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Home My WebLink About05/04/2010 04B-4 Minutes 04-15-2010 Council Transportation and Transit Committee i Minutes of Yakima City Council Transportation and Transit Committee Community & Economic Development Conference Room Yakima City Hall, 129 North 2 Street, Yakima, WA 98901 Thursday, April 15, 2010 City Council Members Staff Other Micah Cawley (Absent & Excused) Chris Waarvick, .Public Works Director Paul Overby, Selah Rick Ensey Ken Mehin, Transit Manager City Councilman Dave Ettl Kevin Futrell, Transit Planner Bill Lover (Alt) Cynthia Martinez, City Attorney Laura Vallejo, Transit Department Assistant Transit Items Councilman Rick Ensey called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m. in the Community & Economic Development (CED) Conference Room at City Hall. Ken Mehin started discussing the following items on the agenda, which started off with the five strategies that Transit has to reduce the 2010 Budget if necessary. Mehin said he would like to have 10% in their reserve account but no lower than $600,000. Mehin said this is a contingency plan in case of necessary budget cuts so they are prepared. Mehin w c ontinued to say that they don't need to transfer much money into . the reserve account. Instead they ould like to start charging for the events where they have been providing free service. Another idea would be to eliminate the Dial -A -Ride Sunday service, which he explained is not a federal requirement. Mehin then brought up the next strategic plan that they have considered even though he says doesn't paint a good picture and they could lose lots of ridership but is still doable and other agencies have already implemented it. This plan would cut a half hour service to 6 routes between the 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. time frame. The two -hour service cut would save $90,000 if implemented. Mehin added that the downfall would be that they would probably lose some federal funding and fare box revenue due to the cut in bus service and loss of ridership. Councilman Dave Ettl questioned the fare amount being charged for the events and Mehin said it would be the normal rate instead of a free service. Mehin also explained to Councilman Bill Lover in further detail why they would like to keep the reserve account no tower than $600,000 so they can avoid falling into cash flow challenges. Mehin then brought up the Terrace Heights extension and that it is coming to an end in August unless they are able to get more grant money to keep it going. At this time, the Committee was agreeable to continuing the route through 2010 and present the route as a policy issue for 2011. Mehin commented that there are always grant opportunities that they are applying for and recently purchased 5 new transit buses with a $2 million grant they received and they did not have to match any of those dollars. Assistant City Attorney Cynthia Martinez joined the session with explaining the Code of Conduct Policy that she has been reviewing with both Mehin and Wayne Parsley. Martinez brought up that they have no uniform policy that they are following on the appeal procedures and with this ordinance would like to lay out the rules. Non- criminal offenses would exclude bus passengers for a period of time and criminal offenses would be on a more serious suspension. Paul Overby asked Martinez if things would differ for he Selah residents and Cynthia explained that bus service would also be suspended but needed to be filed in the appropriate court. Chris Waarvick commented that we work closely with YPD and have had a Km/Iv /ms 1 bus passenger who was banned permanently because of harassment to the drivers. Martinez added tha with the new ordinance passengers will have the right to have their case reviewed every year if thing have been resolved. Martinez plans on taking it before the full City Council in May for approval and added that she will change the wording on the gang signs because it is too broad as it currently reads. Martinez said she will forward Selah a copy of the finalized version once it is approved. Kevin Futrell brought up that he is working on a Terrace Heights demonstration project and needs Councilman Micah Cawley's signature before he can submit. Futrell said he will also be submitting an application for ARRA Funds that would help purchase 3 more buses and bus shelters at which they pay 100% if approved. Transportation Items Street Clearview Ordinance The Transportation Committee reviewed and discussed the request from Mr. Markley to re- consider the clearview requirements as they relate to his property at 812 S. 11 Avenue. City Council was interested in a future discussion of the clearview ordinance and requested that the Intersection Clearview ordinance be re- scheduled for the next month's Transportation Committee meeting, after City Council had a chance to review some of the actual situations. Assistant City Attorney Lare Watters provided an overview for the City Council that since Mr. Markley has already been cited in October for a violation of the city Intersection Clearview requirements (YMC 15.05) that the citizen needed to exhaust all the administrative remedies of the City Code. The City Council cannot grant relief until the administrative process is complete. The administrative options include 1. Complying with the requirements, or 2. Not comply and be subjected to the Enforcement measures of the YMC, or 3. File for an Administrative Adjustment. Mr. Markley has been advised of these options. Staff was directed to notify Mr. Markley that he has 30 - days to either file for an Administrative Adjustment or trim the vegetation as directed or enforcement measures will begin. 2010 Street Maintenance Approach Joe Rosenlund, Streets & Traffic Operations Manager, provided the Committee with a bar chart which shows the condition of the arterial street network. He explained that overall the streets were in relatively good condition they are at the point that additional maintenance is required soon or a large number of the roadways will begin to fail. This past winter was very hard on the arterial streets. With the existing budget it is recommended to use street material funds for repair of failing road areas and forego chip sealing this year. Chris Waarvick, Public Works Director, informed the Committee that the City Manager feels confident that $150,000 can be added to the streets materials budget through anticipated increases and some reallocations of REET funding. This would be enough to chip seal Nob Hill Boulevard from 3 Avenue to 40 Avenue and also a few local road segments that are in dire need of repair. 16 Avenue from Nob Hill to Washington is also scheduled to be milled and overlaid this summer as part of the Engineering Department's work plan. Km/IvJn, 2 • hese steps should be adequate to keep . the arterial streets in Yakima in . good enough condition to weather another winter without catastrophic pavement failures. A street repair bond is an idea under consideration by the Mayor and will be an item of discussion for the full City Council at some future date. Councilman Lover has recommended that we review all other funding options before a bond is considered. Staff is to bring a draft maintenance bond package with funding options to the next Transit and Transportation Planning Committee meeting. The Committee approved the City Manager's plan to :provide :_to $1,50,000 additional funding for chip sealing city streets from REET funds. Councilman Lover has requested that a study be done that investigates conversion of Lincoln Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard to two -way streets with roundabouts at each end of the couplets. The concept is one being studied for the Mill District Redevelopment site but not in the detail that would be required to make that decision. A, 411Approved by: 1 ( A J , '> 4. ., 1111 IP 40._ Km/Iv /ms 3