Elmira City Council to vote on fixing two elevators at Centertown Garage
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – On Monday the Elmira City Council will vote on funding to fix two of the three broken elevators at the Centertown Parking Garage downtown. The repairs are estimated to be $192,998.11 for each elevator. All three elevators have been down for at least a year, when 18 News first reported on issues at the garage in April of 2023.
In August of 2023, County Legislator Martin Chalk said one elevator was repaired for a “white coat” ceremony for LECOM medical students at the Clemens Center. 18 News checked the repaired elevator days after the ceremony, but it wasn’t working.
The vote is set for June 3rd at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. You can view the full agenda for June 3rd, 2024 here.
Elmira City Manager Michael Collins said only two elevators will be fixed, because there is currently not enough money to fix all three. The City says the money will come from “piggybacking” on an existing contract between Chemung County and “Otis Elevator.“
At a City Council workshop meeting on Thursday, City Manager Michael Collins said the elevators would be fixed in the “near future.”
“You said near future, can we specify that a little more or when can folks expect these two elevators to be up and running?” asked reporter Nick Dubina.
“So, on Monday night once it’s approved, Kyle Sullivan, the Buildings and Grounds director will reach out to Otis and based their schedule,” Collins said. “The elevators will be installed and up and running at the parking garage which has been a long process and a much-welcomed end result.”
“As we were just discussing, it’s been a while,” Dubina said. “We don’t know the exact figure but probably at least a year?”
“I would say yes, that all three have been down at one time or another. Absolutely,” Collins replied.
The agenda says two out of three, is there a reason for that?” asked Dubina.
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“At this stage, we have the monies to accommodate two of them. The third one, we don’t have the money at this time to replace, but one elevator will be working near Gray street. The other elevator will be working more towards the Clemens Square itself.”
Another resolution calls for a 5-year-maintenance contract with Otis Elevator at $1,124.44 per month. The city says fixing the elevators is a key step in a larger effort to keep redeveloping the downtown area.
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“It’s just part of the bigger picture. Certainly, we want individuals to park and feel secure. We want equipment that is working. We want downtown to be utilized and do upgrades to the parking garage that will benefit the future businesses that are going to come into downtown Elmira, specifically in Clemens Square,” Collins said.
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The city says some of the money will also be used to fix a “disabled lift” on the third floor of City Hall that leads to the Mayor and City Manager’s office. The main elevator at City Hall is working.
“Whenever I do these stories, some folks say, why are we charging for parking, whether it be in the garage or on the street?” Dubina said. “We have also done stories on the efforts to upgrade the parking meters. For the people that say, how about some free parking options to further lure people into downtown, do they have a point?”
“Yeah, parking meters is certainly a very hot topic,” Collins replied. “I can assure you we are looking at things in regard to the current parking meters functioning, so we are working with our Streets Department. There will be more information to come in the future.
“But the main reason why we do charge for parking is we want the availability of storefronts to have their customers park there. Unfortunately, if you have no parking meters, you would find probably quite a few employees that work for that establishment. They may park there all day so it would be taken away from their customers. So, it really is to accommodate the downtown businesses to accommodate the owners of stores to have availability of parking right in front of their business.”
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“And the process of upgrading the meters to the digital version, is that ongoing?” Dubina asked.
“Yes, that’s ongoing. We do have quite a few within the city that have the capability now of accepting credit cards. No more coins. But we have found a few issues in regard to that, that we are working on.”
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