Wheeling Takes Control of City Parking Facilities
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WHEELING -- A decades-old management agreement with the Anthony Wayne Oil Corp. to oversee the city's parking facilities ended this week, and now Wheeling officials and employees will directly handle operations of the city's parking garages and surface lots.
City officials said they would evaluate the process of running the parking system for the next few months and then determine whether to seek a new company to manage the facilities or continue doing it themselves, City Manager Robert Herron announced at Wheeling City Council.
On Tuesday, city employees started their first day running the city's three parking garages -- The Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Transportation Center, the Center Wheeling garage and the 10th Street garage -- as well as six surface lots throughout downtown and Center Wheeling, Herron said.
"Over the past several weeks we've been doing, from a staff perspective, a thorough analysis of our parking system, which includes looking at potential automation of the system, also maintenance and issues associated with maintenance, overall operations and customer service," Herron said.
Herron decided about three or four weeks ago to end the agreement at the start of October.
Next, city staff will assess Wheeling's parking system, look at potential upgrades and make a recommendation to council.
"Over the next several weeks, it's my intention to evaluate the parking system, utilizing existing staff and looking at the items that I mentioned, and ultimately make a recommendation to city council as to whether the city can continue to manage its own system or formulate a proposal to have a private management corporation come in and manage the system," Herron said.
The process arose after city staff considered upgrading Wheeling's parking garages to become fully automated by putting in pay stations, Herron said. The city has looked at changes made in other cities and brought in vendors to look at its facilities, he said.
Councilman Dave Palmer asked whether the city will re-evaluate the fees at lots and garages, and Herron confirmed that it will.
"Part of this evaluation was looking at current rates on all of our parking structures and facilities," Herron said. "We've done a thorough analysis of other areas close to Wheeling, from Charleston, to Pittsburgh, Canton, and will be formulating recommendations on changing the fee schedule as well."
Councilwoman Wendy Scatterday further suggested that the city improve lighting and safety in parking garages, such as by adding emergency call buttons. Herron said city staff is evaluating such items.
"It's been a team effort to get to the point where we are today. The transition has been relatively smooth," Herron said. "Some customers will have to get used to the new structure and process in obtaining tags, but we think we've got that squared away. There may be a couple hiccups, but once we get through one cycle at the end of the month we will be OK moving forward."
Messages left for Terry Smith, president of the Anthony Wayne Oil Corp., were not immediately returned Tuesday.
Also at the meeting, Mayor Glenn Elliott said that council plans to send a letter to the West Virginia Division of Highways formally requesting that it reconsider the closure of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The state closed the bridge Sept. 24, citing an inability to keep overweight vehicles off the 170-year-old span.
The bridge closure will create problems with the planned Interstate 70 bridges project, and the decision could result in the bridge being taken off of DOH funding, Elliott said.
"It's a national treasure. The best way to keep it in the long term is to keep it open and have design solutions in place," he said of the bridge. "We have not accepted the closure of the bridge as inevitable for the foreseeable future."
In other matters, council approved an ordinance to spend $1.96 million on the third phase of wastewater collection and treatment system improvements with Robinson Pipe Cleaning.
Council members heard first reading of an ordinance to update language in the city code pertaining to the Wheeling Hall of Fame Board. Part of the revisions include removing a residency requirement, so that people who contributed to Wheeling but don't live within city limits could be considered for the Hall of Fame, Scatterday said.
Elliott also announced that his office hours as mayor will occur at a new time. The office hours, in which anyone can meet and speak with him, are now set for 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays in room 302 of the City County Building, 1500 Chapline St.