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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/23/2021 - Regular Agenda - Brazos County Regional Mobility Authority Brazos County Regional Mobility Authority Regular Board Meeting Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. via Zoom Join Zoom Meeting (click below or copy and paste) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88512277328?pwd=SWVDS0Mra01aRGU5N2N4NXlBNzgwQT09 OR by Telephone: +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) Meeting ID 85 1227 7328 Passcode RMA0623 General Public can Request Access through Lisa Lyon (llyon@bcsmpo.org) 1. Welcome and Open Meeting Chair Barry Moore will call the meeting to order, lead the Pledge of allegiance to the American and Texas flags and offer an invocation. 2. Public Comments Regarding Items Not on the Agenda Individuals who wish to address the Board of Directors must request to comment. To comment, contact Lisa Lyon at llyon@bcsmpo.org prior to 5:00 pm on June 22, 2021. Include name, address and subject to comment on in the body of the email. Please limit your comments to three minutes per topic. 3. Approval of Minutes from the April 28, 2021 RMA Board Meeting Consider adoption – Action Required. (See attachment) 4. Consider Approval of Budget Amendment to Increase the FY 2021 Budget by $7,500 for the FY 2020 Independent Audit The Texas Administrative Code requires RMA’s to have an independent audit performed at the close of each fiscal year. When the FY 2021 budget was set, it was unknown at that time who would perform this audit and what the cost would be. If approved, $7,500 would be moved from contingency into the FY 2021 operating budget to pay for the audit. – Action Required. 5. Consider Approval of Engagement Letter from Ingram-Wallis In order to retain Ingram-Wallis (Brazos County’s current independent auditor) for the FY 2020 independent audit, the Letter of Engagement must be signed and returned. If approved, the RMA Board will direct the Board Chair to sign the Letter of Engagement and retain Ingram-Wallis for the independent audit. – Action Required. (See attachment) 6. Consideration Adoption of Draft FY 2022 RMA Operating Budget Since the RMA is a political subdivision of Brazos County it must submit an annual budget each May. The RMA Secretary/Treasurer has submitted a proposed budget which was due on May 28, 2021. However, the budget may be amended by the RMA Board during the County’s budget review process before all County budgets are finalized. Of note for the FY 2022 budget is the reduction of hours paid by the RMA for the administrative assistant that is shared with the MPO. In previous years, the RMA paid 37.5% (15 hrs per week) of the salary. In FY 2022, The RMA budget was reduced to pay 25% of the salary (10 hrs per week). The benefit amount can change due to increases/decreases in benefit cost to the county. The contingency amount will be carryover funds from FY 2021 less the operating budget for FY 2022 so those funds will not be added until after the beginning of the fiscal year. The Board will need to review, revise, and adopt the FY 2022 budget with the caveat to amend the employee benefit amount as approved by Brazos County. – Action Required. (See attachment) 7. Board Member Reports 8. Chairman’s Report • Legislative Update 9. Adjourn 1 | RMA Board Meeting Minutes 2021-04-28 Brazos County Regional Mobility Authority Board Meeting Minutes April 28, 2021 • Certification of Quorum Voting members present were Barry Moore, Chair, Presiding; Dennis Christiansen, Vice Chair; Jason Bienski, Board Member; Veronica Morgan, Board Member; and Alan Munger, Board Member. The minutes were taken by Lisa Lyon, RMA Administrative Assistant. Additional participants included Steve Aldrich, Prarthana Banerji, Jayson Barfknecht, Bart Benthul, Nancy Berry, Doug Bramwell, Carol Cotter, Elizabeth Cunha, Tedi Ellison, Venessa Garza, Paul Kaspar, Taslima Khandaker, Doug Marino, Jo Marlow, Karl Mooney, Curtis Morgan, Andrew Nelson, John Nichols, Terry Paholek, Duane Peters, Juan Quiroz, Troy Rother, Dan Rudge, and Lance Simmons. • Welcome and Open Meeting Mr. Moore called to order the regular meeting of the Brazos County Regional Mobility Authority Board at 9:02 a.m. on April 28, 2021. The meeting was held via Zoom. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States and Texas flags followed by an invocation given by Mr. Moore. • Public Comments Regarding Items Not on the Agenda There were no public comments. • Presentation to Tedi Ellison for her contributions to the RMA The Board presented Ms. Ellison with a resolution for her outstanding contribution to the RMA. Various Board members and others praised Ms. Ellison for her efforts. • Adoption of Minutes from January 27, 2021, RMA Board Meeting Minutes from the January 27, 2020, Regional Mobility Board Meeting were considered for adoption. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Mr. Munger. The motion was seconded by Mr. Bienski. There was no discussion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. 2 | RMA Board Meeting Minutes 2021-04-28 • Status Update on the University Drive Project Dr. Christiansen gave an update on the status of the University Drive Project. University Drive adjacent to the A&M Campus is a very dangerous location for pedestrians and bicycles. About 15% of total bike-ped fatalities in College Station occur on that stretch of University Drive. There are 40,000-45,000 vehicles per day using that street. In 2017, before there was any local discussion of a Regional Mobility Authority, the MPO responded to the problem by initiating a small study to try and identify possible ways to increase safety and mobility in the corridor. At that same time, the City of College Station was working with TxDOT and the A&M system to pursue approximately $10 million in at-grade pedestrian improvements along University Drive such as wider sidewalks, enhanced crosswalks, improved signal location and timing, etc. All who worked to develop those plans felt more was needed because of the further development in Northgate and Century Square. The MPO consultant hired for the modestly funded study was asked to think “out of the box” when developing possible solutions. One of the solutions put forth by the consultants involved depressing University Drive from College Avenue to Wellborn Road and building a deck over that. With this scenario, through traffic could be below grade, with local traffic and open space on the deck. Most everyone who saw the alternative was intrigued and it appeared to solve traffic and safety problems and was aesthetically pleasing. Due to the small size of the MPO study and the resulting scope of services, details such as how to build the project, traffic impacts, costs, etc., were not explored at any level of detail. Because the interest the concept generated, TxDOT was willing to engage a consultant to further view alternatives for the corridor. That work has been on-going and at the Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee today at 1:30, TxDOT will discuss the status of that project. Dr. Christiansen encouraged everyone to attend if possible. Because the project addressed badly needed safety and mobility issues that was well defined in the MPO study, the project was chosen for the petition to create the RMA. The TxDOT consultant who is still currently under contract, began to take a closer look at some of the key issues associated with this project which were beyond the scope of the initial MPO study. A detailed traffic analysis found the proposed solution did not solve the through traffic issues and the signals at both College and Wellborn would fail by the design year. It was also found that being able to maintain necessary pedestrian, bicycle, and auto movements during construction would be problematic, as well as keeping businesses fronting on University Drive viable during the long construction time frame. A refined cost estimate was not developed for the project; however, the cost is identified as being at least $350 million and maybe more. Because of these things, a decision had to be made on what was the best use of the consultant moving forward. In February of this year a high-level staff meeting was convened, and parties who would have been responsible for funding the project including the RMA, the City of College Station, Texas A&M University System, TxDOT, and MPO staff participated in the meeting. After considerable discussion, it was a consensus agreement at the meeting that particularly in a post-COVID budget world, the cost numbers and other concerns identified with the depressed through-lane alternative, indicated that this particular alternative does not 3 | RMA Board Meeting Minutes 2021-04-28 warrant further consideration. The consultant has been asked by TxDOT to redirect the scope of the study to assess alternatives for enhancing bike-ped safety that do not involve depressing the University through lanes but do address issues at both Northgate and Century Square. The bike-ped safety problems remain and are meaningful which was a major reason for the RMA to be involved in the project initially and continues to justify RMA involvement in the project. • Board Member Reports There were no board member reports. • Chairman’s Report Mr. Moore took a moment to state his enthusiasm about being selected as the new Board Chair. He again thanked Ms. Ellison for her work and expressed his gratitude to have such a knowledgeable board and supporters of the RMA. There has been some progress on the bills put forward in the House by Representatives Raney and Kacal and in the Senate by Senator Schwertner. The House bill has been voted out of the Transportation Committee and is currently in Calendar Committee. The Senate bill is awaiting the House bill to pass onto the floor of the House to be heard before they move it on. The original bill that was drafted by Representative Raney and co-sponsored by Representative Kacal, was amended to combine it with another similar bill put forward by Hidalgo and Cameron counties. The Senate would like to wait for the language of the bill to come through before moving it through their Transportation Committee where it is currently. Texas SB 624 which was written by Senator Schwertner will be amended in the even Texas HB 1698 is passed out of the House. Mr. Moore encouraged anyone to contact Senator Schwertner’s office for updates and to give opinions on the bill. Mr. Moore also encouraged anyone to thank Representatives Raney and Kacal for the work they’ve done. New Business It was suggested that the RMA begin a petition to show local support the bills currently circulating in the House and Senate. There was a concern expressed by some Board members about the timing not being sufficient for a petition to be finished or to have any type of impact because there are only four weeks left in the legislative session. A few of the Board members felt as if this would be something better handled by a different organization other than the RMA. There was some discussion of the RMA going back to in-person Board meetings. • Adjourn The RMA Board Meeting was adjourned at 9:12 a.m. 4 | RMA Board Meeting Minutes 2021-04-28 ATTEST: ____________________________________ ____________________________ RMA Board Chair or Vice-Chair RMA Board Secretary Brazos County Regional Mobility Authority ______________________________ Date Account Account Title FY 2021 Actual FY 2022 Proposed 51300000 SALARY-STAFF $16,318.00 $11,282.00* 53******BENEFITS $9,986.00 $6,627.00* 5*******Salary & Benefits $26,304.00 $17,909.00 60170000 COPIER/PRINTER/FAX SUPP $15.00 $15.00 60600000 OFFICE SUPPLIES $23.00 $23.00 61010000 ADVERTISING-LEGAL NOTICES $800.00 $960.00 61280000 DUES $325.00 $325.00 61500000 PRINTING $30.00 $30.00 61620000 SUBSCRIPTIONS & PUBLCATN $50.00 $50.00 61801000 TRAVEL $2,100.00 $2,100.00 61740000 TELEPHONE $180.00 $180.00 610000 Departmental Support $3,523.00 $3,683.00 65540000 COPIER/PRINTER/FAX MAINT.$23.00 $23.00 650000 Repairs and Maintenance $23.00 $23.00 67203000 MINOR COMPUTER HARDWARE $0.00 $0.00 67286000 EQUIPMENT - OTHER $0.00 $0.00 67342000 FURNITURE $0.00 $0.00 670000 Minor Aquisitions $0.00 $0.00 69307000 Auditor - External $0.00 $7,500.00 690000 Professional Fees $0.00 $7,500.00 71117000 INTERNET CONTRACTS $1,000.00 $1,000.00 71500000 RENTAL-EQUIPMENT $23.00 $23.00 710000 Contracts-Services $1,023.00 $1,023.00 72320000 ENGINEERING CONSULTING $0.00 $0.00 720000 Professional Services $0.00 $0.00 Summary $30,873.00 $30,138.00 61130000 CONTINGENCY $59,127.00 ** TOTAL BUDGET $90,000.00 $30,138.00** FY 2022 Proposed Budget NOTE: RMA is paying 2% of MPO expense for copier/printer/fax supplies, copier/printer/fax maintenance, and rental equipment. Other accounts are flat rate. * Salary split is 75% MPO/25% for RMA for shared employee (10 hours per week for RMA). Previous two years were 62.5% MPO/37.5% RMA (15 hours per week for RMA). The salary includes Brazos County's recommended 3% COLA. The benefit will most likely change before the budget year begins and that amount will be moved in or out of contingency as necessary. ** Contingency Amount will be carryover funds from FY 2021, less budget for FY 2022. Contigency amount for FY 2022 has not been added into the "Total Budget".