CALDWELL, Idaho — Changes may be coming to downtown Caldwell as the future of the parking meters is to be determined.
On Monday night's special council meeting, the council called for an emergency meeting to turn off the parking meters or terminate the operations agreement with Car Park starting Oct. 1.
Going into the meeting, officials were ready to hear feedback on the meters from residents. The meeting was set to solely discuss the meters and discuss new ideas and solutions. There was no action item for the meeting, meaning no votes were to take place Monday night.
Tuesday's meeting started off with Councilmember Diana Register raising financial concerns about the meters.
"Now we're here with a bunch of problems and a community that is divided, that probably could have been avoided," Register said in the meeting.
She told the audience that the meters were not making the city any money.
Originally, the city was told they would profit around $613,000 a year off the new meters, according to Register. At a July budget meeting, the city was told it was actually taking a financial hit because people aren't using them enough.
They were told to expect 75% to 80% of metered spots being used. When in reality, it has only been used about 10% of what they used to.
The city is set to make no profit this year from the meters, and in turn have to pay $32,000 to Car Park, just for this year. The money will need to come from the General Fund.
"Which is money that could be used for parking enforcement that makes sense, or police, fire, library, parks, and other departments," Register said in the meeting about general fund money. "So how can we possibly justify taking money away from those community resources?"
Then, on top of the lost revenue, Register brought up a few legal concerns regarding the meters.
"Car Park is charging us a certain amount of money for their operation costs, and then $9,885 a month for the equipment, which the mayor has said is a lease that is $120,000 a year, " Register told KTVB Tuesday morning. "But there is no lease, there's no paperwork. There's no lease. There's nothing signed by the city. There's nothing signed by the city council. So, this number was agreed to somewhere, but not by anybody with the authority to do that."
The concerns poses the question, does no lease mean no deal? Is the city not responsible for paying equipment costs?
“All I’m asking is for somebody to make it make sense,” Register said in the meeting.
The city attorney was not prepared to answer questions regarding the equipment lease agreement.
Register recommended that the council comes back as soon as possible to take an emergency vote to turn the meters off until questions got answered.
Register told KTVB she's asked city staff who made the agreement, and for a copy of the agreement. She hasn't been provided any of that information.
On Tuesday afternoon, the city announced a new special meeting, Friday, Aug. 30, at noon. Two action items that can be voted on are listed on the agenda.
- "Consider Resolution suspending regulations and requirements for paid parking pursuant to Caldwell City Code Section 09-07-12.
- Consider Resolution terminating the Operations Agreement with The Car Park for FY-2025."
Caldwell's Fiscal Year 2025 starts October 1, 2024.
It's unclear at this time if the council will need to take an additional vote in October, when the Operations Agreement expires, for the following years of the parking meter project.