 Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes Astoria Transit Center Meeting Room 900 Marine Drive, Astoria Tuesday, February 18, 2003 |
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| CALL TO ORDER | ||
| Vice-Chair Gannaway called the meeting to order at 9:15 am. | ||
| ROLL CALL | ||
| Commissioners Present: | ||
| Vice-Chair Bob Gannaway
Commissioner Jack Harris Commissioner John Meyer Commissioner Charlotte Mendenhall Commissioner Vic Kee |
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| Commissioners Excused: | ||
| Chair David Shannon Commissioner Santee |
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| Staff Present: | ||
| Cindy Howe, Executive Director
Patsy Chapel, Executive Secretary |
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| COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE | ||
| Vice Chair Gannaway explained the Board was meeting to discuss and approve the selection of CM/GC for the Intermodal Center Construction Project. Ms. Howe reviewed the process stating that a Committee made up of Ken Krieger of OTAK, Mitch Mitchum from the City of Astoria, Jim Wilkins of the Jim Wilkins Company, Commissioner Mendenhall and herself had gone over six proposals submitted by contractors. After review, the Committee narrowed the field to four and reference calls were made. Then the Committee scored the proposals and Ms. Howe contacted the top three contractors to set up interviews. The contractors were Rickenbach Construction, Baugh Skanska Construction and Robinson Construction. Ms. Howe went on to say that Robinson Construction had withdrawn because they were interviewing for another job and consequently the Committee, with Vice-Chair Gannaway and Commissioner Key also present, interviewed Baugh Skanska Construction and Rickenbach Construction. Ms. Howe reported that the summary scores from the interviews were Rickenbach 72.2 and Baugh Skanska 77. She also noted that the interview score added to the proposal score would make Baugh Skanska's score actually double. Ms. Howe stated that the Committee recommended the Board award the contract for pre-construction services to Baugh Skanska and added that although it was not an item for scoring the differences in the proposed fees was pretty dramatic as well: | ||
| Don Webb stated he thought Ms. Howe had been incorrect at the last meeting when she said requiring a motion for expenditure of funds was a policy issue not a law. Mr. Webb said he had inquired with two accounting firms in Portland and they told him all transactions must be authorized by a motion of the board to show a majority in favor of the expenditure. Mr. Webb went on to advise the Board that ORS 294.305 says when you co-mingle state and federal money and grants they have to be kept clear. He suggested every Board member should have a copy of these statutes because it is a requirement of how the funds should be handled. He also told the Board that having copies of a booklet called Local Budgeting Requirements would help out the budget committee. Ms. Howe said the District's Budget Committee does have this booklet and has had it for some time. She stated that she does know budget law and is aware the funds that are spent must be identified. Ms. Howe said there had been no guarantee the City would get the grant it applied for and if the City did get the grant, the funds would not be spent until the next budget cycle, 2003/2004. Therefore, there was no decision to be made until the Board made it in January. She said the process was followed correctly. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if she meant the money for the park and Ms. Howe said she did. | ||
| Ken Meiser, Seaside Chamber of Commerce said his Board had requested the SETD Board to deliver in writing any plans the District has for South Clatsop County service during the cruise ship operations and during rail operations. Vice-Chair Gannaway and Ms. Howe both said that would be no problem. Mr. Meiser asked that the information be mailed to the Chamber at Post Office Box 7, Seaside, OR 97138. | ||
| Brad Bolchunos of The Daily Astorian stated he was present to see what transpires. | ||
| CHANGES TO AGENDA: | ||
| Vice-Chair Gannaway stated that since no changes to the agenda had been discussed in the Work Session the Agenda would stand as it is. | ||
| MINUTES: | ||
| Board Action: Motion by Commissioner Kee, second by Commissioner Mendenhall to approve the minutes of the January 28th Board Meeting as presented. Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Meyer, Kee, Mendenhall and Harris voted yes. Motion passed unanimously. | ||
| REPORTS FROM CHAIR AND COMMISSIONERS: | ||
| Vice-Chair Gannaway reported he had attended two rail meetings and he would let Ms. Howe make the report | ||
| Commissioner Meyer said he had made some inquiries regarding the Budget Committee and was confused but perhaps his confusion would be cleared up when the Board got to that item. | ||
| Commissioner Kee suggested that since the meetings are now recorded perhaps roll call should be done by voice. Vice-Chair Gannaway said that would be a good idea and the Board should start now to get in the habit. Present were: Jack Harris, Secretary /Treasurer; Charlotte Mendenhall, Commissioner; Victor Kee, Commissioner; John Meyer Commissioner and Bob Gannaway, Vice-Chair. Vice-Chair Gannaway informed the Board that Commissioner Santee said he would arrive at 9:30 am. | ||
| Commissioner Mendenhall reported that she had attended the Special District's Conference in Eugene and had received a lot of information. She said she had brought back a lot to study and found the conference very interesting and very informative. Ms. Howe asked if she had attended the Local Budget Law session and Ms. Mendenhall reported the session was full and she was unable to attend. Ms. Howe said Special Districts usually holds it again in Seaside later in the spring. | ||
| Commissioner Harris reported he had been flooded out of the Cannon Beach Shuttle Advisory meeting. He said the bus made it through, but none of the other employees at his work made it in, so he was not able to leave his job. Ms. Howe said she said the group had focused on bus stop signs and had completed four more driver evaluations, all of which were good. She said Mr. Smith had already gone to Cannon Beach to see if anything else needed to be done and he had checked with Cannon Beach City Hall while he was there. He reported Joy Gannon told him the City would install the bus stop signs. Ms. Howe went on to say the schedule master will be changed to read US Bank rather than Ecola Square as was requested. She told the Board that someone had been taking the posted schedules from the RV Park stop almost as fast as they could be put up and as soon as the new brochure comes out she plans to put the schedule behind Plexiglas. Commissioner Harris asked how Ms. Howe felt about rider committees in Seaside and Astoria as well as Cannon Beach? Ms. Howe replied that she thought it was a good idea and in Seaside it could probably be done in conjunction with the Seaside Downtown Development Association, especially since they have a transportation committee already. Ms. Howe said the SDDA does this for us already with Streetcar and helps craft the Streetcar summer schedule. She told the Board Mr. Smith has been working with the SDDA to find ways to provide better transportation for spring break. Ms. Howe went on to say that the District hasn't really seen much interest on the part of Astoria because the ridership there is already so high. | ||
| Commissioner Santee joined the meeting at 9:28 am | ||
| Commissioner Santee asked what the impact was on transportation to the college with the changes to their schedule and the upcoming changes to SETD's schedule. Ms. Howe replied that the District prepares passes for college students so they really hadn't been affected except that there has been a dramatic rise in the number of Student Passes sold since the District made the last changes to its schedule. She said the price of the student pass has been raised three times in the last year. Originally $20 per term to the present price of $60 per term and yet the District is selling more student passes than ever. Commissioner Santee asked what the impact would be if the College changes its schedule down the road due to budget cuts. Ms. Howe said the District gives the college passes, they sell them and they send the District a check. She went on to say that the money for student passes is not included in the District's budget as a revenue, because there is no way to know how much it will be. It is part of the fare revenue, but it could be separated out if needed, she said. | ||
| Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if it would be possible to put Plexiglas over the schedules in the shelters, noting they look tacky the way it is being done at this time. Ms. Howe agreed this was a good idea and said, she had planned to do this once the new schedules come out. Commissioner Mendenhall asked when the new schedules would be coming out and Ms. Howe said she would have the final draft for the Board to see at the Work Session on March 6th and hopes are to put it out sometime in March. She said the schedule would come out in newsprint first because it was a short time-line before the change to the summer schedule. The summer schedule will start in June and the winter schedule in September each year and these would be the only times during the year when the schedule will be changed. Commissioner Harris said he thought September was too early to shift to the winter schedule and that things in Cannon Beach were still in full swing in September. Ms. Howe said in Seaside the Streetcar stops after Labor Day and that Cannon Beach has in the past, changed their shuttle schedule in September. She said they had looked at what Cannon Beach does when planning the new schedule, and told Commissioner Harris that his input was exactly what she was looking for and she would pass it along to Mr. Schauer. Commissioner Santee said that there had been a discussion at one time about having more distinctive bus stop signs and he asked what had ever happened to that idea? Ms. Howe replied that the Cannon Beach signs have been changed and they have both the Cannon Beach Starfish and the SETD logo on them. She said that eventually all bus stop signs in the county will have the SETD logo and a picture of the animal in the color that designates the routes that serve each stop and the number of that stop. There will also be a card in the window of the buses showing the color and animal. Commissioner Santee said that was outstanding. | ||
| Commissioner Santee stated his wife had a medical appointment and he just had a brief report. He gave the Board a set of audio tapes titled The Art of Winning and suggested that if anyone had time to listen to the tapes, they might find them interesting. Commissioner Santee said he had had a very dynamic job in the Coast Guard and even though he had won a lot of awards it had taken a great toll on him and he had to make changes in himself. He went on to say that periodically everyone needs to stop, stand back, take a look at their own life and perhaps get a different perspective. | ||
| Ms. Howe reminded the Board that Mr. Schauer had requested the Goal Setting Work Book be turned in by February 25th. | ||
| Commissioner Santee left the meeting. | ||
| FINANCIAL REPORTS: | ||
| Ms. Howe told the Board that Commissioner Harris had reviewed the Financial Reports, he had had a few questions and she had answered them. Commissioner Harris said there was an extra draft included in the report that was not needed but other than that he suggested the Board approve the Financial Reports. Commissioner Gannaway asked about items under Other Income that were noted to "not use". Ms. Howe replied that these were journal entries made on the advice the auditors to show payroll and personnel service items, not expenses. She said Brenda Higgins, the District Bookkeeper, had taken a class put on by the auditors and learned to do these journal entries to make the reports easier for the auditors to understand. These items need to show in the report but not in the balances. Ms. Howe said she would have Ms. Higgins write up a report explaining the journal entries. Vice-Chair Gannaway said he thought that would be a good idea. Ms. Howe briefly went over the miscellaneous income and expense graph and explained that to be paid for a non-medical ride the District sends the state a check for 40% of the price of the ride and the state reimburses the District for 100% of the ride. | ||
| Board Action: Motion by Commissioner Harris, second by Commissioner Mendenhall to accept the Financial Reports as presented. Vice-Chair Gannaway and Commissioners Meyer, Kee, Mendenhall and Harris voted yes. Motion passed unanimously. | ||
| CORRESPONDENCE: None | ||
| PUBLIC HEARINGS: None | ||
| RESOLUTIONS: None | ||
| OLD BUSINESS: None | ||
| NEW BUSINESS: | ||
| CTAA Technical Assistance Grant Review Committee and Technical Advisory Committee Appointment | ||
| Ms. Howe told the Board that she had co-written the request for this grant with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Association for a technical team to come and prepare the marketing plan for the Lewis and Clark Shuttle System. She said this grant from the Department of Agriculture was awarded last year, that it was not for money but for people and no matching funds were required. Ms. Howe stated that Charlie Rutkowski, from CTAA had visited Astoria last week. He met with Ms. Howe, the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Association and with staff from Fort Clatsop to determine the focus of the grant. Now he is back in Washington, D.C. and will be writing the RFP to hire a consultant to do the work. Mr. Rutkowski is asking that a team be assembled to review the proposals and to choose who is hired to do the work. Ms. Howe said they ask that the team include her, two representatives from CTAA, one from the LCBA , one from Ft. Clatsop, one from ODOT and one SETD Board Member. This team will meet by conference call. Ms. Howe went on to say that the CTAA has asked that once the consultant is hired a technical advisory committee be formed to work with the consultant. Commissioner Harris volunteered. Vice-Char Gannaway said Commissioner Harris was appointed. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if there was any money involved? Ms. Howe said there was not and that the LCBA is the lead group in this project. | ||
| CM/CG Proposal Review Committee | ||
| Ms. Howe told the Board that the request for proposals for the Intermodal Center had gone out and that a mandatory pre-proposal meeting would be held for all those companies planning to bid. She said a team needed to be formed to review the proposals and besides herself, Rod Leland, Mitch Mitchum, Jim Wilkins and Ken Krieger from OTAK had all agreed to serve on the committee. The review team will go over the proposals and choose three companies to be interviewed. Ms. Howe asked that a member of the SETD Board be appointed to sit on the review team. Commissioner Mendenhall volunteered. Vice-Chair Gannaway said Commissioner Mendenhall was appointed. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if Mr. Wilkins was bidding on the job? Ms. Howe said that Mr. Wilkins did not intend to bid because he was not a general contractor and the sub-contractors would not be chosen until after the CM/GC was chosen. She said she had checked with the District's attorney and Ms. Snow said this would not be a conflict of interest. | ||
| Budget Committee Appointments | ||
| Ms. Howe asked that the Board table this item until the March Board meeting because a couple more people had expressed an interest in serving on this committee and they had not had time to get their letters of interest to the office. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if the District had enough time to wait and Ms. Howe said there was time since the Budget Committee would not meet until the end of April. Vice-Chair Gannaway polled the Board. Commissioner Meyer said he had a letter dated September 12th laying out when the budget committee members terms expire and then he had recently received a list of budget committee position numbers and when they expired and he was confused. Ms. Howe explained that Ms. Chapel had gone back and researched through all the minutes since district formation because there was confusion due to people resigning and being appointed. She went on to say that the list the Commissioners had just received in their packets is the official list and that the terms begin on January first, end on December 31st and are staggered. Four position terms end in 2003 and three position terms end in 2004. Vice-Chair Gannaway polled the Board asking if all agreed to table budget committee appointments until the March meeting. All Commissioners agreed. | ||
| Zone and Fare Change Proposal | ||
| Ms. Howe explained that while in the process of designing the new schedule brochure with Peter Schauer, they had come to realize that the zones and fare rates the District is currently using are complicated and confusing. She explained that Astoria, Warrenton and Hammond are all one zone that ends at Perkins Road. Zone two is the area between Perkin's Road and Bud's Campground and when she inquired if the District ever sells and two zone tickets she was told no. The third zone starts at Bud's Campground and goes all the way to Cannon Beach. So, in an effort to simplify things she was asking the Board to authorize changing to two zones and two fares. Zone One would include Astoria, Warrenton and Hammond and would end at the ODOT Weight Station. Zone Two would start there and include Gearhart, Seaside and Cannon Beach. She went on to say that the District has never increased its fares. She proposed that the one-way fare for one zone for adults be raised from 75 cents to $1.00 and that the one-way fare for two zones be changed to $2.00. She proposed not changing the fares for seniors, disabled adults and children so that they would remain 50 cents one-way for one zone and $1.00 one-way for two zones. She said in effect this would be a fare reduction for people going from Warrenton to Seaside or Cannon Beach. Ms. Howe said in terms of revenue this change would even itself out and in terms of ridership there was no way to predict, but there would probably be an initial dip in ridership. One zone books of tickets would go up by $5 for 25 tickets but the price of monthly passes would not change. Commissioner Harris asked about the price of day passes and Ms. Howe said they would remain $5 per day. Commissioner Harris said he thought the names of the passes should be changed to a One Zone Pass and an All Zone Pass. Ms. Howe said that was a good idea. Commissioner Harris went on to say that he thought the all zone pass was expensive and asked if it shouldn't be reduced? Ms. Howe explained that if a person rode to and from work for 5 days a week for a month it would cost $98 so the District is already giving a $50 per month savings. She also said the District sells a lot of monthly passes and has never received a complaint about the price. Commissioner Harris said he thought the price of the All-Zone Monthly pass should reflect the reduction in fare. Commissioner Mendenhall stated that she agreed with Commissioner Harris and thought it should be reduced to $45. Commissioner Harris said he liked the plan and asked how it will be implemented. Ms. Howe said it will be part of the schedule change and that notices could be put on the buses now. Commissioner Harris said perhaps the District could get some feedback from the passengers. Commissioner Meyer asked if this would affect the zones for Dial-A-Ride? Ms. Howe said this would not affect Dial-A-Ride because Dial-A-Ride extends over the whole county and has five zones. Commissioner Meyer said he asked because he had a bill from SETD for Dial-A-Ride and he owed more than the bill was for. Ms. Howe said she would talk to Ms. Dickey about it. | ||
| Board Action: Motion by Commissioner Mendenhall, second by Commissioner Key to change the District Fare Schedule from three Zones to two Zones with the change at the ODOT Weight Station on Highway 101. Vice-Chair Gannaway and Commissioners Meyer, Key, Mendenhall and Harris votes yes. Motion passed. | ||
| Board Action: Motion by Commissioner Mendenhall, second by Commissioner Harris to change the adult one-way one zone fare from $.75 to $1.00, the adult one-way two-zone fare from $1.75 to $2.00 with no change to the senior, disabled, student or child fare in either zone. The One Zone Monthly Pass to cost $15 and the All Zone Monthly Pass to cost $45. The day-pass to cost $5. The price of books of tickets to show a $.15 per ticket savings. Vice-Chair Gannaway and Commissioners Meyer, Key, Mendenhall and Harris voted yes. Motion passed. | ||
| OTHER BUSINESS: | ||
| Ms. Howe informed the Board that the Staff Reports were included in their packets and she would be glad to answer any questions. Ms. Howe reported that the Cruise Ship and Crab Festival transportation was still being planned with the Chamber but at present plans are for the District to operate the Crab Festival Shuttle to the Fair Grounds from Pier 3 on Friday. On Saturday, there will be a cruise ship arriving and school buses will be used for the Crab Festival Shuttles that day and SETD's buses will be used for the cruise ship. She went on to say that she is still waiting for direction from the Cruise Ship on how they want to do it. The last time the District operated a loop shuttle to downtown Astoria and a bus for the crew to go to Seaside. She was asked at that time not to offer dollar or two dollar shuttles to Seaside because the Cruise Ship Committee planed to sell shopping packages to the passengers. She went on to say that the drivers will not handle any money for the shuttle. Someone from the cruise ship will do that and will pay the District later. Ms. Howe said she believes there will be a flier on the cruise ship telling the passengers about the Crab Festival and that they can catch the bus to get there as it goes by the cruise ship. On Sunday, the District will do the shuttles for the Crab Festival. Every service the District provides for the Crab Festival is paid for by the Astoria/Warrenton Chamber and last year they paid $12,750. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if the District contracts with the School District to use their buses. Ms. Howe replied that the school charges $.50 per mile and $16 per hour and SETD charges $100 per bus to cover the school buses on its insurance. She explained that if the Chamber had to insure the school buses it would cost them $10,000 for coverage. Commissioner Harris asked if the District's drivers drive the school buses? Ms. Howe replied no, the school bus drivers drive them. Commissioner Harris asked Ms. Howe if she felt comfortable providing this risk to SETD's insurance. Ms. Howe said she did and she had checked with Dave Corkill, the District insurance agent, and with Special Districts, who provides the insurance, and this practice is agreeable with them. Commissioner Meyer said he wanted to make sure that providing this service would not interfere with Dial-A-Ride or regular service. Ms. Howe stated that it would not . Vice-Chair Gannaway said that is what everyone cared about. | ||
| Ms. Howe reported that she is giving a Powerpoint presentation on the Lewis and Clark Shuttling System to all the area service organizations and to the cities and the county. She said she felt most members of the Board will have an opportunity to see it at one meeting or another but she would be glad to give it after the Board meeting. She said her present focus is to let everyone know what stage the planning is at for transportation for Lewis and Clark and, in some cases, she is requesting a person be assigned as a stakeholder to a team to help plan things such as signage and to make suggestions for ways to direct people to places of interest and ways to get visitors and residents to use public transportation. | ||
| Ms. Howe pointed out a draft of the new bus schedule hanging on the wall and said staff was in the final proof-reading phase and is checking for grammatical errors and adding parking lots, public restrooms and Lewis and Clark sites. | ||
| Ms. Howe reported that she and Vice-Chair Gannaway had attended two meetings recently on the rail project and the only participation the District has in this project now is planning for a bus stop and for bus schedules to be given to passengers with their ticket information. She also said that once the Intermodal Center is up and running she expects that part of the customer service option will be selling tickets and giving out information on the train. Vice-Chair Gannaway stated that SETD is not involved in the rail project financially. Ms. Howe agreed stating, as the lead agency we only provide staff time. | ||
| Vice-Gannaway said he had a question about the Operations Report and asked what the item "miles per road call" meant? Commissioner Harris responded that it was the number of miles the system ran between road calls. Vice-Chair Gannaway stated that the way it was worded was confusing. Ms. Howe agreed and said she would ask the Operations Manager to make it clearer. She went on to explain that the operations report the Board receives is fashioned after the one used by Ames, Iowa and the items reported on it were the ones the staff thought the Board members would be interested in. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked about the item listed under "damage caused by others" and Ms. Howe said that this was an accident caused by an elderly gentleman who blacked out and hit an empty Dial-A-Ride bus. Vice-Chair Gannaway asked if all the other incidents listed in the report had been taken care of. Ms. Howe said she has asked the Operations Manager to add to the report how each incident is resolved and noted that the NWRC Manager is already doing this. | ||
| Ms. Howe informed that Board that because construction would be starting at the Intermodal Center soon she and Ms. Chapel would be moving. She stated that the Board would have to decide where they wanted to move their meetings to. | ||
| There were no further questions or comments. | ||
| ADJOURNMENT: : Vice-Chair Gannaway adjourned the meeting at 11:10 AM. | ||
| Approved: | ||
| Secretary/Treasurer | ||
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