Draft Memorandum for the Record

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

Unified Planning Work Program Committee Meeting

April 28, 2016 Meeting

9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, Conference Rooms 2 and 3, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA

Bryan Pounds, Chair, representing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)

Decisions

The Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) Committee agreed to the following:

• Approval of Draft Meeting Summary from March 31, 2016 UPWP Committee meeting
• Recommend the Draft Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2017 UPWP for approval by the full Boston Region MPO board

Materials

Materials for this meeting included:

• Agenda
• Draft minutes from the March 31, 2016 UPWP Committee meeting
• FFY 2017 UPWP Draft Recommendation Presentation to the MPO
• FFY 2017 Draft Budget Tables

Meeting Agenda and Summary of Discussion

Introductions

Bryan Pounds (MassDOT), Chair of the UPWP Committee, called the meeting to order at approximately 9:00 AM. UPWP Committee members and MPO staff introduced themselves. (For attendance list, see page 6.)

Action Item: Approval of UPWP Committee Meeting Summary

A motion to approve the March 31, 2016 UPWP Committee meeting minutes was made by Eric Bourassa, (Metropolitan Area Planning Council), and seconded by Tegin Bennett (Regional Transportation Advisory Council). The motion carried.

Discussion of Draft FFY 2017 UPWP Recommendation and Presentation to the MPO

Ali Kleyman, MPO Staff, briefly described the two handouts she planned to use during her presentation to the full MPO board. The first was a table summarizing the eight new discrete studies and the one new proposed ongoing program. This table included summary project descriptions as well as proposed budgets for the new work activities and showed the total proposed budget for new work in FFY 2017 as $530,000. The second handout was the PowerPoint presentation she planned to give at the MPO meeting later that morning (April 28).B

This discussion led to a more robust and detailed discussion of the FFY 2017 Draft Budget Tables and the consideration of the action item detailed in agenda item #5, below.

Discussion of Detailed Draft Budget Tables

Ali Kleyman gave a brief update of the revised draft FFY 2017 budget tables. These were posted online for the committee to review prior to the committee meeting and there were only minor formatting changes between the draft that was posted and the draft that was reviewed and discussed at this meeting on April 28. The tables provided information on the FFY 2016 budget, anticipated status of projects by the end of FFY 2016, the proposed FFY 2017 budget, and the breakdown by 3C funding source (PL and 5303 funds) of the proposed FFY 2017 budgets.

Ali Kleyman gave an overview of the major budget categories and the proposed budget totals in each category for projects that will be undertaken by Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). The tables included the following:

• Table 1: Administration, Resource Management, and Support Activities
• Table 2: Certification Requirement Activities
• Table 3: Direct Support
• Table 4: Ongoing and Continuing MPO-Funded Planning Studies and Technical Assistance
• Table 5: New and Continuing Agency and Other Client Funded Transportation Planning Studies and Technical Analyses
• Table 6: FFY 2017 Recommended MPO-funded New Discrete Studies and New Ongoing Program
• Tables 7 through 10: MAPC’s draft budgets across all work areas
• Tables 11 and 12: CTPS’s 3C funding for all work areas and MAPC’s 3C funding, as well as the grand total 3C funding (CTPS plus MAPC).

Following a brief overview, Ali Kleyman answered questions about the draft budget tables. Bryan Pounds clarified that staff coordinated with the appropriate people at the agencies to prepare all of the agency contract budgets. Steve Olanoff (Three Rivers Interlocal Council) asked a question about the North-South Rail Link work (Table 5) that CTPS will undertake. Karl Quackenbush, CTPS Executive Director, clarified that this is a contract specifically for work related to the North-South Rail Link project that CTPS will undertake for MassDOT.

Dennis Crowley (South West Advisory Planning Committee) noted that the budget tables may have been posted late as they were not printed by his staff as part of the meeting packet. While Ali Kleyman clarified that the budget tables were posted by Tuesday morning, there was some discussion that committee members did not have the budget tables in time to review them prior to the meeting. In response, Ali Kleyman noted that committee members did not need to vote on the draft FFY 2017 budget at this April 28 meeting; there is flexibility in the UPWP schedule, so members could discuss the draft budgets at this meeting and choose to wait until a meeting in May to vote.

Karl Quackenbush noted that the 3C funds allocated to the MPO are expected to be higher in FFY 2017 than they were in FFY 2016. These increased funds have been reflected in some line items budgeting for new staff that CTPS anticipates hiring in FFY 2017.

Bryan Pounds asked if there are any line items that significantly decreased in FFY 2017. Karl Quackenbush noted that there are two line items for work activities that are no longer continuing in FFY 2017. The first of these is the Livable Community Workshops and the second is the First-and-Last-Mile Transit Connections Studies. While these line items are not proposed with separate budgets in FFY 2017, staff plans to continue the type of work previously accomplished under them as part of other ongoing work programs. For example, Livable Community Workshops can be undertaken as part of the ongoing Community Transportation Technical Assistance program, and the First-and-Last-Mile Transit Connection Studies can be undertaken as part of the ongoing Regional Transit Technical Assistance program.

Additional notable changes in budgets from FFY 2016 and proposed FFY 2017 budgets include an increase in FFY 2017 in the ongoing Bicycle and Pedestrian Support Activities and the Congestion Management Program line items. Both of these budget increases are proposed in order to allow staff to accomplish some of the discrete study ideas in the FFY 2017 Universe of Projects that were not selected for individual funding. Tasks that are planned as part of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Support Activities line item include work related to closing gaps in the Boston Region bicycle network and a bicycle and pedestrian crash clusters analysis. Tasks that are planned as part of the Congestion Management Process line item include counting bicycle capacity and usage as well as parking capacity and usage at MBTA stations. Tegin Bennett discussed that it would be helpful for staff to report on this work as it is accomplished as part of ongoing programs and to provide details to the committee on the results. Karl Quackenbush agreed that this was a good idea. He stated that all of the work staff plans to undertake as part of ongoing line items includes tasks that staff think the MPO should be doing on an ongoing basis rather than as a discrete effort.B

Two additional new efforts that Robin Mannion, CTPS Deputy Executive Director, mentioned are part of the public participation process. These include the increased use of the MPO’s website as an outreach tool and additional efforts to provide materials in accessible formats both in hard copy and on the website.

Dennis Crowley asked what the difference is between the CTPS budget in the UPWP and the MPO budgets. Karl Quackenbush described that the draft FFY 2017 UPWP budget includes all 3C funds for salary, overhead, and direct expenses (for both CTPS and MAPC) as well as the agency funds (for contracts between the MPO and state agencies). Every MPO receives these federal planning funds (also referred to as ‘3C’ funds) and federal capital funds distributed by formula to the regions.

Dennis Crowley asked how much the 3C budget increased between FFY 2016 and FFY 2017. Karl Quackenbush described that, historically, the federal planning funds have remained relatively flat or decreased from year to year. This year (FFY 2017), as a result of the new federal transportation reauthorization bill, the federal planning funds increased by approximately 6 to 8 percent compared to last year. He expects this to remain somewhat constant during the course of the new federal transportation reauthorization.

Karl Quackenbush briefly discussed the fact that the MPO also maintains the operating budget for the state fiscal year (SFY, July 1 b June 30). The FFY budget (October 1 b September 30) information feeds into the operating budget.

Action Item: Approve the Draft FFY 2017 UPWP Recommendation for Presentation to the MPO

A motion to recommend the draft FFY 2017 UPWP for approval by the full MPO board was made by Eric Bourassa and seconded by Tom Bent (Inner Core Committee). The motion carried unanimously.

Discussion of Quarterly Status Reports

Karl Quackenbush and Robin Mannion led a discussion of the quarterly status reports.

Karl Quackenbush described that the project and staff assignment table (as of the end of March) is prospective and gives best estimates for the allocation of staff resources and project timelines. Robin Mannion described that the second report is retrospective and summarizes work that has been going on in the FFY 2016 UPWP year and new work that has started up throughout the year.

Member Items

There were none.

Next Meeting

There was no discussion of a date for a next meeting. The next meeting date will be decided when the schedule for public review of the draft FFY 2017 UPWP and the B MPO’s endorsement of the FFY 2017 UPWP is determined.

Adjourn

A motion to adjourn was made by Tegin Bennet (Advisory Council), and seconded by Tom Bent (Inner Core Committee). The motion carried.

Attendance