Jackson Jambalaya

 Jackson Ward 1 City Councilman Ashby Foote thinks the city should throw its parking meter contract with SP Plus in the trash can after he learned the city has not received a dime for parking meter revenue six months into the current fiscal year.  

The revelation occurred at this week's meeting of the Council's Finance Committee when Mr. Foote questioned the contract: 

 It says we budgeted $100,000 and nothing has come in. Now that’s just—I mean, we were supposed to make like a million dollars off parking meters when they sold us this program, which I do not like. And I've got a problem with it because I get more complaints over parking meters than you can shake a stick at. And they're not even in Ward 1; they’re in somebody else’s ward downtown.

City Council President Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell said he didn't know of a city with free downtown parking but agreed he received the same complaints from citizens.   

Chief Administrative Officer Pieter Teeuwissen said the vendor gets paid before the city does. The city should receive some parking meter revenue later this year.   The CAO said he received a plethora of complaints about the meters as well.   

Then-Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba promised $2 million a year in parking meter revenue in a n April 24, 2024 press release: 

“We are excited to announce the upgrade of our parking meter system in downtown Jackson,” said Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. “This modernized system will result in greater parking space availability and convenience for residents and visitors to Jackson. We look forward to this rollout and informing residents of the details.” 

Users will now have the ability to pay for parking on touch screens or through their cellphones by using text-to-pay or the parking.com app. In addition to educating the public on how to use the kiosks, SP+ will also assist the city with enforcement by providing vehicles with License Plate Recognition technology to maximize parking availability. 

Significantly, the new system promises to bring in over $2 million a year in revenue to the cash-strapped city.  

So where is the money?   

Kingfish note: The app repeatedly crashed when I tried to use it Tuesday.   After a few tries, I went to the website which transferred me to the app which in turn promptly crashed.  Finally, I uninstalled and reinstalled the app.  I was able to enter my information but the app crashed when I clicked on "pay".   Thankfully, the order went through.   Many people commenting on WLBT's Facebook page said the app did not work for them as well.  

Funny, I never have these problems in Oxford or with Premium Parking in New Orleans.  

Transcript (Gemini Created)

[00:00] Ashby Foote: ...our parking meters. Is that part of the general fund? Does that money come to the general fund?

[00:07] Pieter Teeuwissen: Yes, it is.

[00:08] Ashby Foote: So where—what line item is that under? Is that under 4715, Page 3?

[00:13] Pieter Teeuwissen: 4715, Page 3.

[00:15] Ashby Foote: 4715. Parking meters. It says we budgeted $100,000 and nothing has come in. Now that’s just—I mean, we were supposed to make like a million dollars off parking meters when they sold us this program, which I do not like. And I've got a problem with it because I get more complaints over parking meters than you can shake a stick at. And they're not even in Ward 1; they’re in somebody else’s ward downtown.

[00:48] Ashby Foote: And if we're not getting any money, then we need to throw that contract out and start over. Just toss that contract because I thought it was a bad deal to begin with. That’s my opinion on that. You want to save money? That’s what we need to go after: stupid contracts. That’s where it penalizes the citizens, they get frustrated with us, and we don’t make any money from it. Where’s all the money going?

[01:13] Brian Grizzell: I don’t know of a downtown that has free parking.

[01:17] Ashby Foote: What’s that?

[01:18] Brian Grizzell: I don’t know of a downtown that has free parking.

[01:21] Ashby Foote: Well, it used to be free because nobody [was enforcing it].

[01:23] Brian Grizzell: And that was a mistake. That was a huge mistake.

[01:25] Ashby Foote: But the point is, the city's supposed to be making money on them. We need to do a forensic... we need to call up, you know, the state auditor or somebody to go chase down where all that money’s going.

[01:34] Pieter Teeuwissen: I think it’s enforcement. To your point, Councilman, the way that contract is written—and it’s not fresh on my mind, but I’ve looked at it—we can void the contract, you’re a successor government, but the company that put in the parking meters makes its money back first.

[01:51] Pieter Teeuwissen: That’s why we’re not making money. And if we void that contract, we’re going to owe some money on the contract. So we’ve got to be prepared to not just exit the contract, but have a successor plan and go to litigation.

[02:03] Ashby Foote: Well, I would encourage the administration to really look at that in depth and review the minutes, because it was sold to us that we were going to be making like a million dollars a year. And we’re not making anything. I realize the upfront cost is part of that, but still... we created lots of headaches for the City Council having to take phone calls about people who couldn't figure out how to work the parking meters.

[02:29] Ashby Foote: Do you know when we’re going to start making money? When we’ll be out of the paying-off stage and we’ll start getting [revenue]?

[02:37] Pieter Teeuwissen: We’ll ask the City Attorney's office to provide a memo as to what the options are for exiting the contract. And certainly, we hear you loud and clear about looking to see if there’s another vendor out there—to pivot to another vendor. And yes, we’ve all heard the same complaints about the system.

[02:54] Pieter Teeuwissen: It’s a system that’s used around the country, but we’ve got to be realistic about the folks we’re dealing with here in Jackson. Folks get confused by one-way streets. Asking them to "text to pay" to park—I understand—is challenging. I saw the same thing sitting on the bench [as a judge]; I had people who came to court late because they couldn't figure out how to pay their parking meter, I had jurors who got tickets. I understand.

[03:20] Pieter Teeuwissen: So, we hear you loud and clear. I’ll ask Legal to do a memo on exiting the contract, and I’ll get with Director Brown and see what other options we may have for other vendors going forward.

[03:30] Ashby Foote: Sir, I just want to know when we could look towards making a profit. I’m not necessarily saying [exit immediately].

[03:36] Pieter Teeuwissen: I think we need to do all that because we looked at that... profit is probably a couple of years down the road. So we might as well look at what our options are so the Council can weigh them as we're going through these budget discussions.

[03:47] Brian Grizzell: Just like Jackson Water, it’s about the collections, right?

[03:52] Pieter Teeuwissen: Yes, but that’s not us either. That, I think, all that's tied to the contract and the vendor. But again, the Council's bringing up good points. The administration does not disagree with any of them. We’ll make sure the right information is provided to you.