Title
Traffic Commission Purpose and Objectives
Background
Staff is seeking input from both the City Council and Traffic Commission on potential modifications to the purpose, objectives, and schedule of the Traffic Commission. Specifically, staff is looking for direction from the City Council and Traffic Commission on what the schedule for Traffic Commission meetings should be and what, if any, expanded role(s) Traffic Commission should have beyond the current role of reviewing neighborhood traffic concerns on local streets, define issues, review alternatives, look at costs, hold public hearings and make recommendations to the City Council.
The City Council had previously asked for a review of roles and schedule of the Traffic Commission. At the February 23, 2022 City Council workshop staff presented:
• Summary of the last two years of Traffic Commission meetings
• Directives and role of the Traffic Commission
• The traffic complaint response process that the Police and Engineering Departments currently utilize for resident complaints and issues.
Council discussed there being value in having a Traffic Commission, the current commission was underutilized and that perhaps the role of the commission could be expanded in some way. Staff recommended that a future workshop discussion between the City Council and Traffic Commission be scheduled to discuss the role of the Traffic Commission.
On May 3, 2022 staff held a meeting with the Traffic Commission to discuss what the members felt the commission’s role should be and what a reasonable meeting schedule frequency could look like. Four of the five currently appointed commissioners were present for this meeting and staff received good feedback from the commissioners.
On June 20, 2022 at the City Council Workshop a joint meeting with the Traffic Commission and City Council was held. At that meeting the purpose and direction of Traffic Commission was discussed. City Council directed that the Traffic Commission needed to define the purpose and role of Traffic Commission before a schedule frequency would be decided.
Staff is asking the commission members for their thoughts on the role of the Traffic Commission and any suggestions for what the purpose and objectives for Traffic Commission should be and what an appropriate meeting schedule would be.
Discussion Questions for the Traffic Commission
• What areas of traffic review are being under served by the commission and what traffic commission expansion would the Council and Traffic Commission want to see for the Traffic Commission?
• Most traffic issues that residents report to the city are being handled at a staff level and thus do not need to go before Traffic Commission. As such staff is recommending that if the Council wishes to continue forward with having a Traffic Commission, meetings should be reduced from the current every month schedule. What is a reasonable meeting schedule?
• Does the Traffic Commission support instituting an ad-hoc informal committee of a few commissioners and a representative from both PD and engineering to allow residents to bring forth issues in an informal setting as needed?
Attachment List
1. Ordinance establishing Traffic Commission
2. Commission Directives (Do’s and Don’ts)
3. Traffic Commission Meeting History 2020-2021
4. Police & Engineering resident complaint resolution process