Minutes 05-03-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chair Pelissier said that Craig Benedict would like some direction on how to outline the bus component of the transit plan that will come before the Board on May 15tH Craig Benedict said that he is suggesting turning the OPT hours to the $97/hour like all of the other areas, acknowledging that this was the model for the original 50,400 hours. This will have to be decreased to 40,000 hours. Chair Pelissier said that they never had an opportunity to discuss with the partners such a change. Commissioner Foushee said that there was one meeting where the $58/hour was discussed as opposed to the $97/hour. It started out as $97/hour but was adjusted to the numbers provided by OPT, which was $58/hour. Chair Pelissier said that since there is the merger study with OPT and Chapel Hill Transit, etc., the transit plan should be the starting point for the first few years. The implementation agreement could include that, as the costs change, the hours are reviewed with the regional routes. The Board agreed. Commissioner McKee said that whatever route they use, he does not want to see the rural routes get penalized. Commissioner Yuhasz said that they need to have the cost to serve as being the same all across the whole system. In that case, $58/hour does not make sense. Commissioner Gordon said that part of the trouble tonight is that there are handouts the Board had not seen until tonight. She suggested putting this on a future agenda. She made reference to page 13 and said that it uses the year 2045, but all other documents say 2035. She asked if this was correct. Patrick McDonough said that they prepared an updated version and used the date 2045. Commissioner Gordon suggested going back to 2035 because everything else is calculated using this year. Patrick McDonough said that he could go back to 2035. Chair Pelissier said that the distribution of vehicle tag dollars has never been clarified. The question is how to allocate those hours. The legislation said that it should be distributed by population served. All agreed. At this point, there was a webinar and there was no recording. 2. Paperless Agenda Process Options The Board went into another room (IT Computer Training Room) to attend a webinar which were vendor-led demonstrations of two potential paperless agenda solutions. Two companies (Granicus and Sire) made presentation on automated agendas. The Granicus solution would cost $31,000 with ongoing annual costs of$12,000/year. The Sire Solution would cost $86, 272 including hardware with ongoing annual costs of$6, 280/year. Each company presented its product to the Board, with a question and answer period after each presentation. It was discussed that automation efficiencies are gained largely through the development of strict chain of approvals tied to schedules, and for staff adhering to the same. Staff pointed out that while agenda automation software has mechanisms for circumventing these schedules and approval chains, automation gains are quickly lost through such actions. Staff also pointed out that it is of critical importance to the success of these systems that County staff and Board members assess their willingness to adhere to the schedules and disciplines enforce by these systems; otherwise the third option, the low cost solution offered by IT staff which was presented, may be the preferable option.