Sunset Empire Transportation District Monthly Commissioners Meeting Minutes Web Page

Sunset Empire Transportation District
Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes
Astoria Transit Center Meeting Room
900 Marine Drive, Astoria
March 20, 2007 9:30 a.m.

CALL TO ORDER:

Called order 9:30 a.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG:

ROLL CALL:

Chairman Bob Gannaway
Commissioner Ron Bline
Commissioner Marcia Fenske
Commissioner Rae Goforth
Commissioner Vic Kee
Commissioner Charlotte Mendenhall
Commissioner David Shannon

Staff Present:

Executive Director Howe,

APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 20, 2007 MINUTES:

Motion by Commissioner Goforth to accept the minutes as presented. Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Mendenhall, Fenske, Goforth, Shannon, Bline and Kee voted yes. Motion Passed.

REPORTS FROM CHAIR AND COMMISSIONERS

Commissioner Shannon reported on the meeting he attended about gateway communities. He said it was a very interesting meeting put on by the consultants of the National Heritage Foundation in Washington. It was referring to the Heritage Designation that is being worked on by the Lewis and Clark National Park. Their motivation is to encourage the gateways of the park to pay attention to their land use and zoning and to develop their goals for how the growth of our gateways affect the parks and asking if the communities would be open to this designation.

Commissioner Bline attended the NWACT meeting in Tillamook. The meeting started with new commissioner training in the morning, including a history of NWACT. He reported that towards the end of the year the commission will be putting together projects for the 2010-13 STIP. He noted that Oregon saw a doubling of our license fees and will be paying bonds off for the next 30 years, so that money is already spent. There are a couple of gas tax proposals on the table that will probably not go anywhere. We are the only state that has not gone forward with a proposal to deal with rising costs. He mentioned the Highway 26 culvert problem that is going to take a much more expensive fix. He said that the gas tax hasn't gone up and cars are more gas efficient so the taxes are not going up enough to cover the cost of highway maintenance. Commissioner Bline said that he did ask a question about highway funds and how they are funded with what happened in Seaside. He said that because of what had happened in Seaside a city needs to have a Transportation Systems Plan before work can be done and Seaside hasn't done one yet. Commissioner Bline stated that he would not be able to attend the May meeting and asked his alternate, Commissioner Shannon to attend.

Commissioner Goforth reported that she attended the NWRC advisory meeting and it is going very well with Cindy at the NWRC. She said there were only three complaints last month.

Commissioner Fenske commented that she was behind a bus last week and wanted to say that the driver was very good. He was very safe, stopped to allow for a pedestrian to cross, used his turn indicators correctly and stayed in his lane. She wanted to make sure that it was noted.

APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL REPORT FOR FEBRUARY:

Ms. Howe brought attention to the newest financial statements Brenda is providing the board and staff.

Ms. Howe was asked about the funds paid for the CRMM project. She explained that 100% of the construction costs are drawn down but only 80% is paid to CRMM until they reach $50,000 in payments to SETD.

Ms. Howe stated that were are at 75% of the year and noted that administration support and rentals are not at 75% because the income is a month behind on the financials. The final income will be 100%. She noted that the fares are below 75% but that is because we are still waiting on the funding for Fort Clatsop service in 2006. Ms. Howe stated that she has submitted the grant application to FTA for the funds. Chair Gannaway complemented Brenda Higgins on her work and said that she has made great improvements in the district's financial reporting. Ms. Howe added that Ms. Higgins has been attending college classes and is well on her way to getting an accounting degree. She reported that Brenda now has a 2-hour day assistant and it is working well. Ms. Howe said that eventually she would like to see the assistant work into full time to give Ms. Higgins more time to take on the chief financial officer role. Commissioner Shannon commented that he would like to see Ms. Higgins complete her education before taking on those additional duties.

Motion by Commissioner Fenske to approve the Financials. Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Mendenhall, Fenske, Goforth, Shannon, Bline and Kee voted yes. Motion passed.

CORRESPONDENCE

Letter of Thanks from Mr. Paul See

Commissioner Goforth commented that it was a nice letter. Ms. Howe said that they had asked Mr. See's permission to put it on the web site. She said it was important to celebrate successes.

Letter of Thanks from Elaine Burge

For board information.

Letter from FTA to Kulland

Chair Gannaway stated that he thought we were finished with this issue. Ms. Howe said that this was the third time the Kullands have been told by FTA that SETD was not discriminating against Mr. Kulland. This letter was for board information only.

RESOLUTION :

Resolution No. 2007-01: SDAO - Worker's Compensation Volunteer Coverage Law Resolution Ms. Howe explained that there had been new legislation passed that requires the Districts to pass a resolution notifying SDAO of their intent to cover board members and/or volunteers with workers' compensation coverage.

MOTION ON ADOPTION:	Yea	Nea
Chairman Bob Gannaway	X
Commissioner Ron Bline	X
Commissioner Marcia Fenske	X
Commissioner Rae Goforth	X
Commissioner Vic Kee	X
Commissioner Charlotte Mendenhall	X
Commissioner David Shannon	X

NEW BUSINESS

Report from Director re: Brokerage Manager's Meeting, Salem

Ms. Howe went over the highlights of the joint meeting. Beginning in April the meetings will be combined into one all day joint meeting. Ms. Howe volunteered to co-chair the meetings as the Brokerage representative with Ron Parsons, who will be representing DHS. Ms. Howe reported that one topic of conversation was about the vulnerable clients. Ms. Howe reported that the DMAP auditors will be meeting with the committee at the next meeting on April 10th.

Re-appointment of Budget Committee Members

Ms. Howe stated that the following budget committee members needed to be re-appointed to their positions:
Martin Bue
Richard Johnson
Kenna Bussert
Lylla Gaebel

The board re-appointed the budget committee members.

Budget Calendar for 2007-08

Ms. Howe went over the upcoming budget calendar with the board.

Appointment of Members to the NWRC Advisory Committee

Ms. Howe reported that the NWRC has been working very hard to recruit new members for the committee. They are as follows:
Debbie Phifer                   Debbie Wert
Greg Russo                     Sharon Kisor
Vicki Davis                     Eleanor Bernhagen
Carla DeLongchamps      Mary Zimmerman
Erin Miller                        Rebecca Case

Ms. Howe noted that Commissioner Goforth is the ad-hoc commissioner on the committee and that there might be two or three additional members to appoint in the future.

The board appointed the members to the NWRC advisory committee.

Proposal by Shorebank for Renting the Upper Floor of the Transit Center

Ms. Howe went over the proposal received from Mr. Berdes of Shorebank on the proposed lease of the upstairs of the transit center. (The proposal is made part of these minutes.) Some of the questions that were raised were:

"What increase in costs would the District incur with this lease? Insurance, taxes, etc.
" How would the electricity be charged?
" If the lease was terminated before the date agreed upon, who would be responsible for the remaining construction costs?
" Will we charge for the parking spaces?

The board agreed to appoint Chair Gannaway and Commissioner Shannon as a subcommittee to meet with Mr. Berdes to continue discussions and to bring a report back to the board with a recommendation.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rae Goforth
Secretary/Treasurer

THIS MEETING IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE DISABLED, AN INTERPRETER FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED MAY BE REQUESTED UNDER THE TERMS OF OS 192.630 BY CONTACTING SUNSET EMPIRE TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT AT 861-7433