Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Jasper Municipal Council is exploring options for paid parking in town, and heard presentations from three companies about installing systems at their Committee of the Whole meeting, Aug. 25.
They included T2 Systems鈥� Multi-Space Pay Stations, paybyphone and VenTek International.
John Cowley, senior regional sales manager with T2, told council about rate options, flexible pricing, restricting parking to paid parking downtown and discounted parking.
He talked about using T2 Iris software which provides enforcement officers with access to occupancy, licence plate and transaction date information on mobile devices. Cowley said pay stations have multiple payment options and provide consolidated reporting.聽
He said a user-friendly interface is 鈥渃rucial", and noted with the technology used, people can get a reminder text message when their parking time is about to finish.
About paying for parking, councillor Scott Wilson said in COVID-19 times, "We don't want to be sharing the same device often."
Coun. Paul Butler asked, with the hardware required, "Could we make money doing this?"
Joni Eros, sales director for paybyphone, said considerations for implementation of paid parking include residents, visitors and the economy of the town.
She said guest logins to the system are "a perk for your parker" and may turn into long term users.
With her system, payments can be made with phones by using licence plate information. She said areas in Alberta that use the system include Edmonton and Calgary, and no upfront investments are required.
Gary Catt, an engineer at VenTek International told council that his company works with a lot of federal agencies, and uses a partnership approach. The Edmonton Transit Service in Edmonton is on the list of clients.聽
"You can pay through phone, through machinery, through a website," he said, noting that with a resident permit, "you could be exempt" from payment.
Butler asked if a hotel could purchase parking spots for its clients and collect them through room rates, for example.
"Absolutely," Catt said.
Skatepark in the spotlight
Darrell Savage, chairman of the Jasper Skatepark Committee, talked to council about the value of a skatepark in town.
He said many people attended a skate jam on Aug. 1, put on to promote the project for a replacement park.
"With the COVID situation, skateparks are being very well used,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey're shining in this situation.鈥�
The committee needs to raise $800,000 to build the new skatepark and currently has about $50,000 in the bank.
But Savage said the shortfall is only really $350,000 because if half of the $800,000 total can be raised, the other half could be paid for by an Alberta Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant.
Savage is working on an application for the grant, which is due Sept. 30. He said he is working on getting corporate sponsors to help as well.
Councillors are supportive of a new skatepark and Savage was asked to organize a budget and present the information at an upcoming meeting.
On mask exemption cards
A bylaw was passed by council on Aug. 4 to make face coverings mandatory, but not everyone can wear one, councillors have been told by residents.
Coun. Jenna McGrath said for some, not wearing a mask and being asked at the door of a business about it, the situation can be "extremely triggering".
Coun. Rico Damota added that there needs to be an inclusive approach, a system in place, to deal with times when people aren't wearing a mask while they're out and about in town.
"Nobody should feel ostracized," he said. 鈥淒on't pass judgment because you don't know what that person is dealing with.鈥�
Christine Nadon, legislative services manager, said, "If someone says they can't wear a mask, take their word for it."
She noted how businesses react to someone not wearing a mask is entirely up to them.
Council discussed the pros and cons of having those who don't wear masks presenting cards confirming their exemption from the bylaw when they walk into a business.
Butler said people are exempt for seven reasons according to the bylaw, but 鈥渨e're not asking people to demonstrate [them]鈥�.聽
鈥淲ho decides if you have an exemption?鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur bylaw says you decide.
鈥淚f we issue cards, we're saying it's our decision. It's really not for us to say if someone is exempt.
鈥淚t's for that individual to say they're exempt."
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey said, "It's up to every retailer if they want to let people in their business or not."
And deputy mayor, Bert Journault added, "We still have a pandemic. We can't let our guard down."
McGrath said she has talked with some residents who weren't wearing a mask when they walked into a business and were told they can't come in.
"Have a little sensitivity to the few people who are affected by the bylaw we created," she urged.
Nadon said, "There's a strong education component to this bylaw."
There was a consensus between councillors that communicating with businesses about the bylaw and its exemptions would help.聽
Replacements and new roles
When council discussed its priorities, Butler said a focus needs to be put on hiring a chief administrative officer (CAO), following the resignation of current CAO, Mark Fercho, who will move to B.C. in November to continue his municipal career and be close to family and familiar surroundings.
The merits of having a communications coordinator work for the municipality were discussed at length at Tuesday鈥檚 meeting.
Nadon said some communications-related tasks are being fulfilled by a staff member, and their workload has increased as a result.
Fercho said the position is a mixture of communications and administrative duties and noted some work has piled up since the pandemic was declared.
Damota asked for specifics with the job description and Nadon said the administration department is waiting to see if the position gets funded first.
A decision about the new position proposed for council's Sept. 1 meeting.
