Chuck explained the genesis of the Parking Department, which grew out of an evaluation done for the city by the Desmond Corp. Their recommendation was to create a separate entity to run parking as a business under the direction of the City Manager. The City Council approved the creation of a Department with an “enterprise account”, meaning that the revenue raised would be kept in the department and used to maintain the garages and pay the staff and other costs associated with running the operation, including the bonds taken out to build and maintain the garages.
Chuck was hired by the Manager to run the Department based on his background in the High Tech industry and his previous experience as CEO of a company in Westford. The Department is in charge of the parking garages, the Davison Street lot, and all metered on-street spaces. Chuck supervises parking meter operations (which includes 5 Meter Maids and a Supervisor) as well as overseeing the contracts for Garage Management and Garage Security. There are currently four garages that each hold about 1,000 cars, and a new garage being planned for Middlesex Street in the JAM Area.
The mission statement for the Department is “…to provide the customers of parking in the City of Lowell a clean, safe and customer friendly parking environment, with an emphasis on quality of facilities and services in a professional business management atmosphere.”
Chuck began by instituting training for all department and contracted employees on how to work with people, recognize that parkers are their customers, and how to provide customer friendly service. He has also instituted maintenance and cleanliness programs, repainting the lines and steam cleaning and deodorizing the stairwells, as well as a security program.
Chuck meets weekly with the Police Department and the Security Contractor and reviews a management report on issues. In addition to having the Security guards use a golf cart to get around more quickly, the garages are checked regularly by plain-clothes security personnel and police officers.
Using the Roy Garage on Market Street as a prototype, additional lights have been installed and the original ones have been made brighter through an arrangement with Mass. Electric that reduced the cost. The lighting program will next extend to the Lower Locks Garage, and then to the others in the system. The Roy Garage, which has a total volume of over 2,000 cars per day, will also pilot a new automated system for payments that will accept credit and debit cards, and a new “ticket gobbler” that will accept both daily tickets and those validated by authorized places such as Middlesex Community College. A security camera will be installed that will focus on the ATM-like payment machine situated outside the continually manned office. Meanwhile, monthly pass card holders will also take advantage of new technology that will allow “proximity cards” to be used. These cards can be read by a light beam-emitting machine such that the card only has to be near the machine rather than inserted into it. This should speed up the entry and exiting process.
In regard to the on-street parking issues, the Meter Maids will also receive customer service training. They will soon be equipped with palm-sized computers that will be able to automate the ticketing process, and to determine the current status of unpaid parking tickets when they go to ticket an illegally parked vehicle. If the tickets are overdue, the car could be towed.
Chuck will soon be moving his office from City Hall to the John Street Garage, in the space previously used by the MCC bookstore.
In response to a question about security, Chuck said that garage security officers offer a free escort service to anyone wanting it to get to or from their car. Residents who park in the garage at night can get escorted right to their downtown home.