By Carol Britton Meyer

The Parking Management Advisory Committee was established by the select board recently to review the town’s current parking policies and practices and to make recommendations to the board regarding potential improvements.

A call for volunteers to serve will be posted soon on the town website, at town hall, and in The Times as a way to reach out to citizens who may be interested.

The nine-member committee will be comprised of three local business owners or employees; four Hull residents; one representative from the economic development committee or chamber of commerce, and one planning board representative (Jeanne Paquin) and a select board liaison (Susan Short Green), who will participate as a non-voting member. Committee members will serve until their work is completed.

Its charge is to:

• Review resident only parking policy;

• Consider parking restrictions and time limits for municipal parking lots and improving public communication and signage;

• Consider the impact of parking policies on residents, neighborhoods, local businesses, employees, visitors, and other affected stakeholders and seek input from the community on resident and visitor parking passes; and

• Review current implementation and user experience for the pay-by-phone parking app and fees and payment options.

The committee will make recommendations to the select board for the “adoption, amendment, or revocation of existing town parking policies and/or associated fee schedule, when appropriate.”

The committee may also identify additional parking-related matters that it believes are relevant for the select board’s consideration.

As part of its review, the committee will consider “the effectiveness, consistency, administration, and community impact of the town’s existing parking policies and practices; identify policies that may warrant continuation, modification, or reconsideration and advise the select board as to improvements, with a focus on the needs and experiences of citizens, neighborhoods, and businesses.”

In other business

• Town Manager Jennifer Constable reported that festive holiday lights will again decorate the town, thanks to the efforts of the light department. “This is a big-ticket item, and I encourage those who enjoy this seasonal lighting to make a donation,” she said. Checks can be made out to the Town of Hull, with “Town of Hull holiday light program” written in the memo line.

• The town is moving to a meeting tool, MuniMins, that converts recordings of meetings and transcribes them into minutes in a set format within a very short time, Constable told the board. “This will make all the minutes uniform throughout the town, and all boards and committees will be required to use it.”

The minutes are then sent to a committee’s or board’s clerk for processing. The boards and committees will review and adopt them at their meetings, as is now the case.

“We’re working through the details now,” Constable said. “This will cut the cost of the current minute-taking in half.”

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