1030, so we'll get started.

Um, my name's Donna Moore.

I am chair of public safety, and this is a joint meeting between public safety and the finance committee.

I have joining with me today uh counselors Marty Nave, Councillor Rashida Caldwell, Counselor Helen Hudson, and Councilor Petrona Jones Rouser.

And if you guys want to introduce yourselves.

Good morning, counselors.

Craig Whitmer with the Office of Analytics Performance and Innovation.

And Leah Whitmer, the director and chief administrative law judge of the municipal violations bureau.

Okay.

Um I'll let you guys start.

Thank you so much, Counselor.

So we have prepared a sort of general moment in time presentation that will provide uh some kind of summary data points, try to give an update of uh where the program's at so far, recognizing that we're not going to be able to provide full data until the school year is done to be able to really inform uh high-level decision making or anything like that.

So uh we're hoping that we can kind of give a general overview, um have a few discussion points to raise and kind of ask questions to you on how uh being involved in different components going forward will be best, um, and then answer any questions.

Okay.

So uh agenda for today, we're gonna provide a little bit of background history, uh, talk about program exact objectives, run through the timeline a little bit, talk to some summary data points, then talk about next steps.

I do want to also point out that we have um our vendor here, uh, representatives from Genoptic who will be able to speak to um some more specific pro uh questions for the program if they come up.

So a little bit on the background of this.

So this is a program that was started under the Walsh administration, the goal being uh to ensure student and resident safety.

If you recall um when this was initially brought to the council and approved, there was a significant uptick in the number of students who are being injured uh in and around school zones, uh in and around uh Syracuse and the central New York region.

Uh overall, this is looking to uh meet the mark on Vision Zero.

So that's the goal of zero fatalities in streets, and then over the long term, uh the goal of this program is not just to be able to kind of uh automate enforcement in school zones and the surrounding areas, but um understand what does continuous improvement look like.

If we are uh monitoring enforcement um on certain streets, if there is um speedsters, for example, that are being driven to side streets, does it make sense to implement safety measures like uh speed bumps there?

Uh we've had some discussions about that, but uh overall trying to uh improve over time.

You said it doesn't make sense or it makes sense.

Does it make sense?

Trying to understand what is continuous improvement uh in automated enforcement look like over time.

Gotcha.

So just for a timeline um between and this is when it was approved between 2023 and 2024.

Really, there's a little bit more that happened in 2019, but for the programs that we're going to discuss today, that's uh school bus stop arm, red light cameras, and school speed zone cameras, New York State authorized city-level demonstration programs for automated enforcement between 2023 and 2024.

Um here locally, between September of 2023 and 2024, we go through the process of uh RFP's bid and contract award for all three programs.

Um, and good to keep in mind that we went from not doing any form of automated enforcement to doing uh three programs, the the first municipality in the state to do that.

Uh the school bus stop our morning period began in May.

Um, and then between September and October of 2025, we did a warning period for um speed and red light.

Uh, there was probably an uptick in the number of calls everyone received.

Uh, if you recall, we had about 180,000 warnings issued, uh, mostly for uh speed cameras, but again, we chose to do a 60-day warning period uh because we knew that this was going to be such a tremendous shift, um, and because we really wanted to ensure that um the community uh understood that we were taking um ensuring residents knew what was going on seriously.

So September 17th, uh I'm sorry, I made an error here.

It should be September 17th, 2025.

Uh, we had a special committee meeting here with all of you to discuss.

We engaged in a pretty significant conversation then, and um November 3rd, 2025.

Again, my apologies, the dates are wrong here.

Um, ticketing began um two months into the school year of 2025.

So what have we kind of achieved over the last few months?

So if you look at the data from November to April, so that's when we started enforcing uh these numbers look a little bit different if you were to count the warning period, but because it's SKUs so heavy, we wanted to focus on uh November and April.

Um you're seeing about 55 fewer violations per school day.

So you've dropped from about 1300 to about 575.

Um that 46% decline in the most dangerous speeders uh going from November through April.

So we're talking about folks that are driving uh what is that, a 66 and a 30, something like that.

Um the the real threats to uh life and limb.

Um, you know, 41% of the tickets, and there will be a slide about this next, about 41 of those percent of those tickets are going outside of the city of Syracuse.

So we're talking about a third of that.

Um about a third of the tickets are going to uh the suburbs in the general central New York region, and about 8% are going out of state.

Uh, if we look a little bit deeper into that out of state number, a pretty significant portion of that are going to uh enterprise rent a car or Avis, right?

Your car rentals.

So um the city residents' share of citations declines over time, right?

And um don't want to say that there's like a causal effect here, very much want to wait until probably July or August until we can really dig in a little bit more on full school year data to be able to take any conclusions, things like that.

But you we started at about a 60-40 split in November where residents were receiving about 60% of those tickets to in April, that's dropped about 7% down to 55%.

So, you know, the the top line hopeful interpretation of this is that city residents are changing their behavior uh over time, kind of adjusting to the program.

And we see how that bears out uh kind of in your more high-level data.

So from a program ticketing perspective, um, the total revenue that we've collected so far, that's um about 3.8 million dollars, and because of the split with us and our vendor, we've brought in about 2.4 million dollars.

Uh there's roughly 2 million dollars of tickets eligible for collections right now.

Uh that's kind of in connection with the other part of this discussion, which is um about collections and legislation associated with collections, uh, which I will defer to my colleagues to be able to speak more about.

But that means that we're looking at about a 35% pay rate uh between November and March.

Um, and again, this is sort of a general update.

Uh, we would have more conclusive data to be able to share uh, probably in July, August area after things have settled and the school year is ended.

Um so the next steps for us, we have to finalize and communicate out our summer school policy and plans.

Uh, we can confirm the final location changes for speed and red light cameras.

We have a number of cameras that are going to be moving.

Uh, we have a number of red light camera locations that for reasons related to uh infrastructure aren't going to be able to be placed where we want them to, and we'd like to probably think about where does it make the most sense to place both of those focused on safety, um, finalizing software and finance pain points improvement.

So uh our because of the nature of how our function is set up, where we have the BAA function within the city, um, it has taken uh some time to be able to get the software to work better for us versus other clients, and we're trying to make sure that that works best for the folks who are frontline staff within the city of Syracuse who are kind of taking on this program in stride and trying to make it work for residents.

them to and we'd like to probably think about where does it make the most sense to place both of those focused on safety um finalizing software and finance pain points improvements so uh our because of the nature of how our function is set up where we have the BAA function within the city um it has taken uh some time to be able to get the software to work better for us versus other clients and we're trying to make sure that that works best for the folks who are frontline staff within the city of Syracuse um who are kind of taking on this program in stride and trying to make it work for residents and then again aligning on continuous improvement what does it look like over time for um this to be a successful program and how do we define success question certainly so like on weekends Saturdays and Sundays when schools not in session I have received constituent calls why are the flashers still on when sometimes maybe one section will have them off and when summer starts when schools are not in session what is our program then will we have the flashing school lights at 20 miles an hour and another question will this make drivers take alternate roads from uh outside of the school area so instead of normally passing through a school where there is a zone they'll take an alternate route away from there now take the question yeah so the counselor the flashers are separate from this program right this program there are the legally compliant signs that are up the new signs you see in all of the school zones they're all uniform they all look the same you have a warning sign with a camera saying you're about to approach an automated enforcement school zone you have the start of the school zone and then you have the end of the school zone so you're right some of the schools have flashing lights not all of them the flashing lights are controlled by DPW and they are older versions so they're limited in the ability to turn them on and off which is why we went with the standard 7 a.m to 6 p.m that's allowed under the law for enforcement because you could have expanded hours with after school activities and whatnot but you need control of the flashing lights.

So the flashing lights are still there in some schools as an added warning but outside of the 7 a.m to 6 p.m on a school day even if they're flashing they're not governing okay like on on on on a Saturday okay because I was in a situation where I saw the flasher on South Air but then in the return I didn't see it there.

So first one 7 a.m to 6 p.m on school days I think you know it's an added benefit because you know most of the schools do have kids in or around them on nights and weekends so it's not harming anyone but nobody will get a ticket on those nights and weekends your question about summer school summer school and when school's not in session they're gonna get back into bad habits again.

Yeah so summer school the cameras the enforcement will be on so we're still working with the district on that um process I saw Dr.

DeFlorio over there he provided the summer school schedule so we're working to set um the hours and come up with an education um plan to ensure that that information is communicated because it's not all schools and the schools have different summer school sessions but there will be enforcement when those schools are in session.

Yeah and we're also concerned about private schools too as well Sacrament is currently the only non-Syracuse city school that has a camera.

Okay thank you so there have been some concerns raised to me um from the um west side neighborhood association at hazard uh library what people are doing is to avoid the light they're cutting through the library which is right where the school is um and I've asked DPW to put in speed bumps but they said they don't do that upon request but we have to do something because this is an issue now that they said that cars just are turning down the street which is right where the school is cutting through the library where the kids are actually walking to school um just to avoid the light so if if you guys could work with DPW to help me get some speed bumps in there so that people won't do that that would be helpful that's engineering isn't it um so it's certainly something that we can bring back to DPW and engineering and discuss.

I think that this is one of those components of continuous improvement where this is the first time we're doing this and you can expect that when you have a program like this people are going to change their behavior and addressing that over time if that speed bumps in a library because people are going to cut through and provide a danger that's something that should certainly be considered thank you anybody else have questions I was already answered so far.

I was already answered so far.

Okay.

I'll take the opportunity then to jump in and um discuss the collections bullet point that Craig mentioned.

Um we've submitted legislation to amend the local parking violations law to allow for booting of automated enforcement tickets together with parking.

So the proposal would be one um outstanding school bus ticket, which is a 250 dollar ticket, or any combination of three automated enforcement or parking tickets.

Um, this proposal is something we've discussed since we rolled out the project.

Um, it's a good first step to get collections up, and then we've also been working with our vendor genoptic and um the finance team, and we are exploring putting together an RFP for collection agencies and other collection mechanisms.

We've done a great demo with um a company that Gen Optic partners with on collections, so we're planning to roll out multiple options.

Um, but I think as I've experienced with um the past nine years with the BAA without that back end collection mechanism, you know, at some point people become wise that there's no consequence to getting the tickets, and we don't want that behavior to revert to for you know the data to go back up.

So I think it's imperative that we get that legislation on the agenda, and we have your support with that.

So go ahead.

So being that it's a traffic violation, shouldn't that be passed on to DMV instead of us taking that on?

So it's actually a non-moving violation.

It's the same as parking, right?

That's why it's coming through the parking violation bureau and not traffic court and city court.

If you were to get any of these tickets from an officer uh in person, then you're subject to much higher fines and points on your license.

These are treated as non-moving violations, so they are civil fines only.

We could, that being said, both just like parking, they could be passed on to the DMV.

That is up to the council and the administration, and at this point, um, it's my understanding that that is not something that the administration is interested in doing.

We've explored it like I've shared with you before, my department has explored the booting, the collections, and passing it on the DMV.

That is a registration hold.

So if you have on paid tickets, you can't renew your registration until you pay them, which then leads to high rates of unregistered vehicles and uninsured vehicles, which for a community with high rates of poverty, you know, can be an issue.

So at this point it hasn't been pursued.

Um, but we have the information and the mechanisms to move forward with that, you know, if necessary.

So I actually have one more question, counselor.

Because I'm sitting here listening to you.

I'm trying to figure this out.

If you don't have the full data yet, how are you gonna implement this?

Because I know that there's been errors in this process.

So how do you implement booting people when there's an error?

How do you correct that?

So it'd be the errors, and I'm not sure exactly.

The only one I can think of that was covered heavily in the news was that December 5th, the half day, and those were all rectified months before that article hit the news, right?

Anyone that calls my office is answering phones, emails, walk-ins, doing hearings all day every day.

I would say that's a large portion of you know the constituent services we're offering right now.

Um so everybody is entitled to a hearing.

You have 40 days to request that hearing when you get the ticket.

Um any other issues on the ticketing side, um, I haven't experienced right.

But people do have the right to dispute.

You would not be eligible to be booted, just like for all of our ticket types until 30 days after a decision was issued, and we would send out collection notices um so you would get a final notice advising that you're now eligible to be booted the same way we do it for parking.

And then people would have to have again, and those numbers that I gave you, the one school bus or three combination of automated enforcement or parking.

It doesn't have to be that.

That's what I came up with based on I think the severity of the violations.

Um, but I'm open to discussion on that.

Happy to address.

I'm just a little confused because if there's no default data yet into July or August, how are we gonna, you know, how we why are we doing this and how are we doing this?

Sure.

So uh when I'm saying that there's no full data, I think it's to qualify that uh these insights are for a moment in time, right?

They're from um mostly November through April.

I didn't want there to be confusion that this was the uh full complete end-all understanding of what the first year of the program looks like.

That data won't be available for us to really conclusively look through for another few months because we have the months of May and June that we'll want to be able to look through uh carefully before we present to you a report that is able to draw um sort of behavioral conclusions of like is this working in the way that we intend it?

What are those high-level numbers at the individual level?

Um, there should be no confusion that it is working as intended.

Yeah, I could pull you know Craig's plate and look and see he's got 10 outstanding speed tickets, two red lights, and a school bus, and know that he didn't contest or pay those, right?

So, yeah.

So um couple of questions, right?

So we just started this program, and it's um I'm happy that we started it, right?

Because children's safety is number one all the way.

But we tend to start stuff and want to just keep moving fast, right?

Before we really see how the process works.

The other day in the meeting, you said you have over 4,000 tickets that you still have to people going to hearings, and we gotta so for us to now say we want to boot people and we're still trying to figure out the process, and we all we already have 4,000 people that have put in for disputes.

Now we're gonna boot like it looks like they can't be.

She just no, no, no, but just let me finish.

So, what I'm saying is we haven't even been a year in this, right?

And we know that in any good study or any kind of process, it takes a minute before you realize what works, what doesn't work, the loopholes, um, anything like that.

And I think we're rushing into like now booting people, and then there's gonna be the out-of-state people that you can't boo.

There's gonna be the out of city people that you can't boot.

So you just mentioned Syracuse is one of the poorest, you know, far as that.

They're only people that are gonna get booted again, are those those families.

So not saying that they shouldn't pay.

What I'm saying is we have to back up.

We're going like so fast into this situation before we figure out does this work, what's missing, who's doing this, like those things.

And I just think it takes a year to two before you realize what works before we start saying, Oh, we're gonna boot, because we had the same situation with the students on university.

You you you can't catch up with them, but it's gonna be based on the local city people, the out of the city people.

We don't go out into other um neighborhoods and boo.

We don't, we're not gonna do that.

So it's only gonna be those, the people that live here that are gonna get hit again.

Yeah, and I'm sure Vicky can um work with paylock to pull the data on who gets you know the percentage of city residents versus non-city residents or at least out of state plates to get booted.

I don't have that off hand.

I just want based on the data when he said who's how many percentages in the city, how many percentages are sure.

Um, and that's I think why we're also going to explore working with a collection agency.

I think to do that to get a full picture that we need to explore options like RFP, RFQ, because we've met with one that Gen Optic partners with, but none of us knew that that type of vendor existed, right?

So we want to explore that opportunity as well.

Um, I can say without legislation, right?

Just like with BAA again, and I'm pulling from my nine years of experience with that.

I have millions of dollars in uncollectible because we didn't pass the legislation until last year, right?

So that becomes the problem.

You can't go back in time, sorry, um, until after you pass the legislation.

So you're essentially publicizing, hey, any ticket that you don't pay or can test now, there's no enforcement mechanism.

So we just started it.

So BAA, it took you nine, like you said, nine years, and then we realize, oh, this process we need to move forward.

But we haven't even been a year into this really.

We're coming up on a year for school.

We're not there yet.

So with any good program or process, we don't want to just beat up the people without thinking about what we need to do and making sure that we're prepared for A B and C.

There's people we still haven't figured out the time that they get the ticket from when it gets mailed, the 30-day process, people are still calling on that because there's a big lapse in between that.

So there's still gaps that we have to work on before we start saying, okay, now we want to slam you guys.

I'm not saying we're I'm against it.

I'm saying let's fix, let's look at all the the pieces that are missing, what's not working, what's working, where's the mail going, how many, you know, uh people are contesting what's missing, figure out that piece and then come back and say, okay, these are the things that we realize.

This is what's going on, this is the data.

Okay, maybe this we should move forward instead of saying, oh wow, we've been this a year later, now let's go.

We want to collect put collections.

It just the question then is if we have two million dollars in eligible tickets, those are tickets that were fairly written.

People actually did violate the law and they were given a ticket and have not paid.

Um, the longer you go, I mean, you know, you know, yourself with parking tickets, people get you know surprised when they come in, uh, they have a parking ticket from 2,000 because they never go off the books.

Right.

So we're just trying to get ahead of the system and reach out to people, people move.

Some people move very frequently, and so if we have their address at the time that they were issued the ticket, we wait and we wait and we wait, and we don't try to collect by sending them a letter or make you know, phone call, making collection efforts, then we're not gonna collect on those tickets.

And I would say I would just speak to what Rashida and um Leah stated.

The people who you're saying probably move frequently and aren't getting either the mail or not paying a ticket, they're not gonna pay the ticket.

They can't afford to that's just that's just more money out of their pockets.

Um, you know, people are trying to figure out how they're gonna eat, how they're gonna pay bills, especially utility and gas now, and that's just another ticket.

So the only thing that I would say is that um, and correct me if I'm wrong, my understanding isn't correct.

Um, I think the goal with amending the legislation to enable collections on automated enforcement isn't to start booting people next week, right?

It's to enable us to explore what those options look like and be able to engage with the council on what does a fair and proper collections process look like that you know wouldn't be something that we would be bringing to you for, I mean, an RFP would take a month, two months.

So we're we're talking about something that we would just like to be able to explore what those options are, recognizing that you would be fully engaged in the process for the RFP for the methodology.

Um it's just correct me if I'm wrong that the uh contract that we have now with one of our vendors is expiring, and we need to be able to update that contract.

So it's not uh confirming or writing in stone exactly that we'll start booting, you know, within XYZ time period.

It's just enabling us to start those conversations, knowing that we have the authority and approval to start the conversations, not to do anything uh in particular.

I just think we're moving too fast.

I think it's very important that we um have an understanding of, you know, and I don't know if if traffic studies were done prior to us um rolling this out to understand the number of individuals who traveled in certain areas and the speed that they traveled, um, and then today finding you know how many people have corrected that pattern um and adjust it to the new laws.

I think that would have been the proper thing for us to know before we did something disaggregious, um, because then we would know if people are simply ignoring it, um, or if they have changed their their their driving patterns.

Um, and we would we could then expect that after the first year, those patterns will continue to change.

Um, and and would that be something that's needed?

Totally.

Um still have two million dollars in tickets outstanding that we don't have the staff unless we were to add, because this is new, right?

There's a whole new process, and we've you know, built in with existing staff the the whole program, but then you know, to add, and that includes all the refunds for all the tickets that were issued, and you know, that some people paid that we have to now refund.

So that's that's a big process, too.

We don't have the staff to follow up and call on these tickets.

So I guess the question is do we just say, well, we're gonna ignore two million dollars worth of tickets.

What's the percentage of the two million on that are city residents?

What's the percentage of outside?

I don't have that number, but I can get that to you.

And again, just to reiterate what Craig said, I think the benefit of amending the legislation and ables us to go back and collect collect those tickets if you decide, you know, three months, six months, a year you're ready.

But if we wait that long to pass legislation, you can't go back, you know, on the retroactive ticket.

So, like I said, I'm happy to discuss what the amendment looks like when we put, you know, when we actually start booting or collecting, but without amending the law, um, you can't go back, like we could never go back.

Like we could never go back.

So if you say, all right, we've got a full year of data, let's talk it through.

We're ready to start collecting on these on collectibles.

Um, and you can't, you know, do that if we haven't amended the legislation.

So I'm just asking that everyone keep an open mind to the legislation, and I'm happy to discuss change it.

Um, you know, in any way.

But I think again, it took me so long with the BAA because of issues like this, and then state and local laws um and capacity internally.

And I don't think that that you know benefits the city or the taxpayers if we wait and don't have any mechanism for the pass tickets if that makes sense.

So that's one quick question.

I just want to make sure that I understand the proposal is um passing if we were to pass the law, it would be to boot people that have one outstanding school bus ticket and three um camera tickets, three schools tickets or combination of camera or parking.

Right now, it allows for three outstanding parking tickets.

So I don't get booted until you have three tickets.

Three outstanding tickets of any type.

I was doing one standalone school bus based on recommendations from other municipalities, and based on again, that's a 250 dollar ticket versus the others are 50.

And if you look at again, if an officer issued a ticket, you could, you know, points on your license, that amount of fine, you could end up with jail time, right?

So the severity of the violation.

So my other question is like um, do you send notifications out if someone doesn't pay their ticket?

Because um, you know, I've I've gotten a ticket before, and I didn't know it until I got a notification.

So it flew off my window or something.

But um, so I just want to make sure that like we would be notifying someone for every single ticket they got before we would ever go to this boot stage, they'd be getting several notifications, correct?

Yes, for the automated enforcement, you get the initial ticket, which is by mail since it's an automated program.

Then you get a pass due notice if you don't pay, and that's advising that a $25 penalty is rolled on, and then you would get a collection notice again, advising that this ticket is now in collections, a total amount due, and whatever the terms of the booting law are.

Once you have if it's three or more uncollected or one bus arm, and again, those were just the numbers I was proposing, but I'm open to discussion.

The law as it stands now is three on collected parking tickets, and again, it says in there that legally you have to send the required notices.

Parking notices are a little different because the governing law is a little different, but that's the section of the law that we're looking to amend.

So um, so one of the things that which would what we do, which I like I said, I'm gonna make it clear that this is a great thing.

I love it.

It's just like some of these questions we asked ahead of time, like how are we gonna do this?

These were questions a year ago that was talked about in this several study sessions, like how are you gonna collect fines?

And they were like, Oh, we can do we can do this, right?

So my biggest thing is we still have not figured out all the loopholes yet.

So to move forward from the time a person gets a ticket, right?

And it gets mailed, how long is that still?

So the law, it's all governed by law.

If it's a speed ticket within New York State plate, it has to be mailed within 14 days.

If it's an out-of-state plate, 45 days, and then our general business rule is 30 days for all tickets, whether it's in state or out of state.

So the red light school bus and even the out-of-state speed tickets, our business rule of the vendor is that they get mailed within 30 days, and then it's 40 days from the date that that ticket was generated, you have to pay or contest.

So you got from the time the ticket was generated, you got 14 days for me to send it.

So I only have 14, a lot almost 14 days to test it.

That's how when it has to be mailed out to you.

So you get a ticket.

If it's a speed ticket and you have a New York State plate, it has to be mailed to you within 14 days of the violation occurring.

Okay, right.

Because again, they're automated, so it's not like it's left under the windshield.

And then from the date that it's mailed, generated, you have 40 days to pay or contest.

40 days to and those are all things I mean, my department and others with Craig and API and the vendor, we've been exploring.

And again, if there's suggestions about the process, the time frames, the notices, as I've said every time we've met, come down, talk to me, right?

Come watch a hearing, talk to me about the process, come look at the software.

I am more than happy to walk anybody through it and open to any suggestions.

Um, because it is a new process.

I'm aware of that.

And I just think you know, too, and you know, I'll respectfully disagree.

I don't think it's rushing and you know, on that end.

And you know, but I still believe it's a rush because we haven't any studies like any study I haven't that you do.

It takes at least a year or so before you can say, okay, this direction works, this doesn't work.

Oh, we probably should have did this and fix our internal, make sure we're good before we say we're gonna boot or we're gonna do this.

That's my only biggest concern.

I'm not saying I'm against it.

Yeah, I'm just saying we need to make sure internally that we looked at all the processes and also get you another support so that you like you requested the other day.

So those 4,000 tickets that are behind that you don't know what's gonna come from that hearing.

Well no, they wouldn't be eligible to be booted until 30 days after the decision.

From four those 4,000 tickets that once you go to that hearing, you're gonna get stories and hear things that you might not know that is going on through the ticket through the booting through those.

So let's figure out what is actually going on.

Look at that, right?

Let's catch up on the 4,000 tickets that are already behind, and then say, okay, we realize that maybe this is the working or this is a we've heard a hundred people say this stop ticket at four miles per hour gave me a ticket.

Like, let's hear what is actually happening, and then say, all right, we got a better look at this.

We caught up on these 4,000 earrings.

That's a lot of hearings.

Half of those are parking, though.

I'm just saying, I don't it's still there's still hearings, yeah.

You know, those are eligible.

We're still booted, right?

The parking ones are eligible to be booted if they're on the city.

So regardless, let's figure out all those pieces and then move forward.

Cause what happens, we tend to do we do stuff and then we come back and then it's like, oh well, um, we realize that we shouldn't have did that.

And it's all that's a part of trial and ear, but when we know it, when we know it, yeah, I appreciate it.

So but I would love to meet with you or the other counselors, right?

To where are the pain points you're hearing from constituents?

What do you want to know?

Come sit in on the hearings.

Again, I'm doing hearings every day of the week.

We're doing them.

So I'm hearing from constituents, but I've invited all of you, and I, you know, to be honest, I haven't heard much other than at these meetings.

Um, you know, so I would love to know where we're gonna be able to do.

Well, we just got this from you, as far as is booting.

So this is the information.

We're what do you think?

What would you like to see done?

What information is the hold?

That's what I've said it five times.

I'm not against the booting league.

I'm just saying we still need to look at the processes and make sure what we're doing makes sense before we start booting people, and then people are saying, Well, I got booted, and that wasn't it.

We make we Tina, we tend to have error, error mistakes because we haven't looked at the whole process.

That's all I'm saying.

And I know you want to do the BAA.

It took you eight, nine years, right?

And we were for we were for it, right?

But it's still we should look at the process and say, what are these 4,000 people?

I know people got three tickets in one day in the same spot.

Was it, you know, was it the camera?

Was it them?

What is it?

Let's look at that, figure out what's going on, and then say, okay, we've gotten data, we've gotten through these tickets, whether they're parking tickets, stop signing tickets, whatever their tickets are.

Let's figure out what's going on and then say come back to the council and say, This is what we got.

And now let's move forward.

I was gonna ask last year when this rolled out, how many positions did we create to assist with the process?

Uh this year there were no new positions.

Last year, I'm not sure.

There may have been one or two.

I think it was two.

Um, I think I created maybe an extra clerical position.

But it was like part-time though, right?

No, my no, like uh it um civil service, like information aid clerk, I can't remember, and then my supervisor position that had been vacant.

We filled those.

Um that wasn't it.

That wasn't in creative program.

There were city payment center had no new positions.

We've been accepting cash payments.

Um, that was something that was kind of not thought about when the contract was done.

A lot of people like to pay cash, so um, we want to make it easy for people to pay their bills.

So I suggested that we begin taking payments at City Payment Center.

So we started doing that, had staff trained.

We just incorporated that as part of their daily work with taking water payments and taxes and parking tickets, you know, it's another payment.

So um, and we get a lot of calls too as well as um the parking violations bureau does.

Um so we haven't added any staff.

Well, possibly two positions.

You said I could go back and double check to see what new positions were created in last year, the 25-26, right?

So we have the the possible positions plus equipment that was that was made available to the like the kiosk we have in our office.

Um those were all covered through IT or my budget.

Those I those were budgeted for the the kiosk, and we're working right now to open up uh resource center right across the hall from security that'll have like a standing desktop computer and printer again, just so we have a staff in there to sit down so people you know can more accessibly review the laws if they want, review the video.

Almost all of our tickets have photographs right now through our constituent portals that we offer, whether it's for automated enforcement parking illegal set outs, I'm working on it for the BAA.

So just to ensure that people understand the ticket and their options and have that right to due process.

So I'm working with the fifth judicial districts law librarians to get that set up.

So you said that 41% um of the tickets being issued are outside of the city.

How are what are we using to collect those if they're not paying?

Because we can't boot them, right?

So I just do want to create um correct a misconception.

People are be getting the tickets in the city.

A lot of these people are commuters.

So if they're within the surrounding suburbs or whatever, they're coming into work, they are getting booted.

Okay.

Um, we are booting in the university area.

Um, so students who are getting tickets and are you know, the vehicles registered in their parents' name in Connecticut or someplace else, um, they are also eligible for booting, then the booting um I will try to get um specifics.

I'm sure I can get a report on that, um, so that you can see that we're not just booting city residents.

It means anybody who has three or more um parking tickets that are 90 days old or older have been sent all of the notices, those are the people that are getting booted.

Okay.

But to clarify and confirm, um, we're not actively able to collect on any of the automated enforcement tickets as of now.

No, these are just for parking.

So right now, and if again, just turning your attention to the fact that the uh city resident share of citations is declining over time, which um again part of a broader one year review will be presented as that data is available to be able to understand what are the gaps, or is the behavior changing as we want it to and as we expect it.

Um, but preliminary view is that um city resident behavior over time is changing as we're seeing this uh consistent decline in the share of the citations that are coming to uh city residents.

Um, but to the question of what are we doing to collect the uh tickets from folks that are outside of the city, um nothing.

We don't we don't have the ability to do that.

Um and while there is significant discussion about what the right mechanism is, um I think just that ability to explore that is what's being asked.

Um, I don't think that there is um anything specific needed, right?

We we may want a particular policy or outcome, but I think just the ability to engage in that discussion is what is at bottom being requested.

Putting this in place, this is this is only gonna affect city residences, like you said, you can't collect from outside no, we can't collect for city, we can't collect for anyone right now on automated enforcement.

There's no collections happening for automated enforcement tickets at all.

It would be just city.

No, it would be automatically.

No, no, no, no, it would be for everyone.

No, no.

And and the the thing that we're just trying to do is trying to, you know, a lot of work was put in to um establish the program.

A lot of tickets were issued that have not been paid.

So if people have had a violation issued, we're just trying to make sure that they know that they have the debt, that they pay the debt, and you know, I'm sure that we would be open to any kind of discussion of, you know, if council would prefer to start simply with a collection agency and take booting off the table for now, if that's if that's the concern.

Like you were saying, let's maybe take it slowly and take it steps.

Uh, you know, we're agreeable.

We just need to have the ability to say there is a collection mechanism, and be able to go out and get an RFP to have people quote us on, you know, different collection companies to quote us on that so that we can then move forward and that the tickets will be eligible for collections.

That's about the code about uh the collections.

Now, if a person gets a ticket wants to pay it here, it's gotta be by credit card or cash, but a check you have to mail to the process center in land of Georgia.

That's right.

So I don't understand why the person cannot pay the check here.

They use a check to pay their water bill and the regular taxes.

So I think we should make it a little more accessible.

We already have though is us collecting payments at all is not part of the original agreement.

So I don't know if we have the capacity to add checks.

Um it is already um it goes through the finance department, am I correct?

Yeah, so I pay my water bill, here's a check.

Yep.

You don't I don't send it to Bing Up 10 and I pay in person because I know that it's a chance that the checks are gonna get lost.

And there's a chance that a check to Atlanta might get lost, and then the person's gonna get maybe there's a chance it would be.

Now there's another question I want to ask, and I believe that this is what should be promoted.

These are school zones.

We have to educate our citizens to avoid certain school zones, in other words, take alternate routes.

If they have to go to towards the wit, do not cut through Oak Street, which is easier, take another route, stay away, because a lot of people will feel these are speed tramps, speed tramps.

Let's show the people where these are these are school zones and let's show them educate them where there's alternative routes away from the schools that will ease congestion.

That's my suggestion.

I would like to see that implemented.

Appreciated understood.

Thank you.

So just so I I mean my clerk stepped out, but for our legislation, you want us to why does the legislation need to be changed for you to explore to explore options?

You're exploring, so why would we need to legislation that's proposed is specifically for the ability to amend the paylock contract to boot, right?

We have the paylock contract is coming up, so if we wanted to explore, right, it would be an increase in the volume.

So we would want to amend that contract.

So that's why I was proposing the legislation to allow for booting for automated enforcement.

So you want it to boot, you're not exploring in.

So you're basically saying you want us to change the legislation to boot, not to explore.

I want to be able to boot if we and again I'm fine adding in there at whatever point in time we all feel comfortable with it, but without amending the legislation, we can never go back and collect on these tickets, if that makes sense.

But the ticket doesn't go away.

The ticket doesn't go away, but it's um it's basically we don't have a collection mechanism, right?

Because the legislation, like you can't retroactively go back and boot for something where the law didn't enable us to boot at that point.

So we will still send a collection notice.

It's possible it could be collectible through a collection agency, but I don't know enough about that area of the law.

I just know if we amend and we have the ability, we don't have to start booting.

I'm fine with you know whatever we agree on as a group, but it would give us the ability if at the end of the one year mark we come back, review the data and say, okay, let's send one more collection notice to all these people, and then you know, we'd be able to boot them because at the end of the day, they are all violations of the law, which were always violations of the law, right?

An officer could always give a ticket.

Um, they had their opportunity for due process, and like Vicky said, a lot of time and effort from everybody from you know, the vendor to SPD to my team and Vicky's team has gone into that.

So just to leave it sitting on the table is my concern.

So I think that it opens a door, and you know, I don't, I'm sure that there's a way we could agree to say, like, all right, we're not going to boot yet.

Um help me understand you say we can't go back and boot, but isn't payload going back and booting at this point for parking tickets?

Because it's that's allowed in the losses you can boot for three on collected parking tickets.

So that's the section of the law that I'm saying doesn't give us the authority to do that for these automated enforcement tickets yet.

And it, you know, counselor Coldwell is right, it's something I've been talking about since the beginning, and it's capacity related that I haven't brought it to you until now because you know, Vicky's saying, Leah, come on, the paylock contract's up, you know.

So I prioritize getting that legislation before you Leah.

If we um if once if we get there, if we get where we're able to boot, um, like you guys are suggesting, um, in that particular legislation that comes in front of the council, it cannot be, for instance, like uh legislated to say any tickets that's over six months, three months.

Uh, if the legislation say that, um, is there a state law or something that is when you say that is all over three months old?

I'm just saying that that existing law doesn't the law doesn't exist right now.

Right, exactly.

I know that because existing law right now we can't vote for that for those that you're talking about right now.

But when the legislation, when we get there, which um it sounds as though we're just talking about professional services right now, but um, if we were to ever get there, um the legislation can say like um any tickets that's over six months, um, you know, it could say that, but that's just not the general way that laws work, right?

So that that's the hurdle.

It is the general way it works here, but it might not be the general way you want it to work.

Yeah, um, so um, I just wanted to point that out.

Yeah, and we could explore it with the law department.

It was just I think it's tough to do a retroactive law.

I'll I'll take my I'll take my lawyer.

Leave it to Corp Council and the council that is not with payload, we did that retro.

Yes, we have yeah, so it could be sure.

I just that's not the way I would print.

But we have before.

But you did say if the council wanted to have some suggestions about ways, okay.

That was just a suggestion.

It wasn't like okay, and it's not something you want, but it might some, I'm just saying it might be something they want.

Yeah, if corporate council, their office signed off on it, go for it.

Any other questions?

No, I think we're good.

Thank you.

Thank you guys very much for the time.

Thank you.

Meeting is adjourned, so move.