Minutes 02-04-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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h. Amending the County Manager's Employment Contract The Board amended the County Manager's employment contract to allow for a three month extension of employment and a thirty month extension of health insurance coverage. L Request for Road Additions to the State Maintained Secondary Road System The Board made a recommendation to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), and in turn the North Carolina Board of Transportation (NC BOT), concerning a petition to add a total of four (4) subdivision roads in Wyndfall Subdivision to the State Maintained Secondary Road System. j. Impact Fee Reimbursement Request The Board approved an impact fee reimbursement request from Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, NC, Inc. for $114,053 for eleven (11) homes recently constructed in the County. 7. Regular Agenda a. Triangle Transit Update on Implementation of the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan The Board received an update on Triangle Transit's (TT) annual report on the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan (OCBRIP), a preview of Plan updates, and additional revenue from the one-half cent sales tax for transit. Triangle Transit Executive Director David King said the Commissioners are being given the annual report of the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan. He noted that the tax collections began in April; so there was very little financial activity, and Orange County's intake was just under $1 million. He said a full year's tax collection should equal around $6 million. He said John Tallmadge has been leading a staff working group, which consists of Orange County staff, as well as folks from Chapel Hill and Carrboro to do all of the detailed work. He said John Tallmadge will review this information, as well as the financial plan assumptions and some of the work that has been done with Orange County and the northern rural areas. John Tallmadge said there is an inter-local implementation agreement between the County Commissioners, Triangle Transit's Board of Trustees and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Advisory Committee. He said one of the provisions is that the plan will be reviewed every 4 years unless someone has a concern prior to that time, in which case the group can convene to review the issue. John Tallmadge said this plan was adopted in 2012, and shortly after this the federal government adopted a new funding law that changed how bus capital funding was to be done. He said the N.C. General Assembly also recently changed how state funding of transportation is done. He said the changes mean that all federal funds for bus projects are done through a formula that funds at a much lower level. He said the 2012 plan assumed that 80 percent of every vehicle purchase would be available in federal grants, with a 10 percent match from the state. He said there is a lot more competition at the state level, and there are different rules now. He said there was concern that waiting for the above assumptions before spending local dollars would result in a long wait, and the promises of the plan would not be delivered. He said for that reason Triangle Transit (TT) decided to revisit those assumptions with their partners. He said the receipts of sales taxes levied last year were higher than the original assumptions in the adopted plan. He said all parties involved were asked to weigh in on whether those assumptions should be adjusted. He said these were the drivers for the process of looking at the plan now, instead of waiting 4 years to do a revision.