Agenda - 05-16-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

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15 1 Commissioner Burroughs referred to paragraph #13, on page 8 of attachment A, and 2 asked if this is in response if the federal or state funds are less than expected, and is it just 3 narrowly focused on that. 4 Travis Myren said yes, as it is currently written. 5 Chair Dorosin said paragraph #13 is about state and federal funding, while paragraph 6 #14 is about other cost issues. 7 Commissioner Price asked if the full amount of state and federal funding is not received, 8 will the FTA abort the plan. 9 Travis Myren said, in the absence of federal funding, the project is probably not 10 possible, and the absence of state funding makes the project very difficult. 11 Commissioner Jacobs said this draft document appears to address these concerns 12 adequately. He sees no reason to make the process any more complicated. 13 Katharine Eggleston, Light Rail Engineer, said the current schedule has GoTriangle 14 applying for the full funding grant agreement (FFGA) in mid-2019. She said the local and state 15 funding commitments would need to be in place by that point. She said if local and state funds 16 are not in place by this point, then a reassessment would be necessary. She said the state 17 funds should be determined and known by December 2018, based on the typical schedule of 18 the state funding process. 19 Tammy Bouchelle, GoTriangle Attorney, said both Durham County and GoTriangle 20 raised concerns about the inclusion of the unilateral termination provision, and she is not sure if 21 the FTA will accept this inclusion on #13, as the provision is quite pessimistic. She said 22 GoTriangle and Durham oppose the inclusion of this provision. 23 Commissioner Jacobs clarified that paragraph 2 in provision #13 is not acceptable to 24 GoTriangle. 25 Tammy Bouchelle said not as currently written, given that the FTA would take a very 26 pessimistic view of it. She said GoTriangle has proposed alternative language, which is a 27 dispute resolution process, which she thinks will be more palatable to the FTA. 28 John Roberts said Durham County and GoTriangle object to the unilateral withdrawal 29 language, and he said he has no specific objection to a mediation provision if it is the will of the 30 Board. He said Orange County is better protected by a unilateral withdrawal provision, but it 31 would need more meat on it than how it is currently written. He agreed that the FTA would 32 likely view such a provision pessimistically. He said he has attempted to craft a unilateral 33 withdrawal provision, which Durham County and GoTriangle have not seen. He feels neither 34 will be satisfied with it. He said this proposed language is at the Commissioners' places. 35 Jill Jaworski, PFM Financial Advisor, said FTA requires this grant to have a full 36 commitment, and if there is a withdrawal clause it is unlikely that the FTA will accept it. She 37 said the FFGA grant program is the single largest discretionary grant program that the federal 38 government has. She said there are high standards for this, and the FTA requires a full 39 commitment to stay in the program. She believes that the FTA will not accept the unilateral 40 withdrawal provision. 41 Commissioner Marcoplos said if federal or state funds are withdrawn then no one should 42 be legally bound to stay in this process. He asked if there is a way to allow elected officials to 43 withdraw if the federal or state funds are withdrawn. 44 Tammy Bouchelle said if all federal funds are withdrawn, then it is absolutely acceptable 45 for the County to withdraw. She said if state funding ends up being lower than 10%, there are 46 other mechanisms by which to mitigate the state funding shortfall. She said if this should occur 47 then the parties should come together to determine a reasonable path forward. 48 Jill Jaworski said the federal government can have delays or budgetary cutbacks, and 49 typically full grant agreements have variations on an annual basis but will make it up at some 50 point.