TRANSPORTATION BENEFIT DISTRICT NO. 1 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

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1 TRANSPORTATION BENEFIT DISTRICT NO. 1 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MARCH 14, 20111:00 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 210 LOTTIE STREET BELLINGHAM TRANSPORTATION BENEFIT DISTRICT No.1 BOARD MEMBERS: Chair: Stan Snapp Jack Weiss Barry Buchanan Gene Knutson Terry Bornemann Michael Lilliquist Seth Fleetwood Also Present: John Carter, TBD Secretary/Treasurer Joan Hoisington, TBD Legal Advisor Ted Carlson, Public Works Director Frank Ordway, Transportation Commission Chair Jim McCabe, Transportation Commission Mayor Dan Pike CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by TBD Chair Stan Snapp. PUBLIC COMMENT Larry Wickkiser, speaking on behalf of Richard Johnson owner of Airporter Shuttle and Bellair Charters, read a statement from Mr. Johnson who could not be in attendance. Mr. Johnson expressed his wish to discourage the TBD from entering into the Interlocal agreement with the WT A because it is too expensive and was not awarded following a competitive bidding process. The citizens of Bellingham will be paying $140/hour for the service. It is irresponsible of the TBD to move forward with an expensive contract during a time when most cities and the State are taking severe austerity measures. In contrast his private bus service provides scheduled bus service for under $100/hour.

2 Their revenue is taxable thus providing a rebate of sorts. The TBD should consider the private sector as a good steward of tax dollars. Mr. Johnson has corresponded with the WTA Board and management and also Jack Weiss with their ideas. They have been told that the private sector cannot provide the service. Yet there is nothing in the law that allows for cherry picking service to the TBD. Several industry experts have argued that the authority to provide service to a single group of a county's population is much closer to a charter bus service than it is to a PTBA sanctioned transit service. By Federal law the private sector has the authority to provide charter bus service and that transit does not. The RCW that authorizes the TBD makes it very clear that the intent of the TBD is to create cooperation between the public and private sectors and the TBD is to be used to fund heavy infrastructure projects. There are hardly any other examples of a TBD was funding bus service. The TBD shouldn't tax people more and then use the tax to spend more than it should. David Dopps spoke on behalf of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association. Referring to the non-motorized transportation projects list he stated that the neighborhood would like to see the projects for Roosevelt re-prioritized to make a crosswalk between Pacific Street and Woburn the top priority. Alabama is a high speed, heavy traffic arterial in a high density residential area with a day care/preschool people must cross the street to get to with small children. A child was hit in December. There would be more connectivity to the trails and to underused Roosevelt Park with a safe crosswalk there. They will accept the lowest cost crosswalk possible. There are other areas in the city with four lanes and less traffic which have crosswalks. The city has put a great deal of investment in amenities that people cannot get to safely. He proposed installing a crosswalk at either the Toledo or Undine street intersection to address the gap in safe crossing. He pointed out that Undine was closer to a large-volume busy, day care center. Toledo is more central in the gap and would be an acceptable crosswalk intersection as well. There are other things they have asked for in the past to help slow down traffic such as center islands with street trees. He handed out some notes. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes for the February, 7, 2011 TBD Board meeting were submitted for approval. GK/BB moved approval. The motion carried 7-0. DISCUSSION 1. Consideration of Interlocal Agreement between TBD No. 1 and WTA John Carter presented the interlocal agreement and noted the changes which place a 5% cap on cost overruns; provide for an annual determination of payment and Minutes ofthe March 7, 2011 TBD Ill Meeting Page 2

3 reconciliation of costs; and terminates TBD funding of Sunday bus service if WTA is able to obtain a tax increase. ML/TB moved approval of the Interlocal Agreement between the TBD and the WTA. The motion carried Consideration of Interlocal Agreement between TBD No. 1 and City of Bellingham Joan Hoisington reviewed the interlocal agreement as submitted. She called attention to section 3.1 which describes the minimum reporting to be done yearly. More reporting could be done at any time at the request of the Board. John Carter clarified his role as the City Clerk. Mr. Carter explained how the administrative costs related to staffing for the TBD would work. It was noted that the Legislative Assistant of the TBD is also the Legislative Assistant to the Council office which is already a full time job by itself. Mr. Carter explained that he would try to calculate the costs of staffing in labor charges. The TBD budget estimates $35K for start up costs. Ms. Hoisington noted that the first sentence of section related to remedies in the event of cost overruns was intended to be applied per project and agreed to add "per project" to the sentence so that information is clear. ML/TB moved approval of the Interlocal Agreement between TBD No. 1 and the City of Bellingham as amended. The motion carried Presentation of Transportation Commission Recommendations regarding TBD No. 1 funding of non-motorized transportation projects Ted Carlson introduced Frank Ordway, the Chair of the Transportation Commission [TC] and explained that the TC did a lot of work to look at non-motorized transportation projects not only in the Comprehensive Plan, but also reviewed recommendations from the Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Green Streets Committee and the Public Works department. Frank Ordway introduced Jim McCabe who led a subcommittee of the TC which also did a lot of work. Mr. Ordway reviewed the history of the process the TC undertook to bring this set of recommendations. The TC reviewed over 322 projects. He expressed great pride in the work and commitment of the members. Minutes of the March 7, 2011 TBD #1 Meeting Page 3

4 He referred to the list of recommendations and explained that a scoring tool was used to rate the projects. The TC ended up with a long list of prioritized projects and sent the top 50 projects to Public Works staff [PW] for their review and feedback. He noted there would be more recommendations on moving forward. The TC will have suggestions as to how to proceed from here with a broader public process in 2011 and 2012 as it relates to development of the Comprehensive Plan and the Bike and Ped Master Plan they are currently working on. There are other areas with high numbers of traffic and accident data that need further review for future investment of TBD funds. The TC has a commitment to working closely with the Greenways Committee to capitalize on Parks and City resources to create a non-motorized system in the City. President Snapp reported that due to the volume of information in the recommendations, he was unable to thoroughly study all of them. He suggested the Board use this time as a worksession to discuss the list. Jim McCabe described the scoring system based on the legacy statement looking at the key elements for transportation as illustrated in Appendix 1 of the list. They focused on safety, connectivity, health, equity and vibrant sustainability. They also looked at many other city's bike and pedestrian plans. Each projected was rated on these scales without consideration of costs or complexity to get an objective look at the project's merits first. Once scored, the projects were pared down to 50 projects and submitted to PW for comments from staff. PW submitted back to the TC a list of 7 projects considered "shovel ready" that could be completed in The PW list was run through the ranking criteria and the lists were combined. The list before the Board is the resulting final priority list. Mr. Buchanan asked Mr. Carlson about money in the Street Fund for the Alabama Street crosswalk. Mr. Carlson explained there was no money in the Street Fund for nonmotorize projects contained in the 6-year TIP or in the 2011 budget. The TBD funds allocated toward non-motorized projects could be used for any crossings. Enhanced crosswalks can cost up to $100K - nearly $40K just for materials. There is also a staffing and workload issue for PW impacting the ability to build enhanced crosswalks. Mr. Ordway reviewed each project on the list and he and Ted Carlson answered questions from the Board. There was discussion to clarify the input of PW to the final list. The TC was thanked enthusiastically for its work. Minutes of the March 7, 2011 TBD #I Meeting Page 4

5 Mayor Pike raised a question posed earlier by Mr. Ordway as to whether or not some funds should be set aside to build up over time. He pointed out that there would be grant funding opportunities but they require lead time to take advantage of them. Some of the grant programs have funds that would be available for enhanced crosswalks when public safety is at risk. The TBD with its reliable source of funding, would be competitive for those grants requiring matching since so many other organizations are challenged to raise matching funds right now. He voiced his approval of the list submitted by the TC and PW. OLD/NEW BUSINESS None submitted ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:57 PM Stan Snapp, T ATTEST: Minutes of the March 7, 2011 TBD # I Meeting Page 5