March 25, 2008
Parking Board Moving to City Hall May 1
Drive Thru Basement Payment Window to Reopen
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - During the mayoral reports portion of Monday night’s Huntington City Council meeting, David Felinton dropped a bureaucratic reorganization bombshell --- Effective May 1, the Huntington Municipal Parking Board will have its offices in Huntington City Hall and the meter attendants will work under the Huntington Police Department.
“It will make for better communication and better efficiency,” Mayor Felinton said following the council meeting.
The mayor has already informed the HMPB board of directors and its director, Johnette Nelson. “I spoke with [Herb] Stanley [chairman of HMPB] and he was very cooperative,” Felinton said.
Stanley told HNN that the board took no part in the decision. “We’re only an advisory board; [the mayor] calls the shots. If he thinks it’s a good move,… as far as we are concerned it’s a good move, he’s mayor. It does not affect us either way.”
According to Stanley, the Mayor told Johnette Nelson, co-coordinating director, “it was better to bring her over to [City Hall].” At the council meeting Felinton said the HMPB will move to “an area downstairs near the [drive through] window” which will enable the city to reopen the payment window. Felinton said that the parking board employee working at the window will accept payments for all municipal fees, not just parking tickets. “We’ve gotten a lot of complaints [since we closed the window], so [reopening] it will be a great service to the public.”
Stanley stated that the move will have little effect on Johnette Nelson, her secretary, and the [administrative employees] who work for her. “They will just report to City Hall, rather than [Third Avenue]. Hopefully, we can rent that space out… and that will bring more income to the city.”
Although he hinted that the director and employees may have different perspectives, Stanley said, “It’s not going to hurt anything,” and “some of the council members have been after this for a long time.”
Johnette Nelson has been consistently under scrutiny by various council members for (among other things) her decision to purchase two vehicles which the state would not license for use on the road, for inconsistencies in per hour meter charges in the downtown area, and for the manner in which a military tenant’s space was renovated.
In addition, council has held executive sessions to discuss issues and allegations related to the board.
Mayor Felinton explained that even with Lt. Albers of the HPD supervising the attendants Mrs. Nelson has duties to perform. “She has administrative employees who do clerical work and there’s repair people and a custodial employee. They still have to maintain the different [parking] lots, deal with the public and negotiate with businesses that have multiple spaces.”
However, the parking board is a separate enterprise fund, and could not be placed under the police department budget. “ There are bonds attached to the enterprise fund and [she has to] make sure everything complies with the bonds’ requirements,” as well as watch out for “administrative oversight.”
Placing the meter attendants under the police department is “more natural” because the “role they serve is extremely complimentary to the traffic bureau.” Although not certified for law enforcement, the attendants making their rounds will be in communication with the police department, thus, in a sense, they become an additional set of eyes and ears to observe activity downtown.
For fairness sake, since Ms. Nelson is on record as not speaking to HNN, when hired the director orchestrated a remarkable fiscal turnaround of the indebtedness of the board to the city. She took an entity that owed the back monies and repaid the deficiency and collected higher profits from the meters and parking garages.
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Parking Board Moving to City Hall May 1
Drive Thru Basement Payment Window to Reopen
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - During the mayoral reports portion of Monday night’s Huntington City Council meeting, David Felinton dropped a bureaucratic reorganization bombshell --- Effective May 1, the Huntington Municipal Parking Board will have its offices in Huntington City Hall and the meter attendants will work under the Huntington Police Department.
“It will make for better communication and better efficiency,” Mayor Felinton said following the council meeting.
The mayor has already informed the HMPB board of directors and its director, Johnette Nelson. “I spoke with [Herb] Stanley [chairman of HMPB] and he was very cooperative,” Felinton said.
Stanley told HNN that the board took no part in the decision. “We’re only an advisory board; [the mayor] calls the shots. If he thinks it’s a good move,… as far as we are concerned it’s a good move, he’s mayor. It does not affect us either way.”
According to Stanley, the Mayor told Johnette Nelson, co-coordinating director, “it was better to bring her over to [City Hall].” At the council meeting Felinton said the HMPB will move to “an area downstairs near the [drive through] window” which will enable the city to reopen the payment window. Felinton said that the parking board employee working at the window will accept payments for all municipal fees, not just parking tickets. “We’ve gotten a lot of complaints [since we closed the window], so [reopening] it will be a great service to the public.”
Stanley stated that the move will have little effect on Johnette Nelson, her secretary, and the [administrative employees] who work for her. “They will just report to City Hall, rather than [Third Avenue]. Hopefully, we can rent that space out… and that will bring more income to the city.”
Although he hinted that the director and employees may have different perspectives, Stanley said, “It’s not going to hurt anything,” and “some of the council members have been after this for a long time.”
Johnette Nelson has been consistently under scrutiny by various council members for (among other things) her decision to purchase two vehicles which the state would not license for use on the road, for inconsistencies in per hour meter charges in the downtown area, and for the manner in which a military tenant’s space was renovated.
In addition, council has held executive sessions to discuss issues and allegations related to the board.
Mayor Felinton explained that even with Lt. Albers of the HPD supervising the attendants Mrs. Nelson has duties to perform. “She has administrative employees who do clerical work and there’s repair people and a custodial employee. They still have to maintain the different [parking] lots, deal with the public and negotiate with businesses that have multiple spaces.”
However, the parking board is a separate enterprise fund, and could not be placed under the police department budget. “ There are bonds attached to the enterprise fund and [she has to] make sure everything complies with the bonds’ requirements,” as well as watch out for “administrative oversight.”
Placing the meter attendants under the police department is “more natural” because the “role they serve is extremely complimentary to the traffic bureau.” Although not certified for law enforcement, the attendants making their rounds will be in communication with the police department, thus, in a sense, they become an additional set of eyes and ears to observe activity downtown.
For fairness sake, since Ms. Nelson is on record as not speaking to HNN, when hired the director orchestrated a remarkable fiscal turnaround of the indebtedness of the board to the city. She took an entity that owed the back monies and repaid the deficiency and collected higher profits from the meters and parking garages.
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