the preschool and parking in the alleys at that location. -Captain Tim Sittig had a copy of the letter and mentioned that the signs on Park Street basically mean that you only have 24 hours to park at the location once you park your vehicle. He mentioned that the alley behind the preschool is plotted for a 24 foot width and any area outside of that is not the city responsibility. The alley is not designed for two way traffic like it is now and it would take a one way petition to change this. It was talked about traffic only being allowed to go north in the alley at that location. It was mentioned that the city police have been checking the alley behind the preschool for cars that are just parking along the side. -It was also mentioned that the city has been issuing tickets on vehicles that have been parking on both sides of the street between 7th and 9th street near Park Street. -it was also mentioned that the city is raising the amount of parking tickets, some to $5 other to $10.
5. New parking lot discussion
-there is a new lot going in just north of the new residence halls at some point. -the football parking lot is going away around October. -it has been noticed that there is a lot of empty parking spaces in the parking lots this year.
Next parking meeting will be in October of 2003
