MATS POLICY COMMITTEE

MEETING NOTICE

DATE: Wednesday, November 4, 2015

TIME: 9:30 a.m.

PLACE: Bibb County Engineering Annex, 760 Third St., Macon, GA

--Roll Call – establishment of quorum

--Approval of meeting agenda & minutes

--Committee Reports

--Public Input (5min. /person limit)

Agenda Items

1. Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) – Presentation of Draft Document

2. Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Amendments – Review of Amendments

3. Long Range Transportation Plan – Update of Status

4. Project Status Report – Presented by Georgia D.O.T.

--Old Business

Seventh St. Route Update

CAC

--New Business

Macon Action Plan

--Adjournment

MATS POLICY MEETING MINUTES

August 5, 2015

A meeting of the MATS Policy Committee was held on August 5, 2015 in the Bibb Co. Engineering Annex. The approval of the meeting agenda and minutes were postponed until later in the meeting when a voting quorum was present. Therefore, the first item discussed was the Transportation Funding Act of 2015 discussed by Laura Mathis of the Middle GA Regional Commission. She reviewed the two mechanisms for funding which consisted of the regional and the county transportation sales tax. The regional transportation sales tax was available beginning July 1^st and follows the regional sales tax process that previously existed in 2010. The regional sales tax process requires the passage of a resolution by the majorities of the counties to initiate the process. Subsequently, regional roundtables are formed and sets the criteria for the selection of projects. The project lists that are developed by the regional roundtables are then submitted to GDOT for review before a referendum is held. The county sales tax option was also presented. It was stated that the county sales tax option was up to 1 percent and 30% of the proceeds must go to STIP projects. Any county that wanted to levy a transportation sales tax must first meet with the qualified municipalities to discuss potential projects and the proposed tax rate. Mayor Reichert remarked that local governments are in need of funding for transportation projects at the moment. Therefore, a method to do either a regional or county sales tax should be developed.

After a voting quorum was established, the agenda and minutes of the previous meeting were introduced and approved with only a minor revision to the minutes. Under Committee Reports, Mike Greenwald stated that the CAC had met in May and a presentation for the LRTP was given. Under public input, Lindsay Holliday had some comments regarding the CAC. He stated there is a need to reinstate the original CAC members because the current version is in violation of the MOU because there is no Chairman. He also distributed information regarding a new rail terminal that will reduce the amount of truck traffic statewide and questioned the need for another T-SPLOST. Mayor Reichert commented that it was inaccurate to say the CAC is defective because it is only waiting on additional appointees. Also under public input, Michael Ryan requested any information regarding current grant applications for bicycle facilities. In addition, he had contacted Sanford Bishop about noise barriers along I-75 and he also added the CAC doesn’t promote true public participation. Mayor Reichert stated that any request for bikeway grant application information should be submitted in writing.

The next item discussed was the MATS By-Laws by Mayor Reichert. He stated that since the Payne City representative had been eliminated, a new voting member for the Policy Committee needed to be found. At the previous Policy meeting, there had been a discussion to appoint the Chairman of the Industrial Authority as a possible voting member. Mallory Jones wanted to know what the requirements were in order for a person to become a voting member. The Mayor responded that according to the by-laws a voting member had to represent a participating governmental organization which would qualify the Chairman of the Industrial Authority. Subsequently, a motion was made by Craig Ross and seconded by Scotty Shepherd to approve the Chairman of the Industrial Authority as a voting member which was approved.

The next item on the agenda was the LRTP presented by Mike Greenwald. He gave a presentation that consisted of an overview of the LRTP process. It was stated that the LRTP forecasts demand for transportation services at least 20 years into the future. In addition, the TIP is a subset of the LRTP projects to be carried out over a 4 year period. The MAP-21 regulations were discussed which emphasize performance based planning and establish national goals. Under MAP-21, a transportation element is required for portions of a local government jurisdiction within an MPO boundary. A schedule for the LRTP update and CDR was also presented. It was stated that the activities under MAP-21 will probably have implications on the local planning activities. In addition, the MPO staff would need assistance from the MATS Committees in specifying local goals & objectives and to identify/collect data sources. Mayor Reichert inquired if the new surface transportation bill would be consistent with MAP-21. Tom McQueen stated that he had not seen any major changes in the proposed new transportation bill. Anne-Marie Day commented that the national goals under MAP-21 should be emphasized in order to understand what specific data is needed.

The Georgia State Rail Plan was the next item on the agenda. Stenley Mack from Georgia D.O.T. gave an overview of the rail plan which explains Georgia’s passenger and freight rail vision for the future. The study specifies short and long range investment strategies and improvement programs. According to the plan requirements, a freight & passengers rail component must be included and the public must be part of the planning process. The outreach efforts for the planning process were also described. A list of the short and long range freight rail projects were outlined. Finally, the plan recommendations were discussed for both passenger and rail service. Tom McQueen also remarked that the plan recommends studies for passenger rail service to various cities which consisted of detailed planning and engineering information.

The Project Status Report was the next item presented. Jack Reed gave an update of the road projects in the MATS area. Under the Jeffersonville Rd. projects, the right-of-way is currently being purchased but the construction funds currently in FY 2017 need to shift to FY 2018. It was also stated that GDOT is reviewing the environmental comments from FHWA for the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail extension at Walnut Creek. Currently, the Pleasant Hill neighborhood improvements are scheduled to be let in the spring of 2016. In addition, the funding date for construction for Phase I of the I-16/I-75 interchange project is FY 2017.

Under Old Business, David Fortson stated that some preliminary work for the Seventh St. truck route had been done. The project will route trucks away from the downtown area and make the route more attractive to truck traffic. The project will require the extension of turn lanes at MLK @ Walnut St. and the construction of a bridge across the rail yard. In addition, there will need to be improvements at 7^th St. & Eisenhower Pkwy. The approximate cost of the project will be $16,000,000. Mayor Reichert stated that in order to pursue this new route, the project priority needs to be enhanced and the network year should be moved up to 2020. This is an attractive project that should be discussed in the future. Under CAC membership, Greg Brown stated that there are 14 positions that have been filled out of a total of 20. There is also a need to elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairman for this Committee. Mayor Reichert remarked that the CAC members should be urged to attend the next meeting in October in order to achieve a quorum. Mallory Jones inquired if changing the meeting time would help increase attendance. Mayor Reichert commented that this could be considered in the future but for now the meeting time should remain unchanged. Anne Marie Day commented that the CAC is not in violation of the MOU as stated by Lindsay Holliday earlier in the meeting. The CAC meetings are not actually a federal requirement so Macon is currently going above and beyond the guidelines. In the future, the CAC process should only be evaluated in order to make any improvements if needed. Being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.

MATS POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

ATTENDANCE LIST

Aug. 5, 2015

Those Attending Representing

1. Laura Mathis Georgia Regional Commission

2. Stenley Mack GDOT Intermodal Office

3. Mike Greenwald Macon-Bibb Planning & Zoning Comm. Planning Dir.

4. Robert Reichert* Mayor, Macon-Bibb Co.

5. Clinton Ford Georgia D.O.T.

6. Ken North Macon-Bibb Co. Planning & Zoning Comm.

7. Craig Ross* Chairman, Macon Transit Authority

8. Tom McQueen* Russell McMurry, Georgia D.O.T. Commissioner

9. Morgan Simmons Georgia D.O.T. Planning Office

10. Mallory Jones* Macon-Bibb Co. Commission

11. Michel Wanna Macon Water Authority

12. Cam Yearty* Charlie Westberry, Middle GA Regional Commission

13. Jack Reed Georgia D.O.T.

14. Stella Tsai Citizen

15. Greg Brown Macon-Bibb Co. Planning & Zoning Comm.

16. Chuck Howard Macon Transit Authority

17. David Fortson Director, Macon-Bibb Engineering

18. Scotty Shepherd* Macon-Bibb Commission

19. Daylon Martin* Preston Hawkins, Jones Co. Commission Chairman

20. Krystal Harris Georgia D.O.T.

21. Samuel Hart * Chairman, Macon Water Authority

22. Ann-Marie Day Rodney Barry, FHWA

23. Ray Shell Macon Water Authority

24. Bob Komlo CAC

25. Charles Brooks Macon-Bibb Engineering

26. Rick Jones Macon Transit Authority Director

27. Mary Lou Ezell League of Women Voters

28. Amber Jones CAC

29. Nick Pietrzak Citizen

30. Nigel Floyd Macon-Bibb Traffic Engineering

31. Mike Ryan Citizen

32. Lindsay Holliday Citizen

33. Harry Boxler GDOT Intermodal Office

*Voting Member

e-mail

Holliday Dental Associates

360 Spring Street

Macon, GA 31201

office 478-746-5695

home 478-742-8699

Thank-You...

   CAUTION Macon