City Park paid-parking pilot reports $61,000 in first-month revenue; vendors, permit verification and LPR rollout remain in progress

City staff reported that the City Park paid-parking pilot program generated more than $61,000 in revenue in its first reporting month and that the city is continuing a registration and education period before full enforcement begins.

Charles (parking staff) told the board the dashboard included a day-by-day revenue breakdown and that the “first month in revenue generated was over $61,000 in revenue.” Jamie Lee Case (Director Case) said the program has registered about 3,900 resident permits to date and that staff are still manually reviewing permit applications. Case said staff are not issuing citations at present because they are in an education-and-enrollment phase: “We are not issuing citations yet. We are still actively registering people.”

Staff described key operational details and near-term actions: - Vendor and system changes: the city is transitioning resident permits from FlowBird to IPS (IPS charges a flat $500/month for unlimited permits and supports multiple license plates per permit); FlowBird remains in place for kiosk operations while permit data are audited. Newpark continues to be used in certain processing roles but that contract is ending and a transition to Motorola and IPS services is underway. - Enforcement tools and timeline: staff described mobile license-plate-reader (LPR) snapshots that compare plates against permit/pay status; images are used to trigger violations that would generate mailed notices. Staff said fixed-camera installation is scheduled near-term (staff discussed aiming for installation the week of the 25th) and that the city plans to issue warnings rather than monetary citations for an initial 30-day period following installation to allow public notice and system testing. - Fees and access: staff stated that City Hall parking would be $15, City Park parking $25 and another lot referenced (Charleston) $10. Staff also said residents with a valid registered permit will continue to park without charge in their designated lot; the transcript contains some clarifying back-and-forth on fee messaging and the board asked staff to ensure consistency with other downtown proposals (for example, the downtown paid-parking recommendations under consideration by the downtown paid parking research committee). - Permit verification and workload: staff said roughly 3,900 resident permits have been approved and that permit processing is labor-intensive; multiple staff review each application manually and the team has encountered inconsistent or insufficient documentation (staff cited examples such as students supplying selfies). Staff noted about 60 discrepancies remain from data migration and are being corrected manually. - Payments and user experience: staff confirmed the kiosks do not support contactless “tap to pay” at present. They said IPS’s tap-to-pay capability did not function well with the city’s merchant services (Chase Payment Tech), and that merchant-service compatibility is being addressed as part of vendor selection and rollout planning.

Board members asked about citation practices, timelines and the potential for nonresident season passes. Staff said the parks pilot’s contractual and operational details will be reviewed with the board and returned to city council for an annual review in December; staff also said they expect to brief this board before any council action.

Outcome and next steps: Staff will install fixed cameras soon, begin a planned warning period after installation, continue permit verification and audit the FlowBird-to-IPS data transfer, and report back to the board. Staff also said they will coordinate with Texas State and private operators about discounted offers and coupons and continue public outreach to raise permit awareness.