Hiram Village Pay-to-Park Public Meeting
Sept. 25, 2024
7 p.m.
Village Officials in Attendance:
Mayor Anne Haynam
Council President Chris Szell
Village Administrator Steve Schuller
Listen to an audio recording of the meeting:
This documenter anticipated a capacity crowd. He arrived 30 minutes early to ensure a seat. The vestibule doors were locked, and a crowd of students and residents was gathering. Once the doors were unlocked, members of the Hiram Fire Department counted attendees to maintain occupancy regulations. Council Chambers were filled to capacity, and community members were allowed to line the hall.
Mayor Anne Haynam opened the meeting with introductions of the present members of government. She thanked the community for its attendance at the meeting and laid out a game plan for the evening, asking for comments specifically related to pay-to-park issues. Haynam provided a brief overview of Hiram’s recent economic history and current conditions.
Last October, council passed a resolution to institute a pay-to-park system to help offset the village’s income shortfall. Haynam, who was a resident at the time and not yet the mayor, opposed the plan. Since inheriting the budget as mayor, Haynam has reluctantly changed course. Police services have been reduced, while fire and EMS positions are currently all part-time without benefits. Updates to police and service vehicles have been put on pause. Village Administrator Steve Schuller showed a handful of charts to explain the village’s income and expenditures, including restrictions on reallocations between accounts. Haynam explained that the village property taxes are among the highest in the area at 2.25%. Voters would likely not accept a tax hike. Village officials reiterated that pay-to-park is unwanted by all parties. Haynam stated the pay-to-park plan is in the proposal stage.
Council President Chris Szell showed illustrations of the proposed T2 system, a smartphone-dependent parking tracker. Under this proposal, the village will monitor around 200 parking places throughout the village. Drivers will be responsible for scanning a QR code, entering their license plate information, and paying at the rate of $2 per hour with a daily maximum of $6. Ticketed vehicles are payable by QR code of a mailed paper ticket. Following Szell’s presentation, the floor was opened to the community.
Community Q&A
Dean of Hiram College Jeff Swenson opened the comments. Reading from a prepared statement, Swenson referred to the parking plan as a parking tax. Swenson advocated for students and faculty, especially part-time faculty. “The college has developed plans for how we will provide additional campus parking,” Swenson read, “particularly new parking on upper campus. We are not eager to build new campus parking lots or to compromise our valued green spaces on campus, but in a higher-education environment where we compete with other colleges, not only for students, but for qualified faculty and staff, we have to be attentive to their needs.” He stated that the college’s most important mission at present is growth and cited the college and village’s 175-year history of cooperation.
Haynam provided clarification that the village had reached out to the college for help, proposing a $45 fee per semester to cover the approximately 500 hours of safety services provided by the village. The college responded with a counteroffer: a $40,000 investment with “a number of [conditions] that were non-starters,” according to Haynam. The village countered with $50,000 the first year without strings that would allow the village to fund a significant portion of its needs, $70,000 the second year and $72,000 the third year, which would include safety services at Hiram College football games, an NCAA requirement which the college currently contracts with outside entities. “I did not receive a counter to our counter,” said Haynam, who offered to continue to negotiate.
Resident Jo Cobb made an impassioned plea on behalf of village residents and college employees, criticizing council. “You aren’t going to make your money on $2 an hour; it’s the people who can’t pay their fees … We are redlining our town.”
Student Senate President Stephanie Travis read a statement on behalf of the student body: “Students are anxious about the parking situation, their relationship between the village and the college … Students are expecting better response times and attitudes from the village and the respective emergency services.”
Several students, largely identified by first names, voiced their individual concerns. Lorna issued an affable if rambling critique of the fairness of the parking proposal to students. “I get a lot of parking tickets; I have a watch now … It seems like we are revenue.” Lorna inquired about the amount the parking plan is projected to bring into village coffers.
In a back-and-forth, Haynam stated the village expects to collect $45-$50,000 in estimated annual revenue from the parking system. Lorna reiterated that it is unfair for the students to pay for services they do not want or need.
Haynam asked Fire Chief Bill Byers to provide an overview of costs. Byers asked the room if anyone was driving a 1993 vehicle. “OK, we have a 1993 fire truck that’s needed replaced for years now. We don’t have the funds to do it. The village has a great relationship with [Hiram] Township. They fund the fire department, so it’s intertwined.” Byers showed that equipment costs have more than doubled in the last decade. “And I understand the student view. [They] may not want these services, but if we have them, we have to provide them. And the minute someone needs them, you didn’t want them yesterday, you needed them today. We weren’t there. Liability. We’re on the hook,” said Byers.
Byers demonstrated the difficulties the village has in staffing EMS and fire; neighboring municipalities pay “$2 or $3, $4, $10 more per hour,” he said. “Where are they going to work?” According to Byers, the college receives approximately 25% of services rendered by safety services between the township, mutual aid, the village and the college.
Citing recent events, Haynam said, “I may be a worrier, but look what happened in Springfield. I’m a big worrier about our current sheriff.” The sheriff’s recent Facebook post: “When people ask me…What’s gonna happen if the Flip – Flopping, Laughing Hyena Wins?? I say…write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards. Sooo…when the Illegal human ‘Locust’ (which she supports!) Need places to live…We’ll already have the addresses of their New families…who supported their arrival!” (sic) garnered national attention. “We’re a liberal arts college town,” Haynam said. “I am thankful we have [local police officers] every day … This is a lose-lose, you know, and quite frankly I’d rather have the college help us than build parking lots.”
A student, Ben, asked about potential levies. Byers stated that there will be a levy proposal for fire and EMS in the upcoming elections. Haynam reminded the audience that the police budget is drawn from the general fund, for which there is no levy.
Haynam explained to Ben, “… The college was in its own crisis, like we are today, and came to the village … and asked for [temporary financial relief] because of crisis for the college … We did mid-year, changed the contract and did that. And so then we were at $30,000 for a number of years, and then during President Haney’s time, then the contract ended. And so, you know, there was a natural relationship that had been there. And thus, you know, when I go to the college and ask for help, it was in the context of that history. And I can’t emphasize enough, you know, the college has to make their decisions, and I don’t blame them. But you know, there’s always hope in there.”
Isaac, a resident and college employee who organizes a community ensemble, stated that council had ripped apart the relationship between village and college. Luke, a sophomore, asked about the fee retained by T2 systems. Szell stated that T2 keeps 3% of parking fees.
Village resident Chris offered, “If the village needs money, and it sounds to me like there used to be a revenue stream from the college for safety services, which is no longer there, then I just think it’s unfortunate that the college and the village can’t come up with a solution without parking, since it is going to impact college students.”
During an open forum period, Louis expressed concern for people with mobility issues. Haynam agreed and welcomed more resident participation in official village business meetings. Michael asked about auxiliaries to collect donations. Police Chief Brian Gregory said, “We pay people $19 an hour, and we can’t get people to do it.” Byers pointed out the decline in volunteerism in general. “I’m going to take my fire chief hat off for a minute. And as a taxpayer of this community, I think it’s total BS that the college pays no property taxes like I do to fund safety services, is my personal opinion. That’s total bush,” Byers said. Gregory told of laying off Officer Guapo, the K9 who was initially funded by auxiliary donations which fell off, forcing the department to prefer human officers to Guapo.
“Newton Falls didn’t have a police budget because the residents voted down their tax levy that they tried to pass,” Village Administrator Steve Schuller said in answer to a funding question. He continued, “Newton Falls no longer has a police department. They got rid of it on Christmas.”
Schuller requested that concerned village residents study the current state of Newton Falls.
An unidentified resident offered, “I commend you for your trying to negotiate with the college. And I think really, that’s where your solution has to be. They have all of this land which we are not taxing. Their employees and their students very often are paying taxes. We are all in the village paying taxes. The college really couldn’t exist. If there were no safety service in this village, how could they come before parents and say, send your children here? But we don’t have a fire department or a police department. I mean, that’s just crazy … the college is as poor as the village, I have to admit. But up until that time, they saw that as a duty, something they should do, and I see no reason why they cannot come to that realization … Why do they think they could not send over here $75,000 but somehow make some parking lots up in the village? What, are parking lots free?”
Swenson stated that the college had not been invited to participate in municipal meetings, and he cited income tax to employees as the college’s participation in the economic life of the village.
Melissa, the wife of a part-time officer in the village, said, “I’m familiar with a recent sexual assault and had that victim had to wait 20 minutes for a sheriff to arrive, you know, what would have happened to the perpetrator?” Melissa also stated there was a recent crack cocaine incident on campus.
An unidentified speaker offered, “I grew up in Hiram. I was, I’m a Hiram alum. I work for Hiram. Personally, I also have children. I want to know that if something happens to my kid, that somebody is two minutes down the street. I want to know that you as a student, if something happens to you on campus, you’re safe.” This speaker implored the college and village to work together for a solution.
Dean of Students Dee West pleaded for a larger roundtable discussion: “We know that 4 or 5% of what we deal with every single year will be infractions of policy. We know that’s going to be the case; that’s built into any college in the country. So when we make statements about what’s happening at the school, nothing abnormal is happening at the school. And I think with the police, nothing abnormal is having the police respond to things, and people who are dealing with police don’t like dealing with police. That’s life,” West said.
Haynam concluded the meeting by cautioning against extreme narratives on behalf of either the college or the village. “I can’t say enough about how inspired I am by how many people came out here today,” she said. “This was beautiful.”
