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CCTA Board Meeting Minutes
Date: April 21, 2015
Time: 7:30 AM
Place: 15 Industrial Parkway
Burlington, VT
Present:
Catherine Dimitruk, Chair, Franklin County
Chapin Kaynor, Vice Chair, Williston
Marti Powers, Treasurer, Essex
Chapin Spencer, Commissioner, Burlington
Steve Magowan, Commissioner, South Burlington
Robert Millar, Commissioner, Winooski
Karla Munson, Commissioner, Hinesburg
John Sharrow, Commissioner, Milton
Bob Buermann, Commissioner, Grand Isle County
Harold Garabedian, Commissioner, Washington County
Seth Jensen, Commissioner, Lamoille County
Karen Walton, General Manager
Mark Sousa, Urban Director of Operations
Meredith Birkett, Director of Service Development
Michelle Daley, Director of Finance
Liz Curry, Director of Grants and Compliance
Tim Bradshaw, Rural Director of Operations
Steve Carlson, Project Manager
Jon Moore, Planning Manager
David Armstrong, GMTA Transit Planner
Emily Bowser, Administrative Assistant
Members of the Public:
Margaret Roddy, VCAPT
Chuck Norris-Brown, VCAPT
Not Present:
Denis Barton, Secretary, Shelburne
Pablo Bose, Commissioner, Burlington
1. Open Meeting
Chair Dimitruk opened the meeting at 7:32 a.m. A quorum of the Board was present.
2. Adjustment of the Agenda
No adjustments to the agenda were made.
3. Public Comment
Chuck Norris-Brown of VCAPT gave thanks to CCTA staff for putting out a notice on Stand Up for Transit
Day (April 9th.) VCAPT was able to receive feedback from the public and legislators on the need for more
public transit in the state and the country.
4. Consent Agenda
Vice Chair Kaynor motioned to approve the consent agenda and was seconded by Commissioner
Spencer. All were in favor and the Consent Agenda was approved.
5. Montpelier Circulator
David Armstrong presented a schedule to the Board for the Montpelier Circulator which had eliminated
Saturday service and extended afternoon service to the weekday schedule. There will be an official
proposal presented to the Board at next month’s meeting on this item and staff will reach out to the
Montpelier City Council.
6. Williston Essex Route 1E
Jon Moore summarized the 1E Williston Essex route. Mr. Moore explained how this route is inconsistent
with the rest of the routes and schedules CCTA offers and can be hard for riders to follow. Mr. Moore
proposed to change the route to run hourly. His second proposal would be to operate the route with an
independent bus; there would no longer be the service extension from Cherry Street and the bus would
run along 2A between Williston and Essex Junction. In doing this, the cost savings could be allocated to
implementing service on Sunday to the Essex Junction route. There will be a public hearing on this issue
sometime in June and July with a hope to implement the new route for the Bus Map and Guide that will
be issued in August. Staff will reach out to the Essex and Williston Select Boards as the proposal moves
forward.
Chair Dimitruk introduced Seth Jensen as the new Commissioner representing Lamoille County.
7. Board Self-Evaluation
The Board discussed redoing the survey in July and reviewing results in September at the annual Board
retreat. This updated survey should be condensed and it should be made clear to all Board members
that they should rate the organization on the current situation, not the past.
8. Downtown Transit Center Cost History and Cost to Complete
Commissioner Powers offered a summary of the Finance Committee’s recent review of the Downtown
Transit Center project and funding. She specifically noted that the DTC bids came in higher than
expected and the project is going to require $1,135,000 in additional funding which will affect both
operating and capital budgets. The Finance Committee did review the value engineering proposals for
cost savings. The Finance Committee also discussed the impact on the availability of capital funding and
local capital match fund for future projects after 2016, and the likelihood that some projects will have to
be delayed as a result.
The Board extended its appreciation to VTrans and the City of Burlington for their efforts and
contributions to help fund the Downtown Transit Center. Steve Carlson presented the Board with a
Value Engineering spreadsheet. Mr. Carlson explained that the spreadsheet is a detailed list of the
potential cost savings of $308,000 for the construction of the DTC; to meet the budget that includes the
additional $1,135,000 put into the project, the savings will need to be a total of $400,000 so more items
will need to be identified to meet that goal.
9. Capital and Operating Budget Adjustment
Staff presented the request to adjust the FY15 capital budget to increase budget authority for the DTC
and for a small item on the rural side. The capital program includes an urban capital budget and a rural
capital budget. Funding for projects such as the Downtown Transit Center comes from separate grant
sources than funding that is used for the rural side; this is based on Federal law. Staff explained how
additional DTC costs would be funded, through a combination of transfer grant funding from VTrans and
CCTA’s direct federal grant pool. Staff also explained the impact on availability of local capital match
funds for the future. Commissioner Jensen asked if it would be possible to vote on the urban and rural
requests separately and the Chair agreed to divide the question.
Commissioner Powers made a motion to recommend that the Board approve the budget adjustments
with the condition that there be full disclosure of DTC costs going forward through monthly reporting
to the finance committee on project budgets, whether they are over or under.. Commissioner Sharrow
seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion to approve the adjusted capital budget of
$7,891,251 for the urban side with the conditions noted by Commissioner Powers except Commissioner
Garabedian who opposed.
Commissioner Buermann made a motion to accept the adjusted rural capital budget of $1,176,681 and
was seconded by Commissioner Garabedian. All were in favor and the motion carried.
A motion to approve the adjusted operating budget of $20,489,044 was made by Commissioner
Magowan, and seconded by Commissioner Millar. All were in favor and the motion carried.
10. Downtown Transit Center Construction Contract
Commissioner Munson made a motion to authorize the General Manager to enter into contractual
agreement with PC Construction and was seconded by Commissioner Spencer. All were in favor except
Commissioner Garabedian who opposed.
11. Summer Study Update
The Senate Transportation Committee has approved a version of the transit funding summer study that
would be conducted by VTrans staff only, not with a full study committee. This differs from the version
passed by the House Transportation Committee. It remains to be seen what the final study language
approved by the full legislature will be. The Board agreed that CCTA should actively engage the
statewide study, but at the same time work with organizations such as VCAPT to build support for transit
and new funding mechanisms. At the next Board meeting there will be a discussion of how to build a
citizen outreach and education plan and how to fund this outreach plan.
Commissioner Magowan left the meeting at 9:30 a.m.
12. Medicaid Contract
The contract between Medicaid and CCTA is outdated and a new rate is needed to reflect current costs.
The current contract has put CCTA in a large deficit for the past 3 fiscal years and the organization can
no longer afford to provide Medicaid transportation unless the contract is updated with a new rate. The
current contract allows CCTA to give a 60 day notice to cancel service. Karen Walton sent a letter to
Medicaid stating that regrettably CCTA will need to back out of the contract in 60 days starting from
April 9th, 2015. Commissioner Garabedian made a motion that expresses the Board’s regret in regards
to the situation and the impact on passengers; however the Board supports the CCTA General
Manager’s notice to Medicaid on April 9th, 2015 of the cancellation of the contract 60 days following
that notice. Commissioner Kaynor seconded the motion, all were in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner Garabedian made a motion to authorize the General Manager to use her judgment and to
work in the best interest of CCTA and serve that population in negotiating with Medicaid. Commissioner
Sharrow seconded the motion, all were in favor.
13. Committee Reports
Finance Committee: Commissioner Powers noted that the current Board meeting covered what was
discussed at the Finance Committee meeting.
Strategy Committee: Nothing to report
Operations Committee: The committee has drafted a Performance Improvement Plan and will be
presenting it to the Board for approval at the next meeting.
14. Election of Board Officers for Upcoming Fiscal Year
Elections will be held at the June Board meeting.
15. Adjourn
Commissioner Buermann made a motion to adjourn the meeting. All were in favor and the meeting
adjourned at 10:12 a.m.