ST. CLOUD AREA PLANNING ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES April 9, 2015 The St. Cloud Area Planning Organization s Executive Board was held on Thursday, April 9, 2015, at 5:00 p.m. at the St. Cloud APO. Chair Mayor Rick Schultz presided with the following Members present: Mayor Dave Kleis John Libert Jeff Goerger Mayor Rick Schultz City of St. Joseph David Peterson (alt) City of Sartell Mayor Brad Gunderson City of Sauk Rapids Mayor Rick Miller City of Waite Park Mayor Bob Kroll City of St. Augusta John Krehbiel Township of LeSauk A. Jake Bauerly Benton County Felix Schmiesing Sherburne County Ewald Petersen (alt) Sherburne County Mark Bromenschenkel Stearns County Also Present: Karen Miller Angie Stenson Dorothy Sweet Congressman Tom Emmer s Office Executive Director, St. Cloud APO St. Cloud APO APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Commissioner E. Petersen motioned to approve the agenda with two additions (5d Metro Bus contract amendment, and Other Business Washington DC MTA Fly-In. St. Cloud City Council President Jeff Goerger seconded the motion. Motion carried CONSIDERATION OF EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING MINUTES FROM MARCH 12, 2015: Commissioner E. Petersen motioned to approve the March 12, 2015 Executive Board Meeting minutes, and Sartell City Council Member D. Peterson seconded the motion. Motion carried. CONSIDERATION OF BILLS: Mayor Kroll motioned to approve the revised bills which included the addition of Republic Services and Spectrum Business. Commissioner Bromenschenkel seconded the motion. Motion carried. 2040 LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN AMENDMENT: PUBLIC MEETING: Ms. Stenson announced that this was considered the public meeting for the 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan Amendment, which has been reviewed during the last few meetings. No questions or concerns were raised by any members. Commissioner
Bromenschenkel motioned to close the public meeting portion of the meeting, and Mayor Miller seconded the motion. Motion carried. CONSIDERATION OF 2015 CONSULTANT CONTRACTS FOR CONSOLIDATED PLANNING GRANT (CPG) PLANNING STUDIES: Ms. Stenson briefly reviewed the processes followed for creating the proposals, advertising for services, reviewing and scoring the proposals, and the final selection. a. APO Pavement Management Study: The goal of this study is to develop a foundation of understanding of the current and future pavement condition of all roadways classified as a minor collector or higher. The study is budgeted for 80% federal consolidated planning grant funds and 20% local match provided by the APO. The technical consulting services contract has been awarded to Braun Intertec Corporation not to exceed the cost submittal of $127,445.38. Council President Goerger motioned to approve this contract (pending MnDOT approval) and Councilmember Libert seconded the motion. Motion carried. b. City of Sartell LeSauk Drive Corridor Study: This study will document existing and forecasted conditions and evaluate the feasibility of alternatives to improve traffic flow, safety and operations along LeSauk Drive/Dehler Drive and Stearns CSAH 1 immediately north of TH 15. The technical consulting services contract was awarded to SRF Consulting Group, Inc, contracted through the APO, not to exceed the cost submittal of $47,208.82. Council Member David Peterson motioned to approve this contract (pending MnDOT approval), and LeSauk Township Chairman John Krehbiel seconded the motion. Motion carried. c. LeSauk Township Town Line Rd Study: This study will complete a pavement management phasing strategy plan for the portion of Town Line Road (30 th Ave/75 th Ave/6 th Ave) from Stearns CSAH 4 to CSAH 5 (approx. 6.3 miles) and will identify fundamental existing conditions of the corridor and propose a plan for future improvements. Technical consulting services were awarded to WSB & Associates, Inc. contracted through the APO, not to exceed the cost submittal of $28,476. Mayor Kroll motioned to approve the contract (pending MnDOT approval) and Commissioner Bromenschenkel seconded the motion. Motion carried. d. Metro Bus: Ms. Stenson reported that MnDOT requested a wording change to the Metro Bus contract, which requires approval from the Executive Board. A copy of the change was distributed to the members for review. Mayor Kleis motioned to approve the MnDOT requested change, and City Council President Goerger seconded the motion. Motion carried. POLICY FOR ELECTED OFFICIAL REPRESENTATION ON CENTRAL MN AREA TRANSPORTATION PARTNERSHIP (ATP): Ms. Stenson stated that the APO has two voting representatives on the ATP, and one of those two must be an elected official per ATP policy. The Senior Transportation Planner, Jarrett Hubbard, and Mayor Kroll, an elected official, are the current members. At the March meeting, the Executive Board directed Ms. Stenson to assemble three policy options for consideration regarding the designation of the elected official representative. Ms. Stenson presented three options. Mayor Miller motioned to approve the option
Representative is nominated and approved by a majority vote of the Executive Board for a 4 year term. No term limit; must be approved every 4 years. Council Member D. Peterson seconded the motion. Motion carried. The May meeting will include an agenda item to clarify when the term begins and ends. Two options were discussed including: corresponding with the APO election of officers (May) and to correspond with local elections. Member interest and nominations will also be solicited at the May Executive Board meeting. ADDITIONAL 2019 FEDERAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM (STP) FORMULA FUNDS: a. Changes to MnDOT Funding Guidance: Ms. Stenson reviewed the handout which highlighted the change in MnDOT funding guidance for the FY2016-2019 STIP from January 27, 2015 to March 18, 2015. It was noted that MnDOT can change funding and funding guidance for unprogrammed funds at any time. The change in funding for the APO area represents a decrease from $513,460 to $308,230 of federal funds available for programming for local projects in FY 2019. b. Eligible Projects and Process: The APO was recently notified that MnDOT Office of Transit will fund the buses already programmed with APO STP funds in 2019. Metro Bus has agreed with this approach because the buses will be funded with 80% federal funds versus 45% federal funding. The $160,000 STP federal funds assigned to that project will be available to the APO to program on other projects. As a result of this $160,000 and the additional FY 2019 STP funding of $308,230, a total of $468,230 is available to program in FY 2019 for projects. Ms. Stenson reviewed a list of five underfunded federal projects in the APO area, meaning the projects are funded at less than 80% federal. The APO has two policies related to this, but neither policy directly addresses this situation (Federal Cost Increase Policy adopted July 2002 and the Federal Funds Transfer Policy adopted October 2012). The Board will need to decide how to program the funds by the May Policy Board meeting and/or develop policy direction to guide these funding situations. The Board members discussed sending the project list to the TAC, but the majority was not in favor of this and discussion moved on. Commissioner Bauerly stated that the Benton County CSAH 3 project is considerably underfunded and advocated for the funds. Commissioner Bromenschenkel suggested dividing the money evenly among the projects. Councilmember Goerger motioned that the funds should be divided based on the percentage of the total project cost relative to the total cost of all the projects. Commissioner Bauerly seconded the motion. Motion failed. Commissioner Bromenschenkel motioned to split the funds evenly among the five projects. Mayor Miller seconded the motion. Motion failed. Councilmember Goerger motioned to bring his previous motion forward again to divide the funding based on the project s percentage of the total cost. Commissioner Bauerly seconded the motion. The motion failed.
Board Chair Mayor Schultz motioned to table this decision until the May meeting. Mayor Kroll seconded the motion. Motion carried. Ms. Stenson asked for additional staff direction related to bringing the item to TAC for discussion or recommendation and regarding the application of existing policies. There was discussion for and against taking it to TAC. Since the item had been tabled, no further action could be taken related to sending the item to TAC. Mayor Schultz reiterated that if a policy regarding the funding situation is not developed at the May meeting, a decision about programming the $468,320 in FY 2019 funds still needs to be made. TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM (TAP): UPDATE ON ATIP DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AND ATP APPROVAL: Ms. Stenson updated members on the TAP funding decisions. The ATP chose to honor the original intent and request to fund projects at 80% federal and 20% local. A project would have to have 30% federal funding for it to be considered, so projects #5 and #6 in the scoring were skipped to fund project #7, which met that threshold. Ms. Stenson said the funding allocation did follow the agreed upon ATP process, and would like to see the process clearly identified in the future prior to funding solicitations. POLICY BOARD NON-PARTY REPRESENTATIVE: CITIZENS GROUP REPRESENTATIVE: Ms. Stenson noted that a citizen group representative to the Policy Board is defined by the Bylaws. Non-Member Representatives: Representation on the APO will be afforded to the following non-members: Citizens Group: The APO shall afford an opportunity for voting representation on the APO to one area-wide organized citizens group. The APO shall have the authority to recognize this Citizens Group and approve their operating procedures relative to APO involvement. The Citizens Group shall designate one representative to represent their group on the APO. Ms. Stenson contacted two groups regarding this membership (Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation and MN Transportation Alliance). At this time, neither group has officially stated their interest. Ms. Stenson offered to reach out to various bicycle and pedestrian groups to see if they are interested. Mayor Schultz verified that the APO is not required to the citizen group representation. It was decided that continued outreach to various citizen s groups is not needed, but that the APO would consider a citizen group member if a group expressed an interest. BUILDING MAINTENANCE: a. Waste Management Services Bids: Ms. Stenson distributed the Waste Management Services bids, as well as the information for our current vendor. Mayor Miller motioned to go with West Central, which was the lowest bid, and Mayor Gunderson seconded the motion. Motion carried. It was recommended to obtain a one-year contract or longer if possible. b. Building Sign and Carpet: Ms. Stenson reported the APO sign has been installed ($1,724.16), the offices have been painted ($1,499.99), and the carpet installed ($7,525). A handyman was hired to do various chores and projects.
c. Other Building Improvements: $50,000 was budgeted for building maintenance purposes for 2015, with $38,602.48 remaining for repair of drainage problems, new concrete, and other repairs. Ms. Stenson distributed pictures of several items that needed repairing. Engineering services are required for the drainage issues and the concrete. The engineering work is estimated at $3,500. Mayor Schultz emphasized the need to fix the drainage issues. Mayor Miller said we need to have everything done to keep up the building. Ms. Stenson was directed to get engineering bids and bids for the other work that needs to be done. STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Ms. Stenson reported that the March 16-18 Washington DC trip and meetings were successful. Ms. Stenson attended meetings in St. Paul the previous day and also met with Representatives Howe, O Driscoll and Theis and Senator Fischbach. Ms. Stenson asked the members if they want the APO to take a position on House or Senate proposals or if the 2015 resolution defining our positions was sufficient. Members agreed that the APO Resolution 2015-02: 2015 State Legislative Session Transportation Positions approved earlier this year was sufficient. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT: Ms. Stenson highlighted the major work items completed during March by her and the APO staff. Some of the work items include MnDOT procurement documentation for studies, RFP s, preparation for meetings with legislators, scoring TAP applications, bike/pedestrian meetings and maps, Metro Bus plan meetings, and meetings with MnDOT staff. OTHER BUSINESS: a. Request for Quotes: Professional Human Resource Services: A bid for human resource services has been sent out and responses are due back April 17. b. Bicycle Infrastructure Data Intern Advertisement: The intern position has been posted on the website. Applications are due on Monday, April 13. c. Washington DC Fly-In: This is an event that the APO often attended in the past. Because of the recent trip to Washington, it was decided not to attend this event this year. d. Mayor Schultz asked the board members on behalf of Mayor Nicoll if they would consider changing the Executive Board meetings to another night. Members felt that since the Bylaws state the meetings are held on the 2 nd Thursday at 5:00 p.m. that the meetings should not be changed. e. Mayor Schultz stated that after the building maintenance issues have been completed, the board should discuss renovating the garage area and converting it to a conference room. ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Schultz adjourned the meeting at 5:55 p.m.