By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — As Olean moves toward reinstating paid parking on downtown streets and parking lots, the Common Council is reviewing costs of hiring a parking enforcement officer.
On Tuesday, the Common Council’s City Operations Committee received cost estimates from Mayor Bill Aiello showing first year costs of hiring a parking enforcement officer at $63,928. Those costs, including fringe benefits, rise to $71,028 in the fifth year.
Revenue from parking violations over the past four years totals $231,735, for an average of $57,993, the mayor’s data sheet shows. Under a new ParkMobile app the city is considering $347,602 would be generated from parking violations over the next four years, an average of $86,900 a year.
A Parking Committee has been studying the issue for some time, Aiello said. The issue is whether free two-hour downtown parking rules are being abused, he said. Merchants need parking spots on the street near their stores for shoppers.
“There are many people parking on the street all day,” Aiello said after the meeting. “We need to make parking more readily available for shoppers. We are going to need a parking enforcement officer to enforce it.”
The city removed parking meters from downtown streets during the reconstruction of North Union Street. A few meters remain in downtown parking lots.
“There will be no more parking meters,” Aiello said. “We’re
not bringing them back. The company we’re looking at uses QR codes. It’s electronic. “It’s revenue for the city and gives people a chance to find parking.” The meters in the parking lots will also be replaced by signs with QR codes to be scanned with a cellphone app.
The signs with QR codes would be on North Union and West State streets. How far the signs would extend on West State Street hasn’t been decided.
After aldermen have reviewed the position of parking enforcement officer, the issue is expected to come back before the Common Council in two weeks for more discussion.
The City Operations Committee also discussed maintenance of shared use paths and allowed uses of the public right of way.
Much of the discussion of shared use path maintenance centered on the city requiring residents to shovel up to 8 feet of new sidewalks along East State and South Union streets. The previous sidewalks were 4 feet.
Alderwoman Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4, said she feels the city should take the burden off homeowners regarding sidewalk snow removal.
Alderman Vernon Robinson Jr., I-Ward 6, agreed, saying the city “should take on that burden” on the wider sidewalks.
Part of the issue over city snow removal along residential sidewalks is time and equipment. Both Walkable Olean III on East State Street and Walkable Olean IV on South Union Street include 8-foot sidewalks.
Aiello cautioned, however, that by taking over the maintenance “we also take over the liability.” The mayor suggested the issue be brought up for further discussion in two weeks.
Maintenance of shared use trails drew considerable discussion.
Common Council President John Crawford, D-Ward 5, and Robonson suggested the city needed to have some rules on who is responsible for the sidewalks and shared trails.
Also needed is a list of equipment that will be needed if the city expands its responsibility of removing snow from the wider sidewalks.
