Green Mountain Transit Board of Commissioners February 11, 2020 - 9:00 A.M
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Green Mountain Transit Board of Commissioners February 11, 2020 - 9:00 a.m. South Burlington PoliCe Department 19 Gregory Drive, South Burlington, VT 05403 The mission of GMT is to promote and operate safe, convenient, accessible, innovative, and sustainable public transportation services in northwest and central Vermont that reduce congestion and pollution, encourage transit oriented development, and enhance the quality of life for all. 9:00 a.m. 1. Open Meeting 9:01 a.m. 2. Adjustment of the Agenda 9:03 a.m. 3. Public Comment 9:05 a.m. 4. Consent Agenda* • January 21, 2020 Minutes: Pages 1-7 • Check Register: Pages 8-15 • Maintenance Report: Page 16 • Planning, Marketing and Public Affairs Report: Page 17 • IT Support, Administrative Support, Training and HR Report: Page 18 • Finance Report: Pages 19-29 9:10 a.m. 5. General Manager Update 9:15 a.m. 6. VTrans Update 9:25 a.m. 7. FY19 Audit, Ron Smith, RHR Smith & Company* 9:40 a.m. 8. FY21 Service Modifications* Pages 30-36 Action needed: Staff is asking for a motion to approve initiating the public hearing process for service modfications. 10:00 a.m. 9. Furthering Fairness and Diversity Panel and Discussion 12:00 pm 13. Adjourn Conference call in number: 802-540-2449 (guest ID# 11592) Next GMT Board of Commissioners Meeting Date: 101 Queen City Park Rd, Burlington, VT 05401 | T: 802-540-2468 F: 802-864-5564 6088 VT Route 12, Berlin, VT 05602 | T: 802-223-7287 F: 802-223-6236 375 Lake Road, Suite 5, St. Albans, VT 05478 | T: 802-527-2181 F: 802-527-5302 NOTES: * Indicates an action agenda item. • Persons with disabilities who require assistance or special arrangements to participate in programs or activities are encouraged to contact Jamie Smith at 802-540-1098 at least 48 hours in advance so that proper arrangements can be made. Hearing disabled patrons can contact GMT through the Vermont Relay Service (711). • Free transportation to and from GMT Board Meetings is available within the GMT service area. To make advance arrangements, please call GMT’s Customer Service Representatives at 802-540-2468. • Municipal Clerks: Please post this public meeting notice pursuant to Act 78 of the Acts of the 1979 Vermont Legislature. Thank you. 101 Queen City Park Rd, Burlington, VT 05401 | T: 802-540-2468 F: 802-864-5564 6088 VT Route 12, Berlin, VT 05602 | T: 802-223-7287 F: 802-223-6236 375 Lake Road, Suite 5, St. Albans, VT 05478 | T: 802-527-2181 F: 802-527-5302 Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. GMT Board Room 101 Queen City Park Road, Burlington VT 05401 Present: Jon Moore, Interim General Manager Commissioner Chittenden Trish Redalieu, Director of Human Commissioner Waninger Resources Commissioner Kaynor Nick Foss, Director of Finance Commissioner Dimitruk Kim Wall, Grants Manager Commissioner Pouech Debbie Coppola, Senior Accountant Commissioner Buermann Jamie Smith, Director of Marketing and Commissioner Sharrow Planning Commissioner Bohne Milia Bell, Marketing Coordinator Commissioner Wallis (Phone) Jenn Wood, Public Affairs Coordinator Commissioner Spencer Christopher Damiani, Transit Planner Commissioner Davis (Phone) Jordan Posner, Manager of Paratransit Alt. Commissioner Polyte and Brokered Services Alt. Commissioner Holland Matthew Young, HR Coordinator Ross McDonald, VTrans Dan Currier, VTrans Spencer Smith, Public Solveig Overby, Public 1. Meeting started at 7:31 a.m. 2. Adjustment of the Agenda – There were no adjustments to the agenda. 3. Public Comment – Spencer Smith informed the board that she had done some research about electrification by Lightningsystems and she provided handouts to those that were interested. She also delivered a letter of concern from a neighbor that was passed by the bus on two occasions. Commissioner Spencer entered 7:37 am Commissioner Dimitruk entered 7:39 am Solveig Overby stated that she was interested in working with GMT with spreading information on the changes to the bus system. Jenn Wood entered 7:44 am 1 4. Consent Agenda- Commissioner Sharrow stated that there was a conflict with working days on the ridership reports. Mr. Moore stated it would be corrected for the next meeting. There was discussion on the consent agenda A motion was made to approve the consent agenda as presented by Commissioner Sharrow, the motion was seconded by Commissioner Dimitruk. All were in favor, and the motion passed. 5. GM Report- Fleet Electrification Mr. Moore informed the Board that the two 40’ Proterra electric buses arrived in Burlington on January 8th. We have since received our Energizer Permit from the City of Burlington and Proterra will be on-site over the next few weeks commissioning the chargers and providing Maintenance and Operator training for the new buses. A press event is scheduled for January 28th with multiple speakers lined up including Governor Scott, Mayor Weinberger, Chris Saunders from Senator Leahy’s office and representatives from VTrans, BED, VEIC, VNRC and possibly the FTA. It is still GMT’s goal to have the buses in revenue service starting on March 2nd. There was discussion. Public Transit Agency Safety Plan (PTASP): Mr. Moore stated that he attended a one day FTA Region One sponsored PTASP workshop in Providence, Rhode Island on January 15 providing information on the new FTA required PTASP that needs to be implemented by July 20, 2020. In addition to learning about the requirements and guidance for the new Safety Plan he was able to make connections with multiple other transit properties from around New England which is valuable for information sharing. The FY21 Capital Budget will include two cutaway buses for the urban fleet. This is the first time these buses have been purchased for urban revenue and in addition to saving approximately $40,000 per vehicle in local capital match they are also generally less expensive to maintain. These buses also have a faster production time and get about double the gas mileage compared to the larger Gillig buses. There was discussion. 101 Queen City Roof Solar Project: Mr. Moore informed the Board that we are getting closer to awarding a vendor for the installation of solar panels on the roof at the Burlington garage. We will be leasing the roof space for an annual payment with an option to buy out the solar panels at a future date. Our attorney is currently 2 reviewing the draft contract. Please see the attached FTA Incidental Use approval for the leasing of roof space. There was discussion. HASTUS Training: Mr. Moore stated that Our Burlington Operations Manager, Mev Bahonjic, and Transit Planner, Chris Damiani, received a four day on-site HASTUS training during the week of January 6. HASTUS is the software that GMT uses for our driver scheduling and can also be used for data reporting on miles and hours operated. Providing this training, in addition to a second week of training to be scheduled in March, will allow GMT to internally create better schedules and provide more accurate data reporting. In addition to this training a representative was on site starting at 5:30 AM on January 9 to observe our Burlington dispatch operations to see if their dispatch software would be a good fit for our dispatching needs. The hope is that we will be provided with a free demo of the software in the future. This software solution would greatly modernize our dispatch operations and reduce errors that are hard to avoid based on the highly manual process that we currently have in place. In conjunction with the HASTUS training, and thanks to the financial support of VTrans, we now have additional modules available from our AVL vendor, Swiftly, that will allow GMT to start reporting and analyzing on-time performance data as well as making schedule changes based on actual run time data to improve the reliability of our services. Staff has started to incorporate schedule changes for the Burlington March Bid based on these tools to help both improve on- time performance and reduce operating costs by having operator shifts ending earlier based on actual run time data. There was discussion. 6. VTrans Update- Mr. McDonald thanked Past Chair Chittenden for his service as GMT Board Chair. Mr. McDonald stated that he has presented VTrans Public Transit Policy to both the house and the senate. Also VTrans will be issuing an RFI to see if there are other options beside what we are currently using. VTrans will also be issuing an RFP next month for smaller electric vehicles. Mr. McDonald stated that he would like to present VTrans Route and Performance report as well as the Public transit report at the retreat in February 2020. There was discussion. 3 7. Board Chair Transition- Chair Chittenden stated that he was stepping down and Vice Chair Waninger would be taking the place as GMT Board Chair effective today, January 21, 2020. 8. General Manger Search Process- Chair Waninger informed the Board that the GM Search Committee will be conducting interviews on March 10, 2020 and the GMT board will interview the candidates that successfully pass the first interview on March 12th 2020. The candidate that successfully passes both interviews will be introduced to stakeholders and to the public. There was discussion. 9. Board Retreat – Chair Waninger stated that leadership committee drafted an agenda for the retreat on February 11th 2020. There was discussion. No action was taken. 10. Colchester Service Agreement (Action Item) - Mr. Moore stated that he brought GMTs proposal for the draft service agreement with Colchester to the Colchester Town Manger and he stated he would need to bring it to his select board for discussion. There was discussion. Mr. Moore stated we should have more information in March 2020.