City leaders plan to pull the plug on red-light cameras.

The Redmond City Council directed Mayor John Marchione to sever the contract with city’s traffic-enforcement camera vendor and develop a school-zone camera program with a new vendor at Tuesday’s study session at City Hall.

Council members deliberated for almost two hours about the controversial program in front of a handful of concerned citizens, including anti-camera activist Scott Harlan, who led a petition effort to try to get the issue on an upcoming ballot.

All seven council members agreed that the data from the first eight months of the pilot program did not show a significant impact on intersection safety. The pilot program, which started with a one-month warning period in February, features red-light cameras at three busy intersections and one school-zone speed camera on Northeast 116th Street near Einstein Elementary School.

“There’s still a safety issue out there,” Council President Richard Cole said on Wednesday. “People are still getting T-boned. But is this the best vehicle for it?”

While council members agreed red-light cameras are not the answer for Redmond, they spoke in favor of the school-zone speed camera and want to see that program continue and expand.

“Everyone agrees the safety camera at the schools is a good idea,” Cole said. “There, the data is conclusive. It really works.”

Council members will vote on a motion at its Nov. 1 business meeting that will direct the mayor to cancel the contract with the city’s camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions (ATS), develop a school-zone camera program and propose alternatives for an intersection safety program, Marchione said.

If the Council does indeed vote to terminate the contract with ATS, the four current traffic cameras will remain in place through the end of the contract, which is January, 31, 2012, Cole said.

On Wednesday, Marchione said he was not surprised by the results of Tuesday’s study session.

“Traffic safety programs are multifaceted,” he said. “You cannot create good policy with a simple yes or no discussion. The City Council is truly invested in making the city a safe and friendly place. Here was an opportunity to try technology to be more efficient. The data was inconclusive about the effectiveness of the program. In addition, we appreciate the public comments over the last two years.”

INCONCLUSIVE DATA

Council voiced their opinions after analyzing the Redmond Police Department’s latest traffic camera data, which included the number of violations and collisions at the three red-light camera intersections and the speed-camera school zone.

The overall number of issued citations at the three red-light camera intersection decreased from 2,333 in March to 1,944 in September. However, there were 1,204 issued citations at the three intersections in August before spiking up to 1,944 in September.

Meanwhile, the total number of collisions at the three intersections increased a bit from 25 in January through September of both 2009 and 2010 to 30 during that same time period this year.

“To me the data suggests that we’re not changing the behavior,” Redmond City Council member David Carson said during Tuesday’s study session.

Carson admitted he was against the idea of the traffic cameras when it was first proposed in late 2009. Carson said he warmed up to the idea of using technology to improve public safety and defended the program on an anti-camera Facebook page.

But in Carson’s estimation, the program “just hasn’t done what we had hoped it would do.”

Council member Kimberly Allen agreed the data was inconclusive and she spoke out against the red-light cameras but in support of the school-zone cameras. She also said the city needs to look at using a different camera vendor than ATS, which has gotten a lot of bad press this past year.

“I’m not in favor of continuing, at this point, the program for the red-light cameras,” Allen said. “I’m absolutely in favor of continuing (speed cameras) in the school zone, based on the data in front of us.”

NOT ABOUT THE MONEY

Mike Bailey, director of finance for the city, presented the latest financial figures concerning the pilot program at Tuesday’s study session — showing the small amount of money the city is pocketing from the hundreds of violations.

The city has collected $791,452 through Sept. 14 from the program, but has to pay King County 80 percent — or $627,156 — for its contracted court costs. Then another $108,000 went to the camera vendor, leaving $56,296 for the city to use for traffic safety improvements.

“Clearly this is not about the money,” said Redmond Council member John Stilin.

Bailey agreed and pointed out that some of the other jurisdictions that use traffic cameras put the money in the general fund. Whereas Redmond puts the money in a capital improvement fund for traffic safety projects, which must be approved by the City Council, Bailey said.

HARLAN’S REACTION

Harlan, a Redmond businessman and Union Hill resident, arrived at the meeting upset, but left satisfied.

Earlier on Tuesday, a King County Superior Court judge ruled against a lawsuit brought by state initiative activist Tim Eyman, who was helping Harlan and his supporters get the issue of traffic cameras on an upcoming ballot. Harlan collected 6,000 signatures for the petition, but the city failed to turn in the petition to the county auditor, leading Eyman to sue.

The judge threw out Eyman’s case, and said the proposed initiative is beyond the scope of initiative power and would have no legal effect, even if passed. The judge said the decision regarding traffic camera rests with the City Council and Marchione.

Frustrated with the court case outcome, Harlan attended Tuesday’s meeting with reservations. But he was happy with the outcome.

“I am very pleased that the City Council is taking a good hard look at the data, at the information about how other cities have operated the program and the vocal opinion of thousands of residents who have told the city that they do not like this program and don’t want it in their city,” he said. “I keep wanting to pinch myself.”

Harlan said Redmond is one of many cities across the nation that have dumped the program, saying that 31 cities in California have pulled the plug on red-light cameras.

“It’s a great concept, but at the end of the day, it just doesn’t work,” Harlan said. “It doesn’t really improve safety.”