Minutes 05-21-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Board received an update from Triangle Transit (TT) on the status of the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan (OCBRIP) and its implementation. David King introduced staff who would be speaking— Mark Ahrenson, from Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO); Wib Gulley; JohnTallmadge; and Sondra Freeman. Commissioner Gordon thanked everyone for coming and recognized Wib Gulley, who will be retiring in June. Wib Gulley said this is not a quiet period since a lot of work is going on to translate plans into reality. He said there are many technical and legal steps to get funding in place and to implement the plan. He thanked John Roberts for all of his work. The half cent transit sales tax will be affective April 1 st, and it will probably be July before revenue is seen. He said the same is true with the 7 dollar vehicle tax. He mentioned the 3 dollar regional tax and said there was apparently a legislative oversight that needs to be corrected before the tax can be implemented in 2 of the 3 counties. He said work is being done with legislative representatives to make that technical correction. He said that particular change will go through in a bill late in the session. Wib Gulley said this will not be shown in the budget until it is resolved and there will be an update for the Board of County Commissioners in the fall. He said this is not holding any work up. He said the implementation agreement provides for annual reviews of activities for bus and rail. He said every 4 years it provides a thorough review of the rail project and its status, and at 8 years or sooner there can be other reviews, as desired. He said the agreement also provides a process for the three parties — MPO, Triangle Transit and Orange County—to review and make changes, as needed. John Tallmadge, Director of Regional Services Development at Triangle Transit, said this implementation agreement lays out many steps for moving from the plan to funding services and capital improvements. He said there are three implementing entities — Orange County, MPO and Triangle Transit (TT). He said Triangle Transit has the oversight responsibilities. He said there is a proposal on page two which forecasts revenue expectations for each of the three entities. He said the plan identifies services and lays out service types. He said there needs to be continued planning. He said there have been meetings with County staff about a proposed process that involves stakeholders —from Durham County and Orange County— and there would be defined goals for these services. He said data on travel demands and markets in the county would be analyzed to develop service and capital proposals, such as park and ride lots. He said there would then be a prioritization process taking into account financial constraints. He referenced the proposal on pages 5-7 of the abstract and said the intent is to have broad outreach. He said Triangle Transit has identified additional frequencies from South Durham to UNC to deal with overcrowding in the park and ride lots. This will be done this fall. He said Chapel Hill Transit has communicated an expectation for some money to be used to fund existing services and some money to expand evening and Saturday hours. He said communication has just been received from Orange County staff regarding options for use of revenues, and the process of determining revenue use is nearing closure. Sondra Freeman, Chief Financial Officer for Triangle Transit, said information has been provided on the investment plan overview. She said attempts are being made to be very transparent in all decisions; and TT will be responsible for providing financial information and ensuring that information is audited each year. She directed the Board members to Attachment 1, and she reviewed the 2013-14 proposed budget. She said the total collections will be $31 million, and the total expenditures will be $16.3 million. She reviewed the revenue sources and the expenditures.