Lynn council tables parking vote

LYNN – The City Council voted Tuesday to table a vote on abolishing the Off-Street Parking Commission, seeking further information about how councilors and commissioners could resolve what both groups agreed was the most important issue – cleaning and maintaining municipal parking lots.”This is far from over,” Council President Timothy Phelan said in closing a public hearing on a petition to abolish the committee. “The council has just taken no action (on the matter) to get more information.”The Off-Street Parking Commission was formed in 1956 with the approval of the state legislature and the governor to provide a volunteer board with the oversight of the city’s off-street parking lots. Those lots, however, both councilors and commission members agreed, have fallen into disrepair and neglect. The question before the council is how to fix the situation.City Councilor at large Dan Cahill in September presented a home rule petition that sought approval to abolish the commission.He argued Tuesday night that – while assuring members of the commission and Parking Department employees that they were not “scapegoats” ?the commission has evolved into an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. The revenue from the parking lots goes into the general fund and the commission does not have enough money to make necessary repairs and capital improvements, several councilors, commissioners and city employees said. But the city council could not responsibly “write a blank check” to an outside commission it does not oversee.”You’re stuck in a Catch-22,” Cahill said. “Abolishing the commission is a way we can make improvements. It doesn’t need to be this way. It could be a normal department.”But Commissioner Robert Connaughton argued that, while he and the commission chair would support whatever would best benefit the city, properly funding the department and allowing the commissioners access to parking revenue would rectify the problem with the parking lots “without casting aspersion” on commissioners and members of the City Parking Department.”We have been recommending stuff to remedy the situation for years and it’s always fallen on deaf ears,” he said. “There isn’t much we can do about it? Before the home rule petition, there is some information gathering that needs to be done.”But City Councilors questioned the commissioners’ and Parking Director Jay Fenton’s responsiveness and management – most notably when Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr said that he was offended that Tuesday night was the third or fourth time Fenton had been on vacation when the council requested he answer questions.Councilors also asked whether the commission planned and completed maintenance and capital improvement projects and how they managed what revenue they did have – for instance,why the commissioners hadn’t spent what Commissioner Clerk Mary Wright identified as nearly $235,000 in their capital fund.But many questions were answered, with Connaughton deferring questions several times to Fenton.Cahill presented a motion to approve the petition, but it was superceded by a motion to table the discussion. It was the second time a motion made to table the petition. After joining the majority to reject the earlier motion to table, Councilors at large Timothy Phelan, Steve Duffy and Paul Crowley changed their votes in favor of tabling the discussion. All three plus Cahill face a crowded field in the highly competitive at-large councilor race this November.Earlier in the night, the audit subcommittee voted to recommend an audit of the Parking Department to examine their management and collection of parking monies, a move the mayor must first approve.