Agenda 06-18-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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22 Orange County to break away from its regional partners, and the County can also continue to 1 do local transit work. 2 Commissioner McKee referred to the 50% non-federal share for BRT in Chapel Hill, and 3 asked if some of the unused overage of $3.8 million could be applied to this $8 million request. 4 Travis Myren said yes, and any resources that are available in this plan, or any future 5 plans, can be used to help pay for BRT. 6 Commissioner McKee clarified that this needs to be done by August. 7 Travis Myren said yes. 8 Chair Rich said she does not know how this can happen when the Board does not meet 9 in August. 10 Commissioner McKee said exactly. He said BRT has received less priority in recent 11 years because of the focus on light rail, and this is an opportunity to start pushing BRT towards 12 the front. He wants the public to be aware of what is happening, as the taxes still exist and the 13 revenue is sitting in waiting. 14 Commissioner McKee said the $500,000 for the for the transit planning goes to the third 15 party consultant, and asked if it is known to whom this person would be responsible. 16 Travis Myren said there would be a project manager with the Metropolitan Planning 17 Organization (MPO ), and a local steering or policy committee. He said it will likely be like a 18 Nelson firm; broad based firm. 19 Commissioner McKee said he wants to make sure that the consultants involved with 20 creating plan B were not heavily involved with plan A. 21 Commissioner Bedford said since this commuter rail will be diesel, she would like to add 22 an environmental caveat, as relates to climate change. 23 Commissioner Bedford said as the Orange County transit plan is created through the 24 DCHO MPO, is it possible to ensure that it connects with Alamance and Chatham. 25 Travis Myren said part of Chatham is in the DCHO MPO, but when traffic and 26 commuting patterns are examined, Alamance County is certainly relevant and gets picked up. 27 He said Theo Letman, Orange County Transit Director, is working with the City of Mebane to 28 see if there are services that can be provided within the City, or getting to the City, which makes 29 sense from a ridership perspective. 30 Commissioner Bedford asked if it could be part of the RFP. 31 Travis Myren said yes. 32 Commissioner Bedford referred to the interlocal implementation agreement for Orange 33 County bus and rail investment plan, and said tonight’s conversation just refers to the annual 34 plan. She said she is glad that Chapel Hill transit is involved, and having all transit operators at 35 the table is important. 36 Commissioner Bedford said the sales tax can only be used for newer expanded service, 37 per the General Assembly, and asked if there is a way to interpret this language to use these 38 dedicated transit taxes towards being more environmentally proactive in transit. 39 Commissioner Bedford said the BOCC is trying to balance the needs of their current 40 residents, such as the handicapped and elderly, and the future land use planning for the 41 residents. She said she hopes the consultant will focus on this balancing act as well. 42 Commissioner Marcoplos said Chapel Hill and Carrboro have always been represented 43 in all discussions at the DCHO MPO. 44 Commissioner Bedford said these towns are not listed as part of the working groups, 45 unless bus is on it. 46 Travis Myren said they are not a party to the interlocal implementation agreement. 47 48 PUBLIC COMMENT: 49