MPO TPC/TAC Board Minutes - 10/10/2012WICHITA FALLS METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION
Technical Advisory Committee
Minutes
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Voting Members Present.
Lin Barnett, Wichita Falls MPO, MPO Director, TAC Chairperson
Danny Brown, TxDOT, Director of Trans. Planning and Development
David Biesinger, Proxy for Karen Montgomery-Gagne
David Rohmer, TxDOT, Area Engineer
Mark Beauchamp, City of Wichita Falls, Traffic Superintendent
Mike Beaver, Proxy for Allan Moore
Tim Hertel, TxDOT, Director of Operations
MPO Staff.
Donald Arbeau, Wichita Falls MPO, Transportation Planner II
Jaimie Lee, Wichita Falls MPO, Transportation Planner I
Tammy Marlow, TxDOT, Funding Specialist, NRSC
Visitors:
Edward Sewell, TxDOT
John Burrus — Director of Aviation, Traffic, and Transportation
Kyle Poirot, TxDOT
Lori Davidson, AMD Engineering
Richard Jenkins, AMD Engineering
Absent
Davis Powell — City of Wichita Falls, City Engineer
Kevin Hugman — City of Wichita Falls, ACM /Director of Community Development
I. Welcome & Introduction
Mr. Barnett, the TAC chairperson, called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. and
welcomed everyone in attendance.
II. Public Comment on Agenda and Non - Agenda Items
Mr. Barnett asked for any public comments on agenda and non - agenda items. There
were none.
III. Review and Approval of the July 11, 2012 Technical Advisory Committee's (TAC)
Meeting Minutes
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Mr. Barnett asked for any comments or corrections to the July 11, 2012 minutes. There
were none. He then asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Mr. Beauchamp made
the motion to approve. Mr. Hertel seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
IV. Review and Comment Regarding the July 25, 2012 Transportation Policy
Committee's (TPC's) Meeting Minutes — No Action Required
Mr. Barnett asked for comments on the July 25, 2012 TPC meeting minutes. None were
received. The committee moved on to the next agenda item.
V. 2013 -2016 TIP Amendments to Section VI- Federally Funded 5307 Transit Projects:
the FY 2012 Annual Operating Allocation and the 2012 State Non -TMA Allocation
for Construction of the Downtown Travel Center
Mr. Barnett directed the committee's attention to page 17 of the meeting packet. He
stated there were two amendments located in the Section VI — Federally Funded Transit
Projects segment of the document. The first transit amendment pertained to the annual
operating allocation for the Wichita Falls Transit System (WFTS). Mr. Barnett stated the
amounts shown in the amendment were actual, verified funding amounts for use in
developing the FY 2012 WFTS transit - operating grant. He stated that WFMPO staff
would develop the grant for FTA Region VI after the Policy Board approved the
amendment.
Mr. Barnett stated the second transit amendment was actually a duplicate of a transit
grant amendment approved by the Policy Board at the July 25, 2012 TPC meeting for
the 2011 -2014 Transportation Improvement Program. The original amendment was for
$650,000 of TxDOT project funding directed towards construction of the Downtown
Travel Center. Mr. Barnett reminded the committee that WFMPO received $2.808 million
in TxDOT additional project funding from a $2 billion state allocation. After learning about
this windfall, the City of Wichita Falls requested $650,000 of the total MPO amount for
use in constructing the downtown travel center.
Mr. Barnett asked for any comments regarding the 2012 annual transit - operating grant
or the $650,000 TxDOT additional project- funding amount. Receiving none, he asked for
a motion to forward the amendments to the policy board for review and approval. Mr.
Hertel made the motion to forward the amendments. Mr. Brown seconded the motion,
which passed unanimously.
VI. Review, Evaluate, and Recommend Approval of the Prioritized Project List for
2012 -2013 to the Transportation Policy Committee
Mr. Barnett directed the committee's attention to the 2012 Prioritized Project List meeting
handout. Mr. Barnett stated the WFMPO conducted its annual public meeting on
September 18, 2012 to highlight completed and under construction projects from the
past year. The public meeting also gave the public, interested stakeholders and
concerned citizens an opportunity to submit project suggestions for consideration by the
MPO. Mr. Barnett stated that MPO staff emailed scoring sheets, containing all the
projects, to the voting TAC board members. Each TAC board member ranked the list of
projects and returned their scoring sheets to MPO staff for compilation. Prior to the
meeting, Mr. Arbeau averaged together all of the scores then presented his findings to
the TAC committee.
Wichita Falls MPO TAC Meeting October 10, 2012 Page 2 of 4
Through a consensus process, the TAC board members vetted each project, removing
any considered not viable and grouping together projects considered "corridor" type
projects. After vetting the list and making corrections to individual project descriptions,
Mr. Barnett stated he would forward the final draft of the 2012 -2013 Prioritized Project
List to the Policy Board for review and approval at the October 24, 2012 Transportation
Policy Committee meeting. The committee members approved Mr. Barnett's course of
action.
VII. Present the Update of the 2003 Alternative Fuel Study for the Wichita Falls Transit
System
Mr. Barnett directed the committee's attention to the final draft of the update to the 2003
Alternative Fuel Study. In 2003, WFMPO contracted with the consulting firm Transit
Resource Center to identify and analyze alternative fuel sources for the Wichita Falls
Transit System. After nearly a decade, it became time to update the results of that study.
Subtask 5.4, of the 2012 Unified Planning Work Program charged WFMPO staff with the
responsibility of performing an in -house update to the study. Mr. Barnett presented the
results of that update, located in Appendix B, to TAC committee. He stated that while
some of the technologies changed during the interim years, the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel
fuel remained the best option for the Wichita Falls Transit System. Mr. Barnett asked for
any comments or questions. Receiving none, he moved on to the next agenda item.
VIII. Other Business:
a. Discussion & Overview of Progress on Local Transportation Projects -City and
TxDOT staff (Quarterly Review)
TxDOT Report: Mr. Rohmer reported the Windthorst road project began construction on
time and remained on schedule. He reported a high mast illumination project on the US
281/82/287 interchanges should complete in the next few months.
City Report: No report submitted due to board member absence. The City will submit
their report at the Transportation Policy Committee meeting on Wednesday, October 24,
2012.
b. MPO Quarterly Financial Report (3rd Quarter FY 2012 - April, May, June)
Mr. Barnett reported on the third quarter expenses for the MPO. He stated the MPO
had spent 38.9% of its allocation for FY 2012. He stated, however, that a majority of
the funds were encumbered for the Long -Range Project Readiness Plan
development, and for the Transit Oriented Development study. Mr. Barnett asked for
any other questions or comments about the third quarter report. Receiving none, he
moved on to the next agenda item.
c. Long -Range Project Readiness Plan Development Report
Lori Davidson, with AMD Engineering, informed the committee about the Long -
Range Project Readiness Plan. Ms. Davidson updated the committee about progress
on the LRPRP, and presented the TAC with handouts of the long -range project, mid-
range, and short-range project lists. Ms. Davidson requested the committee review
the handouts and send her any recommended changes to the project classifications.
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d. WCAD Aerial Pictometry Contribution ( Subtask 1.2, 2013 UPWP)
Mr. Barnett stated the Wichita County Appraisal District was preparing to re -fly their
aerial pictometry as an update to their overall data set. The total cost for the aerial
pictometry update was $77,800. The WFMPO will partner with the City and the
Wichita Falls Appraisal District to pay its fair share of the update. The amount the
MPO will contribute is $3,750 and qualifies as an allowable expense under Subtask
1.2 of the 2013 UPWP. This will allow the MPO to access the WCAD aerials in
support of the Travel Demand Modeling process and in updates to the Metropolitan
Transportation Plan. Mr. Barnett stated the methodology used to arrive at the
contribution amount was to determine the total amount committed to the project by
the City of Wichita Falls, divide that amount by the number of departments using the
data (in this case four), and arrive at the final answer. Which is as follows: $15,000
divided by four departments equals $3,750 per department.
e. Other Items
Mr. Barnett reminded everyone about the October 11, 2012 groundbreaking
ceremony for the Airport Terminal Phase I parking lot project. Mr. Barnett asked for
any other business needing discussion or any announcements. There were no other
comments or announcements.
IX. Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 12:15 a.m.
Irvan F. "Lin" Barnett Jr.
MPO Transportation Planning Dire for
Wichita Falls MPO
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