The Meridian City Council is looking for ways to address parking issues at downtown businesses.

As new businesses open and special events draw visitors to downtown, the Meridian City Council is looking to get out in front of budding issues over parking. The council has heard complaints from some downtown business owners over other businesses putting up signs reserving parking spots for curbside pickup and other uses.

In a meeting Tuesday, the council voted to remove unauthorized parking signs from the area around Front Street and 21st Avenue and discussed a potential ordinance or policy that could be put in place to address the issue.

As council members mull the issue, Mayor Jimmie Smith encouraged them to develop a way for restaurant owners to get short-term parking near their businesses. Pickup orders and third-party delivery services now bring in a significant portion of revenue for restaurants, he said, and those 15-minute spots are needed for people to quickly slip in and out.

“That’s a main way they are making money,” he said.

Councilman Joe Norwood Jr., who serves as council president, said the council sees the need for 15-minute parking spots and isn’t trying to make things difficult for local businesses. The city, however, needs to make sure the process for obtaining short-term parking is fair for everyone, he said.

Where the mayor asked for short-term parking only for restaurants, Norwood said the council felt other businesses can benefit from the spaces as well. An example, he said, might be a barber shop, which sees customers in and out in 15 minutes on a regular basis.

Councilman Dwayne Davis said it was his understanding the city’s current policies put parking signs under the purview of Public Works, which is also in charge of road signage for speed limits, stopping and yielding, among others. The council could look at amending that policy to address some of the issues that have cropped up around town, he said.

Davis said he also has reservations about blocking off public spaces for private use. Limiting parking spaces to 15 minutes in a private parking lot is fine, he said, but allowing private businesses to restrict public parking raises some red flags.

Smith confirmed the city does have a policy in place, and the council has the authority to change it at anytime.

Norwood said he hoped the city administration would develop a new ordinance or an amendment to the current ordinance addressing the parking issue. Once that is done, he said, the council can review it and move forward.

Job Evaluation Study

In other business, the City Council authorized the Mississippi State University John C. Stennis Institute of Government & Community Development to conduct a job evaluation analysis of pay grades and job descriptions across the city’s departments.

In July, the council received the results of a salary study conducted by the Stennis Institute and discussed the need for updated job descriptions as well as clarification of pay grades and pay bands. Human Resources Director Chrissy Walker said the city uses pay bands, which give a minimum and maximum salary for each position. Each job also receives a pay grade, which is a remnant of the city’s old seniority-based pay system.

Under the current system, neither Walker nor anyone else present during the July presentation could explain how pay grades are assigned to city positions or what the different grades mean.

Councilman George Thomas on Tuesday said he wanted to be sure someone could explain what pay grades mean when this second study is presented.

“If we’re going to do pay grades, I want someone to know what it means next time we meet,” he said.

Thomas said he supported the study as job requirements and skills have changed dramatically since the city’s last job description update in 2016. Rapidly changing technology places new demands on employees and applicants and could even require the creation of new positions to meet the city’s needs, he said.

“It’s a totally new game than it was two or three years ago,” he said.

The study is expected to take several months to complete after which the city will be presented with updated job descriptions and an analysis of the pay grades that make it easy for city employees and supervisors to understand.