City commission 'targets' defunct parking meters

In March, Sarasota City Commissioner Shannon Snyder warned Main Street merchants that the elimination of the parking meter program downtown would create a Wild West, when merchants and shoppers began to fight over free parking spaces.

Four months later, Snyder’s Wild West may still be a good analogy.

At the Monday, July 2, Sarasota City Commission regular meeting, Snyder expressed frustration with a parking meter report from Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown.

Brown reported the 47 pay stations the city bought more than a year ago from Milwaukee-based Duncan Solutions for $10,000 apiece would only fetch $1,000 if sold back to Duncan Solutions. Meter stations they paid $470,000 for will now only fetch $47,000. Brown said the city has exhausted all options with the city attorney’s office and can’t return the meters for a full refund because the contract didn’t include a buy-back clause.

Brown stated the company addressed issues with the meters when they arose. Those issues, which many contend were never fixed, included meters eating credit cards, meters not giving receipts and meter screens that could not be read in the sunlight.

Although the city is still shopping the meters to other cities, Brown insinuated the city shouldn’t expect to recoup anywhere near its full investment.

“Everything we tried ties our hands to what we can do,” Brown said.

The report prompted Snyder to suggest city residents could pay $5 per shot to shoot the meters. Snyder said:

“The bottom line is we bought a product that didn’t work. Take them down to the skeet club and let (everyone that hated) them shoot ’em up with a slug.”

Commissioners, and those in attendance, laughed, but Snyder never broke a smile.

“I think it would be a great charity event,” Snyder said adding that the publicity of such an event would make Duncan Solutions Inc. rethink its hard-lined stance on the price it is willing to pay for the meters.
Duncan Solutions Senior Vice President James Kennedy did not return a phone call or an email seeking comment for this story.

The city invested more than $1 million in the defunct parking meter program in 2011.