City Council Mobility & Infrastructure Committee · Tuesday, June 14, 2022 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Electric Scooter Share Pilot Program Benton Coblentz, Economic Development Coordinator John Larson-Friend, Transportation Program Coordinator ID 1132

45 min · packet pp.5–34

Topics: TransportationEconomic Development

▶ Watch from 0:32 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

Recommend to proceed with negotiation to establish an electric scooter share pilot program for the City of Issaquah and bring forward a Memorandum of Understanding with Bird to the June 21 Regular City Council Meeting for approval.

1883 segments .txt ↗

0:06 ↗ welcome everyone i council member joe

0:08 ↗ called the june 14th

0:10 ↗ 2022 city council mobility and

0:13 ↗ infrastructure committee to

0:14 ↗ order the first item on the agenda is

0:18 ↗ public comment

0:19 ↗ and there are multiple opportunities for

0:21 ↗ public comment at tonight's meeting

0:24 ↗ there's a general public comment

0:25 ↗ opportunity at the beginning of the

0:26 ↗ meeting or you can make comments after

0:28 ↗ the presentation and the council

0:30 ↗ question and answer period on tonight's

0:32 ↗ agenda item

0:35 ↗ members of the public may address the

0:36 ↗ council at this time in person or

0:38 ↗ virtually those who are signed up in

0:40 ↗ advanced

0:41 ↗ in advance to make comments will be

0:42 ↗ called on first if you are joining us

0:45 ↗ virtually and would like to make

0:46 ↗ comments please raise your virtual hand

0:48 ↗ if you're on a phone press star three

0:51 ↗ if you have joined by computer or

0:52 ↗ smartphone look for the hand icon this

0:55 ↗ varies by device

0:57 ↗ one option may be to go to the

0:58 ↗ participant participant panel excuse me

1:01 ↗ and choose the raise hand icon in the

1:03 ↗ lower right hand corner

1:05 ↗ if you're in the room and did not sign

1:07 ↗ up i will ask for other speakers before

1:09 ↗ closing this portion of the meeting i'll

1:12 ↗ wait a minute to see if anyone wishes to

1:14 ↗ raise their hand

1:21 ↗ clerk has anyone signed up to speak or

1:23 ↗ indicated a desire to speak this evening

1:27 ↗ council member joe no one has signed up

1:28 ↗ to speak and we have no virtual

1:31 ↗ attendees at the moment so no virtual

1:33 ↗ hands raised thank you

1:37 ↗ so as a reminder written comments can be

1:39 ↗ submitted at any time to the city

1:41 ↗ council all one word at issaquah.gov

1:50 ↗ okay we will

1:52 ↗ pause just for a moment to talk about

1:54 ↗ any

1:55 ↗ emails that might have been received on

1:57 ↗ the subject for tonight's uh agenda

2:00 ↗ and uh i will note that we received an

2:03 ↗ email

2:04 ↗ this afternoon

2:06 ↗ and um there were some current concerns

2:08 ↗ expressed by

2:09 ↗ a citizen

2:11 ↗ uh

2:12 ↗ named martin buckley and i hope everyone

2:14 ↗ got that email and had a chance to

2:15 ↗ review it

2:17 ↗ one of the items was that

2:20 ↗ according to

2:21 ↗ mr buckley

2:23 ↗ byrd might have laid off some of its

2:24 ↗ staff haven't been able to confirm that

2:26 ↗ yet and had some questions about how

2:28 ↗ that might impact our

2:31 ↗ agreement or the parameters of the

2:32 ↗ agreement that we might be bringing

2:34 ↗ forward

2:35 ↗ after this

2:36 ↗ committee meeting

2:37 ↗ so with that said i think we're ready to

2:39 ↗ move on to

2:40 ↗ the first and only item on our agenda

2:43 ↗ and i believe we have benton colblands

2:45 ↗ here tonight

2:47 ↗ to talk about

2:48 ↗ agenda item id 1132 electric scooter

2:52 ↗ share pilot program good evening

2:59 ↗ good evening council members thank you

3:00 ↗ for having

3:02 ↗ us my name is benton koblenz i'm the

3:04 ↗ economic development coordinator for the

3:07 ↗ city of issaquah

3:09 ↗ um and i'm joined tonight uh virtually

3:12 ↗ by my friend john larson friend um john

3:15 ↗ could you uh unmute and introduce

3:17 ↗ yourself

3:29 ↗ i know his audio was working a minute

3:31 ↗ ago

3:37 ↗ well hopefully he'll be able to figure

3:39 ↗ oh there there he goes john

3:47 ↗ all right we'll we'll test it out later

3:49 ↗ we were also um uh we're planned to be

3:51 ↗ joined by um a representative from bird

3:55 ↗ uh which is the uh provider that we're

3:58 ↗ whose proposal we're talking about

4:00 ↗ tonight i haven't seen him oh i just saw

4:03 ↗ him join the meeting so his name is

4:05 ↗ michael cavado and he'll be able to

4:06 ↗ answer

4:08 ↗ questions that we can't

4:10 ↗ after tonight's

4:12 ↗ presentation

4:14 ↗ so um

4:16 ↗ as i said my name is benton koblenz i'm

4:17 ↗ the economic development coordinator for

4:20 ↗ the city and i'm really excited to be

4:22 ↗ with you um tonight so our purpose

4:25 ↗ tonight is to talk about um a proposed

4:28 ↗ electric scooter share pilot program for

4:31 ↗ the city and to gather your feedback on

4:34 ↗ the proposed

4:35 ↗ operations and plans for the program

4:39 ↗ and the next steps as well so as i'm

4:42 ↗ sure

4:43 ↗ you're all aware electric scooters

4:46 ↗ are a vehicle

4:48 ↗ that is a transportation option

4:52 ↗ over the past five years different

4:54 ↗ providers have developed

4:56 ↗ electric scooter share programs

4:59 ↗ where

5:00 ↗ local residents are able to

5:03 ↗ rent electric scooters for short trips

5:07 ↗ from point to point or near point to

5:09 ↗ point

5:10 ↗ which is the big innovation copied over

5:12 ↗ from similar bike share programs um that

5:15 ↗ have been in existence over the last 10

5:17 ↗ years or so

5:18 ↗ um

5:20 ↗ electric scooter share programs are

5:22 ↗ present in many communities across our

5:25 ↗ country and across the world as well and

5:28 ↗ so tonight we're talking about um

5:30 ↗ bringing that experience here to

5:32 ↗ issaquah

5:34 ↗ so the direction we'll need from you

5:37 ↗ is first and foremost whether to proceed

5:40 ↗ with the exploration of this pilot

5:42 ↗ program

5:44 ↗ and with the negotiations for a

5:46 ↗ memorandum of understanding

5:48 ↗ with bird in particular

5:51 ↗ who is the company that has approached

5:53 ↗ the city to pursue this kind of pilot

5:55 ↗ program

5:56 ↗ but more specifically uh we would love

5:59 ↗ your feedback in terms of

6:01 ↗ the planned operations any additional

6:03 ↗ concerns that this committee has about

6:06 ↗ those operations about some of the

6:07 ↗ challenge areas that we're going to be

6:09 ↗ talking about and about how this program

6:11 ↗ might work in practice

6:14 ↗ we'd also love your feedback about the

6:16 ↗ planned public outreach

6:18 ↗ to see what information would be most

6:20 ↗ helpful for you

6:22 ↗ as decision makers when evaluating this

6:24 ↗ program

6:26 ↗ and lastly if there's any other

6:27 ↗ information that you feel you need i'm

6:30 ↗ in order to feel comfortable proceeding

6:33 ↗ with the negotiations for this program

6:35 ↗ and eventually with the pilot program

6:37 ↗ itself

6:39 ↗ so first up i want to talk about

6:42 ↗ why

6:43 ↗ we're here at all before i talk about

6:45 ↗ why we're here tonight in particular

6:48 ↗ in general we feel

6:51 ↗ that the proposed electric scooter share

6:54 ↗ pilot program

6:55 ↗ aligns with our city plans

6:58 ↗ in particular with the strategic plan

7:01 ↗ for the city whose first enumerated goal

7:04 ↗ is to

7:06 ↗ make it easier to get around town for

7:08 ↗ people who live work and play here

7:13 ↗ that

7:13 ↗ goal was further carried through

7:17 ↗ the mobility master plan which laid out

7:20 ↗ six guiding principles

7:22 ↗ including improving mobility within

7:25 ↗ issaquah today

7:27 ↗ promoting environmentally sustainable

7:29 ↗ mobility and anticipating future

7:32 ↗ transformation in the transportation

7:34 ↗ space

7:37 ↗ so in particular

7:38 ↗ an electric scooter share pilot program

7:42 ↗ why we think it's a worthwhile thing to

7:44 ↗ explore

7:46 ↗ is because it helps it

7:48 ↗ provides a possible solution

7:51 ↗ one possible solution for

7:54 ↗ the first and last mile transportation

7:57 ↗ uh problem which plagues transportation

7:59 ↗ planners like my friend john um

8:02 ↗ that first and last mile problem

8:05 ↗ is the is the issue of how to get um

8:07 ↗ people from um that last destination or

8:11 ↗ to that last destination or from their

8:14 ↗ first

8:14 ↗ point of origin to

8:16 ↗ things like public transit or other

8:19 ↗ transit options for them and so

8:22 ↗ electric scooter share

8:24 ↗ programs by providing that near

8:26 ↗ point-to-point transportation option for

8:28 ↗ those short distance trips

8:30 ↗ provides the opportunity for our

8:32 ↗ residents workers and visitors

8:35 ↗ to go from their home to the transit

8:37 ↗ center or from the transit center to

8:39 ↗ home or from

8:40 ↗ work to home or all of those kind of

8:43 ↗ small distance trips

8:45 ↗ that otherwise

8:47 ↗ might not be walkable and might require

8:50 ↗ a single occupancy vehicle trip

8:52 ↗ and so we feel that that kind of program

8:56 ↗ uh why it's worthwhile and exploring

8:59 ↗ is because it it matches that strategic

9:01 ↗ plan goal

9:03 ↗ and aligns with those guiding principles

9:05 ↗ of the mobility master plan by improving

9:07 ↗ mobility within issaquah promoting

9:09 ↗ environmentally sustainable mobility

9:12 ↗ and by anticipating transformation as

9:15 ↗ the transportation

9:17 ↗ options that people are are afforded

9:20 ↗ and continue to diversify

9:24 ↗ so why we're here tonight in particular

9:28 ↗ is because uh late last year we were

9:30 ↗ approached by representatives from bird

9:33 ↗ which is an electric scooter share

9:35 ↗ provider that operates in our region and

9:38 ↗ throughout the country

9:40 ↗ with interest in expanding to the

9:42 ↗ issaquah market

9:44 ↗ we wanted to assess the feasibility of a

9:47 ↗ program like that writ large for our

9:49 ↗ city and so we gathered an internal

9:51 ↗ stakeholder team with representatives

9:54 ↗ from multiple city departments to

9:56 ↗ understand what kind of issues might

9:58 ↗ arise if the city were ever to pursue

10:00 ↗ such a program

10:03 ↗ based on those conversations we also put

10:06 ↗ together an external stakeholder team

10:08 ↗ with representatives from king county

10:10 ↗ metro king county parks and trails and

10:12 ↗ sound transit

10:14 ↗ to understand what kind of issues might

10:16 ↗ present with the interface between this

10:19 ↗ kind of program and those other

10:20 ↗ transportation and recreation options

10:23 ↗ through those stakeholder meetings

10:27 ↗ it was a lot of different issues were

10:29 ↗ discussed some of the same issues we'll

10:31 ↗ discuss during this presentation in a

10:33 ↗ few moments but none of the issues

10:36 ↗ were presented as insurmountable

10:39 ↗ it was felt that with good program

10:42 ↗ design and and quality program

10:44 ↗ implementation that an electric scooter

10:47 ↗ share program was feasible for our

10:49 ↗ community

10:51 ↗ and so because of that we wanted to

10:54 ↗ initiate some initial agreement

10:56 ↗ negotiations to understand if

10:59 ↗ byrd was a partner that was willing to

11:02 ↗ deal with those issues forthrightly

11:05 ↗ and present some creative solutions as

11:07 ↗ well and so

11:09 ↗ during that period as well

11:11 ↗ we

11:12 ↗ brought the issue up to our vision

11:14 ↗ partners group

11:16 ↗ which is composed of representatives

11:18 ↗ from the greater issaquah chamber of

11:20 ↗ commerce from visit issaquah

11:22 ↗ from the gilman village merchants

11:23 ↗ association

11:26 ↗ from the highlands council

11:28 ↗ um

11:29 ↗ and uh

11:30 ↗ there was definitely interest on the

11:32 ↗ part of those groups in this kind of

11:34 ↗ program we also

11:36 ↗ notified the economic vitality

11:38 ↗ commission

11:39 ↗ about this presentation tonight and

11:41 ↗ there was a very much tangible interest

11:43 ↗ from that group as well about what this

11:45 ↗ program might offer our community and so

11:50 ↗ after that initial stage

11:52 ↗ we of course are bringing it here to

11:54 ↗ this council committee tonight

11:56 ↗ to begin

11:57 ↗ these discussions about

11:59 ↗ this pilot program

12:02 ↗ and

12:03 ↗ if

12:04 ↗ the committee tonight and the full

12:06 ↗ council

12:08 ↗ gives the green light for this kind of

12:10 ↗ program

12:11 ↗ the initial pilot period would

12:14 ↗ start as early as july

12:17 ↗ and it would conclude in december

12:19 ↗ although unlikely in all likelihood

12:21 ↗ because of winter weather the

12:23 ↗ scooters would be pulled from the

12:25 ↗ streets

12:26 ↗ earlier than december which would give

12:28 ↗ us that last month of the year and into

12:30 ↗ 2023 to analyze this program's impacts

12:34 ↗ and understand better

12:36 ↗ what a longer term recommendation might

12:38 ↗ look like

12:39 ↗ and if it is successful this uh if if

12:43 ↗ this is the timeline and it's successful

12:45 ↗ uh we would plan to have a one-year

12:48 ↗ extension opportunity so that it could

12:50 ↗ continue while we um figure out how to

12:53 ↗ how to make it permanent if it's

12:55 ↗ successful

12:57 ↗ so that's the that's the background as

12:59 ↗ to why we're here tonight

13:02 ↗ and hoping that john has his audio

13:05 ↗ figured out i want to hand it over to

13:07 ↗ him to talk a little bit more about the

13:09 ↗ details of this uh program

13:12 ↗ and the proposed operations

13:14 ↗ so john

13:16 ↗ yeah thank you benton can you have

13:18 ↗ everyone hear me

13:22 ↗ yes we can

13:23 ↗ yes we can thank you

13:25 ↗ okay

13:26 ↗ uh well good good evening council

13:27 ↗ members i believe i was introduced

13:29 ↗ before but i was unable to hear the

13:31 ↗ audio at the time my name is john larson

13:33 ↗ friend and i am the transportation

13:35 ↗ program coordinator and i've been with

13:36 ↗ the city since march so fairly new it's

13:39 ↗ an honor to be presenting to council

13:41 ↗ members for the first time here at

13:42 ↗ isquad so excited about that

13:45 ↗ so tonight i'll be introducing some of

13:47 ↗ the details of our pilot program

13:49 ↗ proposal

13:51 ↗ i'll be walking through birth's proposed

13:52 ↗ operations equity

13:54 ↗ issues and proposed public outreach so

13:58 ↗ we can go to the next slide

14:05 ↗ so starting off with uh some proposed

14:08 ↗ operations so the scooters that bird

14:11 ↗ currently deploys are the bird zero

14:13 ↗ model each are equipped with a headlight

14:15 ↗ tail light reflector battery gps and

14:18 ↗ governed at a max speed of 15 miles per

14:21 ↗ hour in issaquah scooters are permitted

14:24 ↗ to be ridden where bicycles are allowed

14:26 ↗ including bike lanes bike paths and any

14:28 ↗ any shared use routes

14:31 ↗ like bicycles scooters are not permitted

14:33 ↗ to be written on the sidewalks

14:36 ↗ looking at the area of operation

14:38 ↗ specifically this map so this is the map

14:40 ↗ that bird has proposed for an initial

14:42 ↗ operating area in the central business

14:44 ↗ district old town and business area of

14:47 ↗ the isco highlands

14:50 ↗ the dog is running around my apologies

14:52 ↗ this operation area is able to be

14:54 ↗ reshaped in any way deemed appropriate

14:57 ↗ at any time

14:58 ↗ the changes would be a collaboration

15:00 ↗ between the city and bird

15:02 ↗ limitations can also be placed

15:05 ↗ in specific areas within the area of

15:07 ↗ operation including the creation of slow

15:09 ↗ zones meaning the scooter would slow

15:11 ↗ down to a predetermined maximum speed

15:14 ↗ and no ride zones meaning the scooter

15:16 ↗ would come to an automatic stop within

15:18 ↗ the zone and wouldn't be ridden until

15:20 ↗ the zone was exited

15:23 ↗ on the map

15:24 ↗ here the blue markers are proposed

15:26 ↗ staging areas or nests as bird likes to

15:29 ↗ call them

15:30 ↗ based on birds research of the community

15:32 ↗ those these will be changed based on

15:35 ↗ need weather or any other factors that

15:37 ↗ might arise

15:38 ↗ during the daily rebalancing of the

15:40 ↗ scooters the scooters would be returned

15:42 ↗ to these nests

15:45 ↗ turning to the number of scooters as you

15:47 ↗ can see here so the number would start

15:49 ↗ at 50

15:50 ↗ deployed on day one and then scale up to

15:52 ↗ 100 over the first four weeks this

15:55 ↗ number would be evaluated

15:57 ↗ during the course of the pilot based on

15:59 ↗ demand and other factors

16:01 ↗ for the next slide

16:07 ↗ tonight we do want to highlight a couple

16:09 ↗ of specific areas of interest

16:11 ↗ so looking at response time a big part

16:14 ↗ of the program would include that berg

16:16 ↗ would pay local contractors to manage

16:18 ↗ the scooter system a part of this

16:20 ↗ position includes responding to scooter

16:23 ↗ placement issues within a three-hour

16:25 ↗ time window of being reported between

16:27 ↗ the hours of 7am and 7pm

16:30 ↗ responses would be triggered by any

16:32 ↗ reported relocation requests or

16:34 ↗ incidents reported by writers or other

16:36 ↗ members of the public involving scooters

16:39 ↗ including parking safety and maintenance

16:44 ↗ so there are also of course challenge

16:46 ↗ areas when it comes to scooters

16:48 ↗ especially pertaining to public

16:49 ↗ perception of scooters

16:51 ↗ so first of all ada compliance has come

16:53 ↗ up so miss parking scooters can be an

16:55 ↗ issue if unaddressed especially if they

16:57 ↗ block ada access points as mentioned

17:00 ↗ before the local contractors would be in

17:02 ↗ charge of responding to any parking

17:04 ↗ issues

17:05 ↗ of course the best way to prevent

17:06 ↗ parking issues is to educate riders on

17:09 ↗ where they can and cannot park before

17:10 ↗ they ride

17:12 ↗ bird will provide materials videos and

17:14 ↗ signage to promote safe riding in order

17:16 ↗ to educate writers on their

17:18 ↗ responsibilities and encourage safe and

17:21 ↗ courteous riding and parking

17:24 ↗ and then turning to rivers and streams

17:26 ↗ unfortunately scooters have gotten a

17:28 ↗ really bad rap when it comes to the

17:30 ↗ perception that they are off they often

17:32 ↗ end up in rivers and streams

17:34 ↗ the good news is is that that was a far

17:37 ↗ greater issue back when they appeared in

17:39 ↗ cities in 2017.

17:41 ↗ so with updated gps technology improved

17:44 ↗ operations parameters and more robust

17:46 ↗ scooters

17:47 ↗ has reduced the problem to very close to

17:49 ↗ zero

17:50 ↗ last year in 2021 similar cities to

17:53 ↗ issaquah who have scooter programs saw

17:55 ↗ the number of missing and vandalized

17:57 ↗ scooters dropped to just 0.42 to

18:00 ↗ 0.44

18:02 ↗ statistically when this claw reaches the

18:04 ↗ 100 scooters deployed over that first

18:07 ↗ month that's less than half a scooter

18:08 ↗ vandalized during an entire year

18:11 ↗ this of course will be something staff

18:12 ↗ will be closely monitoring throughout

18:14 ↗ pilot period

18:16 ↗ next slide please

18:24 ↗ next we're going to talk a little bit

18:25 ↗ about equity so equity is of great

18:27 ↗ import importance when

18:29 ↗ deploying any new technology

18:32 ↗ especially

18:33 ↗ mobility technology

18:37 ↗ for three specific equity programs to

18:38 ↗ enable greater

18:54 ↗ organizations veterans and other senior

18:56 ↗ citizens

18:58 ↗ john i'm so sorry this is andrea snyder

19:00 ↗ deputy city administrator

19:03 ↗ um

19:04 ↗ can you you're uh coming in and out of

19:06 ↗ our feed yes looks like can you hear me

19:09 ↗ yes we can hear you now

19:11 ↗ i recommend you keep your camera off

19:13 ↗ unfortunately so hopefully that allows

19:15 ↗ your internet enough bandwidth to

19:17 ↗ continue with the presentation

19:20 ↗ could he go back perhaps half a slide or

19:22 ↗ so so that we don't miss any of the

19:24 ↗ information

19:26 ↗ great idea thank you councilmember joe

19:28 ↗ john did you hear that

19:34 ↗ okay while we try to get john back on

19:37 ↗ the line perhaps benton you can fill in

19:38 ↗ the blanks

19:40 ↗ for for john

19:42 ↗ thank you yeah absolutely um yeah so as

19:44 ↗ john mentioned um

19:47 ↗ you know equity is an incredibly

19:50 ↗ important consideration when starting

19:52 ↗ off any program

19:54 ↗ like this and especially a

19:56 ↗ transportation program

19:58 ↗ and so

20:01 ↗ some of the

20:02 ↗ ways that our partner bird helps to

20:09 ↗ you know make their programs a little

20:10 ↗ bit more equitable for people from

20:12 ↗ different communities

20:14 ↗ is through these

20:16 ↗ three different programs so first off is

20:19 ↗ their community pricing program

20:21 ↗ which provides a discount to

20:24 ↗ low-income writers pell grant recipients

20:28 ↗ local nonprofit and community

20:30 ↗ organizations veterans and senior

20:32 ↗ citizens and so um uh residents are oh

20:36 ↗ yeah john

20:38 ↗ i'm back

20:39 ↗ so sorry about that i had some

20:41 ↗ connectivity issues

20:43 ↗ uh thank you for so seamlessly picking

20:45 ↗ that up i really appreciate it

20:47 ↗ so i have no other notes about the

20:49 ↗ community pricing program

20:51 ↗ i'm going to turn my camera off just to

20:53 ↗ hopefully mitigate that from happening

20:55 ↗ again

20:57 ↗ okay

20:58 ↗ so turning to uh the unbanked

21:02 ↗ portion here

21:03 ↗ uh for those uh for those who are

21:05 ↗ unbanked or those who do not do not have

21:08 ↗ access or do not have bank accounts bird

21:10 ↗ supplies prepaid codes and cards at

21:13 ↗ local cbs locations that can be bought

21:15 ↗ with cash thereby eliminating the

21:17 ↗ requirement for a bank account in order

21:18 ↗ to ride

21:20 ↗ and then thirdly we have

21:22 ↗ language barriers so language barriers

21:24 ↗ can also lead people out of new mobility

21:26 ↗ technologies the bird app is provided in

21:29 ↗ 36 languages including the top languages

21:32 ↗ spoke in istpaw

21:34 ↗ and hopefully you can still hear me next

21:35 ↗ slide please

21:39 ↗ perfect

21:41 ↗ looking at public outreach now public

21:44 ↗ outreach is of course an essential part

21:46 ↗ of introducing new modes of

21:47 ↗ transportation to any community

21:51 ↗ so with planned cooperation staff plans

21:53 ↗ to coordinate with bird on a press

21:55 ↗ release and other public relations

21:57 ↗ initiatives

21:58 ↗ staff intends to use tools such as

22:00 ↗ social media in order to encourage

22:02 ↗ robust engagement

22:03 ↗ bird will supply social media campaign

22:06 ↗ materials to be utilized by the city

22:09 ↗ and then finally

22:10 ↗ surveys are also an important tool

22:12 ↗ gathering public feedback we would like

22:14 ↗ to see a

22:16 ↗ city community survey implemented and

22:18 ↗ additionally byrd would also implement a

22:20 ↗ writer survey which would occur during

22:22 ↗ or after the pilot program

22:25 ↗ and so now i will turn it back over to

22:27 ↗ benton to wrap the presentation

22:32 ↗ yeah thank you john

22:33 ↗ um yeah so our recommendation tonight is

22:36 ↗ to proceed

22:38 ↗ with the negotiation to establish

22:40 ↗ this electric scooter share pilot

22:42 ↗ program for the city

22:44 ↗ we would bring forward a memorandum of

22:48 ↗ understanding with bird

22:50 ↗ as a selected provider

22:52 ↗ as early as the next regular city

22:55 ↗ council meeting for approval

23:01 ↗ so those that timing next steps of

23:03 ↗ course starts here tonight

23:05 ↗ continues through that proposed council

23:07 ↗ meeting

23:08 ↗ which would allow a pilot program to

23:10 ↗ start as early as next month

23:13 ↗ we would have a checkpoint at the end of

23:14 ↗ the year where we would begin to

23:16 ↗ evaluate the program's

23:19 ↗ success

23:20 ↗ and continue that through 2023.

23:25 ↗ so again the direction needed tonight is

23:28 ↗ first and foremost whether to proceed um

23:31 ↗ with the negotiations to

23:33 ↗ enter into a memorandum of understanding

23:36 ↗ and establish an electric scooter share

23:38 ↗ pilot program

23:39 ↗ and specifically your feedback um on

23:43 ↗ these

23:44 ↗ different areas of the planned program

23:46 ↗ and operations

23:48 ↗ so thank you again for for having us um

23:51 ↗ and we're here to answer any questions

23:53 ↗ that you might have

23:55 ↗ benton copeland thank you so much for

23:57 ↗ that presentation and thank you mr

23:59 ↗ friend for

24:01 ↗ helping us understand this project a

24:03 ↗ little bit more

24:05 ↗ the the first question that

24:08 ↗ i have we'll do questions first then

24:09 ↗ we'll do some discussion and figure out

24:12 ↗ where we want to uh go with this but

24:15 ↗ i understand there's a representative

24:16 ↗ from byrd on the call today

24:19 ↗ michael

24:20 ↗ and

24:21 ↗ one of the

24:22 ↗ concerns was planned operations

24:25 ↗ and we had an email that indicated that

24:28 ↗ byrd

24:29 ↗ did some layoffs

24:31 ↗ quite recently

24:32 ↗ we're wondering how that might impact

24:35 ↗ operations in issaquah and if you can

24:37 ↗ comment a little bit on the

24:40 ↗ reason for

24:41 ↗ the

24:42 ↗ the cutbacks thank you

24:51 ↗ good evening council members are you

24:52 ↗ able to hear me yes

24:54 ↗ yes

24:55 ↗ yes perfect

24:57 ↗ i

24:58 ↗ appreciate you having me this evening

25:00 ↗ and i look forward to speaking further

25:03 ↗ in terms of the layoffs yes that is true

25:06 ↗ a number of our departments were

25:07 ↗ impacted by uh

25:09 ↗ by some layoffs these were not in the

25:13 ↗ areas of operations nor would this

25:15 ↗ impact the services of our fleet manager

25:17 ↗ program those are the individuals who

25:19 ↗ engage in the day-to-day field

25:20 ↗ operations which includes the deployment

25:22 ↗ the rebalancing

25:24 ↗ and the

25:26 ↗ recharging of the scooters

25:29 ↗ i think we're seeing a lot of macro

25:31 ↗ economic trends throughout the entirety

25:34 ↗ of our into of almost all industries

25:37 ↗ realistically at this point in time and

25:39 ↗ certainly i think there has been a

25:41 ↗ market shift and perception towards

25:44 ↗ the longevity of

25:46 ↗ tech industries

25:48 ↗ for that reason i think this is actually

25:50 ↗ a good thing in terms of us taking the

25:51 ↗ appropriate steps to ensure that we can

25:53 ↗ be a sustainable company long term well

25:55 ↗ it's never good to uh it's never

25:57 ↗ pleasant i guess i should say to have

25:59 ↗ layoffs certainly i do think it's an

26:01 ↗ important component of growing as a

26:03 ↗ company and ensuring our sustainability

26:05 ↗ long term so that we can be working with

26:07 ↗ communities like issaquah 5 10 25 years

26:10 ↗ from now

26:12 ↗ so would it be fair to say that the the

26:14 ↗ layoffs were more of a

26:16 ↗ reorganization

26:18 ↗ to to make sure that your operations

26:20 ↗ were

26:22 ↗ slimmed down and ready to continue to

26:24 ↗ provide good service to your customers

26:26 ↗ and your clients

26:28 ↗ that would be a fair characterization

26:30 ↗ yes okay thank you i'm going to open it

26:32 ↗ up for questions from the other members

26:34 ↗ of the of the committee i would just

26:36 ↗ like to first let the citizens know

26:39 ↗ that uh

26:41 ↗ these two council members council member

26:42 ↗ barb d michelle to my right and deputy

26:44 ↗ president

26:45 ↗ um

26:46 ↗ hall

26:47 ↗ um are one of the are two of the hardest

26:49 ↗ working council members that you have in

26:52 ↗ this city and we are lucky to have them

26:55 ↗ it goes without fail that they ask

26:57 ↗ questions and submit those questions to

27:00 ↗ staff

27:01 ↗ and staff is very diligent about

27:03 ↗ returning those questions back to us and

27:04 ↗ so

27:05 ↗ the questions are important because it

27:06 ↗ really

27:07 ↗ sparks other questions for council

27:09 ↗ members and gets us ready for the

27:11 ↗ discussion tonight and both these

27:13 ↗ council members provided a list of

27:15 ↗ questions to uh staff

27:18 ↗ that

27:18 ↗ will help shape the conversation tonight

27:21 ↗ so i'll pass on to councilmember d

27:22 ↗ michelle first

27:25 ↗ thank you so much chair joe and yes and

27:28 ↗ thank you i was going to say the same

27:30 ↗ thing i wanted to thank staff for the

27:33 ↗ responses that we got to multiple

27:35 ↗ multiple questions

27:37 ↗ and some of those i'm going to re-ask

27:39 ↗ again tonight just so that people who

27:41 ↗ are

27:42 ↗ watching the video at their convenience

27:45 ↗ will be able to get some of their

27:46 ↗ answers to questions that they have

27:49 ↗ so i've been following this on social

27:51 ↗ media today

27:53 ↗ and lots and lots of comments this is

27:55 ↗ going to be a topic of great interest to

27:57 ↗ the community so i think

28:00 ↗ looking through those comments the the

28:02 ↗ top issue is

28:04 ↗ um are they going to be are these

28:06 ↗ scooters going to be lying around on the

28:08 ↗ sidewalks are they going to be

28:10 ↗ um

28:11 ↗ stopping uh pedestrian traffic or

28:14 ↗ or you know regular traffic car traffic

28:17 ↗ um so i was the question is can you take

28:20 ↗ us through

28:22 ↗ the steps that you do to prevent that

28:24 ↗ from happening and then if it does

28:27 ↗ happen

28:28 ↗ what kind of steps is bird willing to

28:30 ↗ take to uh make sure that that doesn't

28:33 ↗ uh if it is uh disabling traffic that it

28:36 ↗ gets cleared up as soon as possible so

28:39 ↗ if you could just walk us through a

28:40 ↗ typical case

28:42 ↗ that would be great yeah that's

28:44 ↗ excellent yeah michael do you want to

28:46 ↗ talk about that a little bit

28:48 ↗ i appreciate that i apologize benton i

28:51 ↗ uh was uncertain that was direct towards

28:52 ↗ stafford towards myself

28:55 ↗ i certainly more than happy to provide

28:56 ↗ some answers absolutely

28:59 ↗ um obviously i think it is far more

29:00 ↗ important for us to be proactive for

29:02 ↗ that reason this is why we would have

29:04 ↗ locally based fleet managers these are

29:06 ↗ individuals whose full-time

29:08 ↗ responsibility through the the fleet

29:10 ↗ manager program is to engage in the

29:13 ↗ day-to-day field operations that'll be

29:15 ↗ required to help manage the fleet that

29:17 ↗ means that these individuals will be

29:19 ↗ checking on every single active scooter

29:21 ↗ multiple times per day

29:24 ↗ if there is a scooter that has been

29:25 ↗ knocked over or knocked over or is

29:27 ↗ located in a location where it would be

29:29 ↗ inappropriate they will collect that

29:31 ↗ scooter and bring it to a new location

29:32 ↗ we call that uh

29:34 ↗ activity rebalancing it's just a fancy

29:37 ↗ word for moving the scooters back to

29:38 ↗ where they're supposed to be this is

29:40 ↗ what uh mr friend larson friend forgive

29:43 ↗ me indicated earlier when he said uh

29:46 ↗ some of these suggested quote unquote

29:47 ↗ nest areas those are predefined areas

29:49 ↗ that we think these scooters are likely

29:50 ↗ to be used uh

29:52 ↗ regularly between some of these regular

29:55 ↗ check-ins it's also possible that

29:57 ↗ a resident a visitor might experience an

30:00 ↗ issue with one of the scooters for

30:02 ↗ example if somebody has knocked one over

30:05 ↗ in that event there are multiple

30:06 ↗ communication channels that can be

30:08 ↗ utilized to get a hold of us so that we

30:09 ↗ can dispatch our fleet manager to go and

30:11 ↗ correct the issue this includes a 24 7

30:13 ↗ telephone number we will have the

30:15 ↗ response time that was described earlier

30:16 ↗ of three hours between the hours of 7 am

30:18 ↗ and 7 pm with the prioritization for

30:21 ↗ anything that comes in during those

30:22 ↗ evening or rather night time hours

30:24 ↗ there's an email address multiple social

30:27 ↗ media accounts as well as a

30:29 ↗ an industry first feature that we call

30:31 ↗ community mode this allows everyone

30:33 ↗ regardless of whether they are a rider

30:34 ↗ or not to download our free mobile

30:36 ↗ application

30:38 ↗ scan take photographs of scooters and

30:40 ↗ send a geo-tagged

30:42 ↗ ticket immediately to our local fleet

30:44 ↗ management team as well as the

30:47 ↗ the city's account manager so that

30:48 ↗ there's visibility and transparency

30:50 ↗ across the entire organization

30:54 ↗ okay and i'd like to ask one more and

30:56 ↗ then i'll let council deputy president

30:59 ↗ hall have have a turn

31:02 ↗ we live in an area where we've got a

31:05 ↗ nice big valley and lots of hills

31:07 ↗ and uh so the question and it was raised

31:10 ↗ again on social media but i also uh

31:13 ↗ occurred to me as well how do these

31:15 ↗ scooters operate on hills and

31:19 ↗ and

31:20 ↗ going both up and then coming back down

31:23 ↗ and it is an equity issue in our city

31:26 ↗ because we have quite a few hills and

31:28 ↗ that covers a lot of neighborhoods so

31:31 ↗ um could you just talk about the

31:32 ↗ capacity to go up and then how how is it

31:35 ↗ to come back down

31:38 ↗ absolutely

31:39 ↗ the depending on the model of scooter

31:41 ↗ they are rated for a 15 to 20 grade they

31:44 ↗ can't achieve a uh

31:46 ↗ an even higher level of uh incline as

31:49 ↗ well we operate in a number of very

31:50 ↗ hilly communities including san

31:52 ↗ francisco uh these mountainous european

31:55 ↗ towns uh so certainly i have no concerns

31:58 ↗ in terms of the ability to go uphill in

32:00 ↗ any of the terrain that we see within

32:01 ↗ issaquah

32:03 ↗ as this is fundamentally a public

32:04 ↗ transportation option as you suggested

32:06 ↗ council member equity is very important

32:08 ↗ to us we do want to make sure that

32:09 ↗ people can use these to get to and from

32:12 ↗ work

32:13 ↗ their appointments etc so certainly it

32:15 ↗ would be important for us to make sure

32:16 ↗ that they can climb those hills in terms

32:18 ↗ of descending there is a mechanical

32:20 ↗ break available similar to what you

32:22 ↗ would find on a bicycle operated by hand

32:25 ↗ that can allow you to control the speed

32:26 ↗ to the level of comfort that you would

32:28 ↗ feel to be appropriate to descend

32:32 ↗ thank you

32:34 ↗ go ahead deputy council

32:36 ↗ president paul

32:38 ↗ thank you very much thank you to ben and

32:41 ↗ john and is it michael

32:43 ↗ from bird who are here i appreciate you

32:44 ↗ um giving us that useful presentation

32:47 ↗ and answering questions now uh i had a

32:49 ↗ number of as chair joe alluded to i had

32:51 ↗ a number of questions that i emailed in

32:53 ↗ and thank you to

32:54 ↗ uh staff for incorporating that all into

32:56 ↗ your presentation so i won't repeat any

32:59 ↗ of those i do have several uh follow-up

33:01 ↗ questions but first i did want to say

33:03 ↗ that councilwoman michelle i actually

33:04 ↗ used a bird scooter this weekend on a

33:06 ↗ hill and it was quite easy

33:08 ↗ to get up the hill so i i'm personally

33:10 ↗ not worried about that part um

33:14 ↗ so let's see how do i wanna so

33:17 ↗ uh i guess just piggybacking enough then

33:19 ↗ off uh councilmember d michelle's one of

33:21 ↗ her questions so

33:22 ↗ misplaced scooters can be reported

33:27 ↗ via other methods than just going

33:29 ↗ through the app so i think i heard

33:30 ↗ there's an email address there's a phone

33:31 ↗ number people can call

33:33 ↗ i'm curious if there's a

33:36 ↗ during the mou process and during the

33:38 ↗ actual pilot program is there a good

33:39 ↗ relationship between a bird and and the

33:42 ↗ city staffs that you've worked with too

33:44 ↗ so if a community member just decided

33:46 ↗ they wanted to email the city directly

33:48 ↗ that could get communicated to bird is

33:50 ↗ it

33:52 ↗ absolutely so we have dedicated

33:54 ↗ personnel who act as the uh we turn them

33:57 ↗ account managers for all the cities that

33:59 ↗ we do partner with what this means is

34:01 ↗ that there is a specific individual

34:03 ↗ within bird that city staff will be able

34:05 ↗ to reach out whenever there might be

34:07 ↗ experiencing an issue so that we can

34:09 ↗ dispatch our fleet manager make any

34:11 ↗ adjustments to geo-fencing parameters or

34:13 ↗ otherwise

34:14 ↗ massage the day-to-day operations as

34:17 ↗ necessary so short answer yes absolutely

34:20 ↗ no perfect thank you

34:22 ↗ um

34:22 ↗ all right so um the service area

34:25 ↗ well okay i'll just start by framing it

34:27 ↗ so i appreciate that this is a

34:30 ↗ interesting creative and fun solution to

34:32 ↗ the last male problem and you're

34:33 ↗ absolutely right i think the caveat is

34:36 ↗ if you live and can ride in the service

34:40 ↗ area so one question that i have is

34:42 ↗ is the service area that's described in

34:45 ↗ the proposal from bird

34:47 ↗ just for the pilot program and assuming

34:49 ↗ pilots go well is it typical

34:52 ↗ that service area opens up to the entire

34:54 ↗ city or is it kind of a case-by-case

34:56 ↗ basis how does that process work

34:58 ↗ it is very easy for us to expand the

35:00 ↗ service area it's more level uh more

35:02 ↗ ensuring we have to have the right level

35:04 ↗ of density in terms of the number of

35:05 ↗ units that are available

35:07 ↗ these systems really are predicated on

35:09 ↗ two notions convenience and utility by

35:11 ↗ having an insufficient number of

35:12 ↗ scooters within our service area it

35:14 ↗ means that people cannot conveniently

35:16 ↗ find them and it reduces the benefit of

35:18 ↗ this being a public transportation

35:19 ↗ option what that means is certainly

35:21 ↗ within issaquah we could absolutely

35:23 ↗ expand to the jurisdictional boundaries

35:25 ↗ there might be some

35:27 ↗ areas where it would be unlikely for

35:29 ↗ individuals to use this as the

35:31 ↗ regular type of uh or mode of

35:33 ↗ transportation that uh

35:35 ↗ they would rely on but from a

35:37 ↗ technological perspective and an

35:39 ↗ operational perspective

35:41 ↗ it would seem to be uh it would be quite

35:43 ↗ easy

35:44 ↗ meaning we could even do it within the

35:45 ↗ pilot area under the right circumstance

35:47 ↗ or pilot period under the right

35:48 ↗ circumstances

35:50 ↗ okay no good point

35:52 ↗ um i have three other questions but i'm

35:54 ↗ happy to please go ahead go ahead that's

35:56 ↗ okay um

36:00 ↗ uh i guess this is for city staff but in

36:03 ↗ your opinion how long do you think a

36:04 ↗ pilot program needs to last to be able

36:06 ↗ to collect useful data that we can

36:07 ↗ analyze and make a decision on

36:09 ↗ moving forward

36:11 ↗ yeah i would suggest

36:13 ↗ sorry i apologize forgive me

36:16 ↗ yeah i mean for our purposes i think it

36:19 ↗ will be uh valuable to have both the

36:22 ↗ summer season and the non-summer season

36:26 ↗ i think that that will give us a good

36:29 ↗ window

36:30 ↗ and a nice

36:32 ↗ you know the ability to to really come

36:35 ↗ to some some at least initial

36:37 ↗ conclusions about whether or not it was

36:40 ↗ successful

36:42 ↗ of course like with any other program

36:45 ↗ it's one of continual learning right and

36:48 ↗ trying to figure out

36:50 ↗ the changing needs and desires of the

36:52 ↗ community as well as just changing

36:55 ↗ conditions

36:56 ↗ on the ground so

36:58 ↗ i think this initial period

37:01 ↗ would be a good one for our purposes

37:04 ↗ and we would learn a lot about

37:08 ↗ how our community feels about it and how

37:11 ↗ what it's able to offer for our

37:12 ↗ community

37:16 ↗ all right thank you

37:20 ↗ oh it was john i think that mentioned

37:22 ↗ something about slow zones where you

37:25 ↗ would automatically be slower i didn't

37:26 ↗ read anything about that in the proposal

37:28 ↗ are you referring to a zone where you

37:30 ↗ would automatically be slower than the

37:33 ↗ max of 15 miles an hour or is it if you

37:35 ↗ exit the service area it slows down to a

37:38 ↗ really slow speed and kind of warns you

37:40 ↗ that you're exiting the area so if you

37:42 ↗ could clarify that that would be great

37:48 ↗ yes i can actually provide some uh some

37:51 ↗ detail there so it's actually both

37:53 ↗ meaning if somebody were to exit the

37:55 ↗ operating zone scooter will slow down to

37:57 ↗ about a mile and a half per hour start

37:58 ↗ beeping and flashing at them and they

38:00 ↗ will be unable to end their ride meaning

38:01 ↗ they continue to incur a charge so

38:03 ↗ pretty good incentive to take it back

38:05 ↗ within the operating zone if there are

38:07 ↗ areas that we identify with the city

38:09 ↗ where it might not be appropriate to

38:11 ↗ have the scooters traveling at 15 miles

38:12 ↗ per hour or even temporarily have areas

38:15 ↗ where the scooters should be at a

38:16 ↗ reduced speed if you have for example a

38:19 ↗ special event we can create geo

38:22 ↗ fence slow zones that take that maximum

38:25 ↗ speed down to 12 10 whatever might be

38:27 ↗ appropriate in terms of miles per hour

38:32 ↗ okay thanks i appreciate that

38:33 ↗ clarification

38:34 ↗ um

38:38 ↗ oh and then i'll guess also about the

38:40 ↗ community pricing program i'm i'd be

38:42 ↗ curious to know how successful that

38:44 ↗ program has worked in other communities

38:46 ↗ or if it's been kind of a case-by-case

38:48 ↗ basis whether or not it's been

38:49 ↗ implemented successfully

38:52 ↗ in terms of how many individuals use it

38:55 ↗ it does tend to vary from community to

38:56 ↗ community it's one of the reasons why we

38:58 ↗ try and make sure that we get the

38:59 ↗ messaging out to as many individuals as

39:01 ↗ possible

39:02 ↗ uh one of the ways that we found to be

39:05 ↗ particularly effective is to actually

39:06 ↗ work with the city to issue a joint

39:08 ↗ press release prior to the deployment of

39:10 ↗ the scooters which includes the

39:12 ↗ instructions for how to access our

39:13 ↗ community pricing program as well as our

39:15 ↗ communication

39:17 ↗ method so that people can get a hold of

39:18 ↗ us if they do have any questions or want

39:20 ↗ to report any concerns so that is

39:22 ↗ something certainly that the uh

39:24 ↗ the city is interested in i think it

39:26 ↗ could be a very useful tool

39:30 ↗ and can i just add that please one of

39:32 ↗ the

39:34 ↗ important metrics that we'll

39:36 ↗ try to be measuring during the pilot

39:38 ↗ program are those equity elements and

39:40 ↗ how many residents were able to take

39:42 ↗ advantage of those different programs um

39:44 ↗ so that we can help to see

39:47 ↗ how them you know what we can do to help

39:50 ↗ improve their their uptake rates

39:53 ↗ councilman d michelle thanks um just a

39:57 ↗ couple of other questions

40:00 ↗ um

40:01 ↗ if there is a scooter involved in an

40:04 ↗ accident

40:06 ↗ what how is that handled and who is

40:09 ↗ carrying the liability on that and i

40:11 ↗ think that's a question for benton thank

40:13 ↗ you

40:14 ↗ yeah so um any incident involving a

40:18 ↗ scooter would be treated the same

40:22 ↗ as

40:23 ↗ any other incident

40:24 ↗ involving a privately owned electric

40:26 ↗ scooter

40:28 ↗ we will be requiring

40:30 ↗ any provider that provides electric

40:33 ↗ scooter share

40:35 ↗ a program in our city to carry

40:38 ↗ liability insurance um and the level

40:41 ↗ that we've been suggested is uh

40:44 ↗ three million per occurrence and six

40:46 ↗ million aggregate and so that's um

40:49 ↗ that's what we're looking at okay

40:52 ↗ and just one last question and i was

40:55 ↗ looking at the map

40:57 ↗ it doesn't look to me and maybe i'm not

40:59 ↗ reading it correctly but it doesn't look

41:00 ↗ to me like the transit center is

41:02 ↗ included

41:03 ↗ although there is a nest about a block

41:06 ↗ away

41:08 ↗ is there some reason why we're not

41:10 ↗ including the transit center in that

41:13 ↗ coverage map

41:15 ↗ yeah so

41:16 ↗ well i can talk about some of the

41:18 ↗ initial conversations we've had with our

41:20 ↗ external partners um

41:23 ↗ you know they they would like to control

41:25 ↗ uh the access that scooters have to

41:28 ↗ their facilities um uh just to prevent

41:30 ↗ different issues and things like that

41:32 ↗ and so we'd be working with them

41:35 ↗ to establish um special zones that

41:38 ↗ people could park um their scooter and

41:40 ↗ hop right on to a bus and so um that's

41:44 ↗ that's one of the things

41:45 ↗ that we would be

41:46 ↗ exploring

41:48 ↗ thank you very much

41:52 ↗ thank you for the

41:54 ↗ great answers to our questions i have a

41:56 ↗ couple if you could go to the proposed

41:58 ↗ operations

42:00 ↗ slide that you had with the map of the

42:02 ↗ city

42:04 ↗ uh like councilmember dean michelle i

42:07 ↗ had a question about tibbetts valley

42:09 ↗ park

42:10 ↗ i was wondering if it'd be possible to

42:12 ↗ perhaps put a

42:14 ↗ nesting location there as many hopefully

42:18 ↗ many uh

42:20 ↗ children and young people who want to

42:21 ↗ take advantage of the park can

42:23 ↗ um you know take a scooter from the

42:25 ↗ highlands or take the scooter from old

42:27 ↗ downtown and take it out to the the park

42:30 ↗ so that's just one question that i'd

42:31 ↗ like explored the other one is of course

42:35 ↗ we've always had a challenge of of

42:37 ↗ making sure that

42:38 ↗ old town issaquah and squawk mountain

42:40 ↗ were connected to the highlands as much

42:42 ↗ as possible and just looking at the map

42:45 ↗ on the right-hand side near i-90 i just

42:48 ↗ wanted to make sure or find out whether

42:50 ↗ or not

42:50 ↗ the path that goes from

42:53 ↗ old town up along the

42:55 ↗ the road there is included in that zone

42:58 ↗ such that they're going to be able to to

43:00 ↗ ride all the way up there

43:02 ↗ without any problems or difficulties

43:07 ↗ yeah so a bit of context

43:09 ↗ just from our city staff side is that we

43:12 ↗ would you know if if we go through with

43:14 ↗ this pilot program

43:17 ↗ we would permit bird to operate

43:19 ↗ throughout the city um

43:22 ↗ and so we wouldn't put limitations on

43:24 ↗ that end but michael i'm wondering if

43:26 ↗ you can talk a little bit um

43:29 ↗ to answer the council members questions

43:32 ↗ about those connections

43:34 ↗ um and about maybe some of the other

43:36 ↗ reasons why

43:38 ↗ this area was chosen

43:41 ↗ absolutely

43:42 ↗ as noted earlier we can absolutely

43:44 ↗ adjust the boundaries of the proposed

43:46 ↗ operating zone if there are specific

43:48 ↗ regions that you think it would be

43:49 ↗ important to include we did include the

43:51 ↗ trail that you were describing

43:53 ↗ councilmember in your second question so

43:55 ↗ certainly there should be that access

43:56 ↗ that

43:58 ↗ you were asking about

43:59 ↗ with respect to the park access um

44:03 ↗ something i should mention our riders

44:05 ↗ are required to be 18 years of age or

44:07 ↗ older in order to be able to use the

44:09 ↗ system so tibbetts valley park

44:11 ↗ we can absolutely have a

44:14 ↗ a nesting location there

44:16 ↗ but

44:17 ↗ at the same time it may not necessarily

44:19 ↗ benefit children under the age of 18.

44:21 ↗ well

44:22 ↗ i suppose that's everybody uh

44:25 ↗ everybody's a child scary

44:26 ↗ that's freaky

44:29 ↗ great thank you for that that response

44:31 ↗ um

44:33 ↗ for our audience and for council members

44:38 ↗ michael from bird could you give us some

44:40 ↗ example of comparables

44:42 ↗ other cities that you have

44:45 ↗ you know initiated this program in so

44:46 ↗ that we could take a look at the

44:48 ↗ experiences they've had and if we can

44:50 ↗ reach out to council members or others

44:52 ↗ that might have worked with you we

44:54 ↗ certainly would would like to have that

44:56 ↗ opportunity could you give us some

44:58 ↗ comparables please

45:01 ↗ absolutely i believe i actually sent a

45:02 ↗ list to city staff earlier on in this

45:05 ↗ process if you give me a moment i can

45:06 ↗ pull up that exact list so that

45:09 ↗ there is consistency in everything that

45:10 ↗ i have suggested

45:12 ↗ uh benton i'm not sure if you have it

45:14 ↗ easily available but certainly i can

45:15 ↗ find it

45:18 ↗ um yeah i don't i don't have it off off

45:20 ↗ the top of my head um

45:24 ↗ but there are uh multiple jurisdictions

45:26 ↗ that have worked with bird throughout

45:28 ↗ the country of course we've talked with

45:30 ↗ some of them um and that's influenced

45:33 ↗ some of the things we've even talked

45:35 ↗ about tonight especially in terms of ada

45:38 ↗ compliance and making sure

45:40 ↗ that that's well protected

45:42 ↗ under the the proposed program

45:44 ↗ there's also

45:45 ↗ several jurisdictions just in our region

45:48 ↗ that maybe don't have a

45:50 ↗ direct relationship with bird but do

45:52 ↗ have electric scooter share programs

45:55 ↗ with other providers

45:57 ↗ so redmond and

45:58 ↗ bothell are examples of jurisdictions

46:01 ↗ like that um and we found that the

46:04 ↗ jurisdictions that we've talked to that

46:06 ↗ the

46:07 ↗ staff says that the community um takes

46:09 ↗ advantage of those programs and is happy

46:11 ↗ with those programs

46:14 ↗ and you know with with again careful

46:16 ↗ program design and and

46:19 ↗ thorough program implementation um they

46:22 ↗ can be very successful

46:24 ↗ um

46:25 ↗ and i don't know michael if that gave

46:27 ↗ you enough time to

46:28 ↗ also look up the list

46:31 ↗ it certainly did i appreciate it the

46:33 ↗ list that we sent earlier with

46:35 ↗ communities that were comparable both

46:36 ↗ from a geographic perspective a

46:38 ↗ population perspective and in some

46:40 ↗ instances a demographic perspective

46:43 ↗ were uh college place washington

46:45 ↗ coachella california midland michigan

46:48 ↗ and pendleton oregon since then we have

46:50 ↗ certainly expanded into a number of

46:51 ↗ other similar communities but i feel

46:53 ↗ that those four probably do represent

46:55 ↗ the best cross section that we currently

46:58 ↗ operate within that i feel would would

47:01 ↗ be appropriate comparables for iso

47:03 ↗ thank you michael appreciate that

47:06 ↗ deputy administrator snyder thank you

47:08 ↗ councilmember joe i just also wanted to

47:10 ↗ point to the memo for this evening has a

47:13 ↗ few of our peer cities that are

47:15 ↗ neighboring cities as benton mentioned

47:16 ↗ just off the top of his head that

47:18 ↗ includes redmond bothell

47:20 ↗ seattle kirkland and many others may not

47:23 ↗ necessarily have an agreement with bird

47:25 ↗ but do have an agreement with

47:27 ↗ another electronic scooter share

47:29 ↗ provider so just wanted to make sure

47:31 ↗ that that was um referred to that's

47:34 ↗ that's in uh your materials on page two

47:37 ↗ thank you not everyone in the public

47:39 ↗ reads the materials so it's always good

47:40 ↗ that we

47:42 ↗ get the the

47:43 ↗ the information out

47:45 ↗ through as many different avenues as we

47:46 ↗ can

47:48 ↗ the next question that i had was um

47:51 ↗ has

47:52 ↗ bird or has the city talked about

47:54 ↗ potentially selling the prepaid cards uh

47:58 ↗ in our city hall as i look at the map

48:00 ↗ the cvs pharmacies are

48:02 ↗ either out on gilman or on the other

48:04 ↗ side of the freeway perhaps fred meyer

48:06 ↗ um you know they're they're quite a

48:08 ↗ distance away from the old downtown area

48:10 ↗ that we want to try to promote um

48:13 ↗ perhaps some mobility in and whether i

48:16 ↗ don't know if this is to to michael

48:17 ↗ whether he's had an experience with

48:19 ↗ partnering with the city selling these

48:20 ↗ or if it's something that the city can't

48:22 ↗ do because of some law that i'm not

48:24 ↗ aware of or would not want to do because

48:26 ↗ of

48:28 ↗ you know any

48:29 ↗ staffing or requirements like that i

48:32 ↗ certainly would would like to hear the

48:33 ↗ different points of view

48:39 ↗ uh council member joe if i if i may try

48:42 ↗ to take that question

48:43 ↗ certainly um

48:45 ↗ that would be unusual for the city to do

48:48 ↗ our the current services that we provide

48:50 ↗ as you know were only open uh during

48:53 ↗ relatively limited hours compared to a

48:54 ↗ retail location

48:56 ↗ um we could try to assess as to where

48:59 ↗ those types of

49:01 ↗ gift cards and

49:02 ↗ cards that would work for people who are

49:04 ↗ not

49:05 ↗ who don't have banks

49:07 ↗ but you know our services are mostly

49:09 ↗ limited to our regulatory

49:11 ↗ services so permits licenses things like

49:14 ↗ that utility billing that's really what

49:16 ↗ we're set up to do

49:17 ↗ um so that would be something we would

49:19 ↗ need to talk to

49:21 ↗ at greater length in terms of whether or

49:23 ↗ not we have the ability and resources uh

49:26 ↗ to

49:26 ↗ provide vending for such services like

49:28 ↗ that and

49:30 ↗ it would be a unique service for us to

49:32 ↗ provide i'm not aware of any other city

49:35 ↗ that does that

49:37 ↗ speaking as economic development

49:39 ↗ coordinator i would certainly be willing

49:42 ↗ to make introductions with some of the

49:43 ↗ local small businesses

49:46 ↗ and see if if that might be a possible

49:48 ↗ partnership for bird um to provide it

49:51 ↗ through them as well so we could we

49:53 ↗ could explore some different options for

49:54 ↗ sure

49:58 ↗ and michael do you have any experience

50:00 ↗ with partnering with your jurisdictions

50:02 ↗ on

50:03 ↗ um making those cards available

50:07 ↗ myself personally

50:09 ↗ i would not be my area of expertise but

50:11 ↗ certainly i can inquire of the

50:14 ↗ appropriate teams to see if there might

50:15 ↗ be anything that would restrict us from

50:17 ↗ doing so what i can say is from a

50:19 ↗ technological perspective we also have

50:21 ↗ the capability of creating codes that

50:23 ↗ can be associated with a particular

50:25 ↗ value

50:26 ↗ so that might be an easy way to

50:29 ↗ to also

50:31 ↗ ensure accessibility

50:33 ↗ okay thank you i appreciate that just

50:35 ↗ from

50:36 ↗ an equity point of view if people are

50:37 ↗ coming in and riding the bus we want to

50:40 ↗ enable them to

50:41 ↗ be able to get onto a scooter and not

50:44 ↗ have to

50:45 ↗ travel a great distance to get a card

50:48 ↗ necessarily

50:50 ↗ as we kind of look at the map hopefully

50:52 ↗ we can think about how people come in

50:54 ↗ and out of the city and and we know that

50:57 ↗ the traffic patterns and the patterns of

50:58 ↗ our our public transit so we could think

51:01 ↗ about it about that a little bit so it's

51:03 ↗ convenient for people that's often half

51:05 ↗ the battle for using the service as well

51:09 ↗ so

51:10 ↗ other questions from

51:12 ↗ members okay

51:15 ↗ the last kind of comment that i would

51:17 ↗ kind of open up for is is

51:20 ↗ the transportation advisory board

51:22 ↗ um

51:23 ↗ there are some options there potentially

51:25 ↗ to include them in the conversation or

51:28 ↗ to not and

51:29 ↗ i wanted to see benton if you could give

51:31 ↗ us a little more uh

51:33 ↗ information about that and why one

51:35 ↗ option over the other might might be a

51:37 ↗ better choice

51:41 ↗ um

51:42 ↗ yeah and uh

51:44 ↗ i i was actually wondering if john would

51:46 ↗ like to talk about the answer this

51:48 ↗ question i know you've talked with

51:53 ↗ yeah certainly

51:55 ↗ uh so at this point the proposal has the

51:58 ↗ specific proposal is not gone before the

52:00 ↗ tab um we at the time of kind of

52:02 ↗ development thus far

52:04 ↗ we believe that the tab was so highly

52:06 ↗ involved in the mobility master plan

52:08 ↗ creation process

52:10 ↗ and this scooter share system would

52:12 ↗ highly align with the mobility master

52:14 ↗ plan

52:15 ↗ the tabs input may not be necessary um

52:18 ↗ and i think uh as i as i said to

52:21 ↗ uh council member dave michelle uh

52:24 ↗ should the should the committee

52:25 ↗ determine that the program does need to

52:27 ↗ go back to tab

52:28 ↗ uh we we certainly could could do that

52:31 ↗ and accommodate that

52:33 ↗ okay thank you i appreciate that

52:36 ↗ if there are no more questions we'll

52:38 ↗ open it up and see if there any members

52:40 ↗ of the public that wish to make a

52:42 ↗ comment on this particular topic

52:44 ↗ oh go ahead just a really quick question

52:47 ↗ um is it common for the city to take um

52:53 ↗ programmatic activities to the

52:55 ↗ transportation advisory board or if

52:56 ↗ they've historically been more of a

52:58 ↗ policy

53:00 ↗ making board with regard to

53:01 ↗ transportation or policy advising board

53:04 ↗ i can answer that i actually asked that

53:06 ↗ question being newer to the city i asked

53:08 ↗ that question yesterday and the answer

53:10 ↗ is is more policy heavy than

53:12 ↗ programmatic so you'd be right about

53:14 ↗ that

53:17 ↗ great appreciate that

53:20 ↗ do we have any there are no members in

53:22 ↗ the room right now to make public

53:23 ↗ comment i'll look to deputy clerk to see

53:27 ↗ if there are any people online that

53:28 ↗ would wish to comment on this particular

53:30 ↗ topic tonight

53:34 ↗ thank you councilmember joe uh i see one

53:36 ↗ member of the public present but uh no

53:40 ↗ hand raised

53:43 ↗ requesting public comment

53:46 ↗ opportunity

53:47 ↗ okay

53:49 ↗ last chance

53:52 ↗ okay we'll move on to discussion then

53:54 ↗ amongst the committee members so we can

53:57 ↗ try to

53:59 ↗ figure out a plan for this particular

54:00 ↗ topic so

54:03 ↗ first on the issue of tab i think that

54:07 ↗ if we

54:08 ↗ do agree to go ahead and move forward

54:10 ↗ with this in concept and it comes back

54:12 ↗ to the council on the 21st

54:14 ↗ or a subsequent meeting after that tab

54:17 ↗ can certainly

54:19 ↗ chime in or come to the meeting with

54:21 ↗ public comment or reach out to us with

54:23 ↗ email and his deputy council president

54:25 ↗ hall pointed out it's more of a a

54:28 ↗ policy board rather than a individual

54:30 ↗ program uh situation so it might make

54:33 ↗ more sense for

54:34 ↗ us to just approve it and let

54:37 ↗ the tab

54:40 ↗ committee my board go ahead and comment

54:42 ↗ on it if they want to but i'll certainly

54:45 ↗ open that up for any other points of

54:47 ↗ view as well

54:49 ↗ okay

54:50 ↗ all right and uh

54:54 ↗ you want to go first

54:57 ↗ uh sure i'll go first um

55:01 ↗ super super interesting and um exciting

55:05 ↗ opportunity before us today

55:08 ↗ um thank you to all the city staff and

55:10 ↗ of course to byrd for coming

55:13 ↗ to the city of issaquah in the first

55:14 ↗ place um

55:16 ↗ for all your hard work working on this

55:17 ↗ proposal i really appreciate it i don't

55:20 ↗ think there's any doubt

55:22 ↗ that this is in alignment with the

55:24 ↗ spirit of our strategic plan with the

55:26 ↗ spirit

55:27 ↗ and goal areas of our mobility master

55:29 ↗ plan

55:31 ↗ like i said earlier it's a

55:33 ↗ creative solution to the last mile

55:34 ↗ problem

55:36 ↗ for some people right if you live in the

55:38 ↗ and and can commute in in the um service

55:40 ↗ area it's a fun solution for replacing

55:43 ↗ sov trips or single occupancy vehicle

55:45 ↗ trips

55:46 ↗ with that same caveat

55:49 ↗ like councilman b michelle i did do some

55:52 ↗ searching i was really happy to see and

55:54 ↗ thankful to see that the city promoted

55:56 ↗ that we were discussing this item

55:58 ↗ on social media on twitter and on

56:00 ↗ facebook i did go through all those

56:02 ↗ comments just like my colleague here

56:04 ↗ and there are some

56:06 ↗ and i think a lot of it was reiterated

56:09 ↗ in the email that we received from the

56:11 ↗ resident who emailed in earlier today

56:12 ↗ some of those

56:14 ↗ concerns that i noticed on social media

56:16 ↗ where that retrieval has to be a

56:18 ↗ priority

56:19 ↗ that we have to prevent it from becoming

56:21 ↗ a public safety hazard

56:23 ↗ worries that it would litter sidewalks

56:25 ↗ and end up in ditches

56:27 ↗ support that you know perhaps a smaller

56:29 ↗ bus service might be a more useful

56:32 ↗ um

56:33 ↗ thing to pursue and and just for that

56:35 ↗ person if you happen to be um watching

56:38 ↗ this committee meet meeting this evening

56:40 ↗ that is something we're exploring it has

56:42 ↗ been more challenging than than we'd

56:44 ↗ like especially with the coveted

56:45 ↗ pandemic um kind of making things in

56:47 ↗ that space a little bit more difficult

56:49 ↗ but it is something that is a priority

56:50 ↗ of this council and something we are

56:52 ↗ pursuing actually that might be

56:54 ↗ something john's working on too i can't

56:55 ↗ remember if that's you oh it is okay

56:57 ↗ he's nodding um

56:59 ↗ concerns with ada implications obviously

57:01 ↗ was another thing that came up um does

57:05 ↗ our infrastructure support scooters in

57:06 ↗ the first place

57:08 ↗ concerns with ice and inclement weather

57:11 ↗ and i just want to ensure um that the

57:14 ↗ proposal did account for ice and

57:16 ↗ inclement weather

57:17 ↗ in that scooters i believe could be shut

57:20 ↗ down

57:21 ↗ in those kinds of winter weather or

57:23 ↗ extreme weather events

57:25 ↗ and then another comment that the pilot

57:28 ↗ program

57:29 ↗ should give us lots of useful

57:31 ↗ information which is kind of the way

57:33 ↗ that i'm thinking about it right now

57:35 ↗ i think most of these concerns are

57:38 ↗ covered by this three-hour guarantee of

57:41 ↗ bird on response time um the pilot

57:44 ↗ program you know would be able to

57:46 ↗ measure outcomes in in success

57:49 ↗ of those very things though

57:52 ↗ so if it's not successful and we did

57:54 ↗ move forward with the pilot program up

57:56 ↗ then we'd have our answer right away i

57:57 ↗ would think on whether or not to pursue

57:59 ↗ this as a permanent program in issaquah

58:01 ↗ um

58:05 ↗ you know with all that i i would

58:07 ↗ definitely based on you know what i've

58:09 ↗ seen already

58:10 ↗ you know we haven't captured the full

58:12 ↗ community's

58:14 ↗ feedback or interest yet this is just

58:16 ↗ obviously the people who

58:18 ↗ are tuned to the city's posts right away

58:20 ↗ but

58:21 ↗ i would have

58:23 ↗ concerns with approving a permanent

58:24 ↗ program today or voting on a permanent

58:26 ↗ program today but i do think that a

58:28 ↗ pilot program seems like a good step to

58:31 ↗ collect useful data

58:33 ↗ and community feedback along the way

58:34 ↗ especially especially when it costs the

58:37 ↗ city nothing to it cost the city nothing

58:40 ↗ to explore whether or not this is an

58:42 ↗ answer to some people i think that's

58:44 ↗ another thing that i'd like to reiterate

58:46 ↗ in this is this does not solve the last

58:48 ↗ mile problem for everybody in every

58:52 ↗ place in the city but it could solve

58:53 ↗ some it could be an answer for some

58:55 ↗ people and if it doesn't cost us

58:58 ↗ anything

58:59 ↗ except for the staff time of course to

59:01 ↗ administer the mou and all that i i

59:04 ↗ don't see a downside in the pilot

59:06 ↗ program

59:10 ↗ yeah i already said that

59:11 ↗ one thing

59:13 ↗ one thought that i have just based on q

59:15 ↗ a tonight is

59:17 ↗ that we should ensure that no park zones

59:21 ↗ are given careful uh consideration

59:24 ↗ especially along some of our issaquah

59:26 ↗ has some very skinny bike paths

59:28 ↗ especially you know when you get to the

59:30 ↗ kind of the outer edges of the proposed

59:32 ↗ service area

59:34 ↗ so i think ensuring that scooters aren't

59:36 ↗ parked along those bike paths

59:38 ↗ that could create a hazard for bikers is

59:40 ↗ important um and i agree with chair joe

59:44 ↗ that the transportation advisory board

59:46 ↗ should be made aware of this discussion

59:49 ↗ and encouraged to provide feedback ahead

59:52 ↗ of our next council meeting i don't

59:53 ↗ think they necessarily need to be

59:56 ↗ given an agenda item for a programmatic

59:59 ↗ issue

1:00:01 ↗ that's all the feedback that i have

1:00:04 ↗ at this point

1:00:07 ↗ i do think

1:00:11 ↗ a scaled up approach over four weeks

1:00:15 ↗ makes sense to me and if it seems like

1:00:17 ↗ that's what's been a successful

1:00:19 ↗ model in other cities then

1:00:21 ↗ i'd like to you know continue to do what

1:00:24 ↗ what best practices are and what's

1:00:26 ↗ worked well in other cities

1:00:31 ↗ yeah i i might have some more comments

1:00:33 ↗ but maybe i'll let the two of you go

1:00:34 ↗ first but that's that's what i'm

1:00:36 ↗ thinking right now and thanks again for

1:00:37 ↗ all the

1:00:38 ↗ information

1:00:43 ↗ um thank you and again thanks to the

1:00:45 ↗ staff for a really good thorough

1:00:47 ↗ presentation and answering our questions

1:00:49 ↗ very very thoroughly

1:00:51 ↗ um

1:00:52 ↗ when i ran for the council in 2019 i was

1:00:55 ↗ talking all about alternatives

1:00:58 ↗ for transportation so

1:01:00 ↗ so this is uh certainly

1:01:02 ↗ right up my wheelhouse and so

1:01:05 ↗ i do support the idea of a pilot and i

1:01:08 ↗ agree with councilmember hall that

1:01:10 ↗ we need the pilot to see exactly how it

1:01:12 ↗ works on the ground um and

1:01:15 ↗ how well it serves our population and

1:01:18 ↗ how well it's used and

1:01:20 ↗ and

1:01:20 ↗ that it does not

1:01:22 ↗ create nuisances of any sort

1:01:25 ↗ reading through the comments today i

1:01:27 ↗ would say that we have a community

1:01:29 ↗ that's or at least the people who

1:01:30 ↗ responded today to that social media

1:01:33 ↗ post are quite anxious about this

1:01:36 ↗ and

1:01:37 ↗ my thought in looking at that is when we

1:01:40 ↗ do our community engagement um i think

1:01:42 ↗ that we need to

1:01:44 ↗ look at

1:01:45 ↗ where we start

1:01:47 ↗ and then measure community

1:01:50 ↗ input on that and then at the end of the

1:01:52 ↗ pilot we look at it again and see if the

1:01:55 ↗ needle has moved in terms of acceptance

1:01:58 ↗ of the program

1:01:59 ↗ and understanding and the other uh thing

1:02:02 ↗ i think would be very very helpful for

1:02:04 ↗ both the public and for the council

1:02:06 ↗ would be a kind of real time

1:02:09 ↗ connection over any incidents that occur

1:02:12 ↗ i know those will be reported to bird

1:02:14 ↗ but i would certainly like to get some

1:02:16 ↗ interim reports on what kind of

1:02:18 ↗ incidents are being reported by the

1:02:21 ↗ public and how they're being resolved

1:02:24 ↗ so

1:02:25 ↗ i think if we show the community that we

1:02:28 ↗ we too share their anxiety we too share

1:02:32 ↗ their concerns

1:02:33 ↗ and we want to make this the best

1:02:35 ↗ possible

1:02:37 ↗ transportation alternative that it can

1:02:38 ↗ be

1:02:39 ↗ that will go a long way toward

1:02:41 ↗ encouraging community support and we

1:02:44 ↗ need community support

1:02:46 ↗ so um overall i'm very favorable toward

1:02:50 ↗ trying this out as a pilot program

1:02:52 ↗ and

1:02:53 ↗ i thank councilmember hall for that

1:02:56 ↗ question about the difference between

1:02:57 ↗ policy and program

1:03:00 ↗ i agree that this is a program and not a

1:03:02 ↗ policy and so however maybe we could uh

1:03:06 ↗ send an email to the transportation

1:03:08 ↗ advisory board and to the members and

1:03:10 ↗ let them know this is happening and if

1:03:12 ↗ they want to

1:03:13 ↗ comment um

1:03:15 ↗ as individuals that would be very very

1:03:18 ↗ um

1:03:19 ↗ welcome so

1:03:22 ↗ i think that's i'm councilmember hall

1:03:24 ↗ did a very thorough job of of covering

1:03:27 ↗ it so i think that

1:03:29 ↗ i'm really focused on that community

1:03:30 ↗ outreach and community approval piece of

1:03:33 ↗ it

1:03:34 ↗ so i thank you again and

1:03:36 ↗ i'll turn it over to cheer job

1:03:39 ↗ thank you so much

1:03:40 ↗ one of the things that i appreciate

1:03:41 ↗ about this council is

1:03:44 ↗ we live in

1:03:45 ↗ diverse neighborhoods all throughout the

1:03:47 ↗ city

1:03:48 ↗ we have two members that live in talus

1:03:51 ↗ one member that lives in the highlands

1:03:55 ↗ barbados michelle and i live on the

1:03:57 ↗ valley floor very close to the valley

1:03:58 ↗ floor so we're going to be able to

1:04:02 ↗ observe and see

1:04:03 ↗ the daily operations of the scooter

1:04:06 ↗ program in action

1:04:08 ↗ and

1:04:10 ↗ most of us are either working at home a

1:04:12 ↗ couple days a week or

1:04:15 ↗ five days a week and so we are in the

1:04:17 ↗ community a lot more than perhaps

1:04:20 ↗ we might have been in years past

1:04:23 ↗ so that being said we will be

1:04:25 ↗ looking at the reports that you might be

1:04:27 ↗ giving out to us from the staff side and

1:04:29 ↗ then we'll also be making our own

1:04:31 ↗ observations as we're traveling through

1:04:33 ↗ the city and working in the city uh as

1:04:36 ↗ well so

1:04:38 ↗ that's not to say that i'm i think that

1:04:41 ↗ um things are going to go poorly but i

1:04:43 ↗ just want to make sure that um you know

1:04:47 ↗ we as a council take some responsibility

1:04:50 ↗ for monitoring and viewing and giving

1:04:52 ↗ our feedback too as we go forward

1:04:56 ↗ this is a pilot program and i think that

1:04:59 ↗ when i ran for council certainly talked

1:05:02 ↗ about

1:05:02 ↗ trying to search for alternatives trying

1:05:04 ↗ to find ideas that might work and the

1:05:06 ↗ only way we're going to find out whether

1:05:08 ↗ or not this is something that works for

1:05:10 ↗ a segment of our population part of our

1:05:12 ↗ population that wants to utilize it is

1:05:14 ↗ to try it and to see how how it works

1:05:17 ↗ how many people use it and whether or

1:05:19 ↗ not we have

1:05:21 ↗ some of the problems that

1:05:23 ↗ might have been noted in some of the

1:05:25 ↗ emails but it sounds as if the

1:05:28 ↗ on-site manager will be

1:05:30 ↗ addressing those in a in a pretty

1:05:32 ↗ diligent fashion and

1:05:34 ↗ you know hopefully with good guidance

1:05:37 ↗ and the app and

1:05:39 ↗ um you know better access to technology

1:05:41 ↗ we'll have fewer situations where

1:05:45 ↗ uh bike paths are being blocked or um

1:05:48 ↗ scooters are left in in inappropriate

1:05:50 ↗ areas that cause some problems along the

1:05:53 ↗ way

1:05:54 ↗ i think that's uh i'm in favor of going

1:05:56 ↗ ahead and moving forward

1:05:58 ↗ to get a memo of understanding together

1:06:01 ↗ we need to be

1:06:03 ↗ very diligent about our communication

1:06:05 ↗ with the transportation advisory board

1:06:08 ↗ and making sure that they know that this

1:06:10 ↗ is something that's going on as a stated

1:06:12 ↗ before

1:06:14 ↗ but i think that if you if council

1:06:16 ↗ excuse me if staff can turn around and

1:06:18 ↗ bring forward mou

1:06:20 ↗ by the 21st i think that would be

1:06:23 ↗ outstanding uh if you need a little more

1:06:25 ↗ time that to get it right you know

1:06:27 ↗ that's that's fine too

1:06:30 ↗ but

1:06:31 ↗ that's i think the direction that that

1:06:33 ↗ this committee wants to go if i'm

1:06:35 ↗ reading my

1:06:36 ↗ members correctly and their nods of

1:06:39 ↗ heads going on

1:06:41 ↗ does that give you

1:06:42 ↗ uh

1:06:44 ↗ enough guidance spent in culverts

1:06:46 ↗ and deputy administrator

1:06:49 ↗ snyder

1:06:51 ↗ uh yes hi this is andrea i'm looking at

1:06:54 ↗ benton and he's also nodding vigorously

1:06:56 ↗ so yes thank you that does give us

1:06:58 ↗ enough guidance really appreciate your

1:07:00 ↗ comments

1:07:01 ↗ we will

1:07:03 ↗ suggest also putting this i think on

1:07:05 ↗ regular business given how much

1:07:06 ↗ community interest we've received and

1:07:08 ↗ certainly want to report back on the

1:07:10 ↗ comments also that

1:07:12 ↗ and suggestions that you all offered

1:07:14 ↗ today so thank you for those great

1:07:15 ↗ discussion uh and really appreciate your

1:07:18 ↗ comments

1:07:19 ↗ and i did have a question about social

1:07:21 ↗ media were

1:07:22 ↗ [Music]

1:07:24 ↗ do we as a city have a staff member

1:07:26 ↗ that's responding to some of those

1:07:27 ↗ comments or

1:07:28 ↗ they just

1:07:30 ↗ you know

1:07:31 ↗ grow through the the individual

1:07:33 ↗ conversation how does that work

1:07:36 ↗ yes typically

1:07:38 ↗ our staff

1:07:39 ↗ and communications will respond to some

1:07:41 ↗ of the comments sometimes they let the

1:07:44 ↗ conversation kind of unfold because

1:07:46 ↗ some of these comments don't necessarily

1:07:48 ↗ all of them need responses but

1:07:50 ↗ yes we do have staff that monitor

1:07:52 ↗ comments and try to respond and offer

1:07:54 ↗ information as possible

1:07:57 ↗ great thank you

1:07:59 ↗ all right

1:08:00 ↗ so

1:08:01 ↗ we look forward to having this item back

1:08:03 ↗ on a council agenda in the near future

1:08:06 ↗ as soon as staff can turn around and mou

1:08:11 ↗ look forward to that and appreciate

1:08:15 ↗ everyone coming tonight to give us that

1:08:18 ↗ information benton koblentz john larson

1:08:21 ↗ friend and michael from bird thank you

1:08:23 ↗ for the information answering our

1:08:24 ↗ questions uh i think you helped make the

1:08:28 ↗ conversation flow and helped make things

1:08:30 ↗ uh

1:08:31 ↗ work well for us so

1:08:33 ↗ much appreciated

1:08:36 ↗ okay yeah thank you so much

1:08:38 ↗ you're welcome

1:08:39 ↗ that was the only item on the agenda

1:08:41 ↗ tonight uh there's a section for

1:08:44 ↗ any good of the order comments from the

1:08:46 ↗ committee if there's anything

1:08:50 ↗ i would just say that uh the garage

1:08:52 ↗ which is uh one of the non-profits in

1:08:54 ↗ town is holding a pride event on june

1:08:57 ↗ 23rd

1:08:59 ↗ three to five in the afternoon on the uh

1:09:01 ↗ recreational rec lawn and the garage

1:09:03 ↗ facility right next to the the uh the

1:09:07 ↗ rec center

1:09:08 ↗ and um you know i want to encourage

1:09:10 ↗ people to

1:09:12 ↗ come out if they would like to to enjoy

1:09:14 ↗ the event hopefully we'll have good

1:09:16 ↗ weather but i appreciate everything the

1:09:18 ↗ city is doing in the area of pride and

1:09:20 ↗ the events that they're putting together

1:09:22 ↗ and i just want to encourage uh this is

1:09:25 ↗ you know for a high school program

1:09:27 ↗ primarily but anyone can certainly come

1:09:29 ↗ out and and enjoy themselves during this

1:09:32 ↗ event so i just thought i'd throw that

1:09:34 ↗ in three to five on june 23rd

1:09:37 ↗ open to the public that's right

1:09:39 ↗ all right if there's no further business

1:09:41 ↗ for the committee we will be adjourned

1:09:44 ↗ at 7 40. thank you

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (3)

Russell Joe

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Staff (2)

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Chris Grabowski, Deputy City Clerk

Recommendations & actions (1)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

The Committee recommended placing the item on the Regular Business calendar of the June 21, 2022 Council Meeting.