Total Transportation Policy Committee
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OPEN MEETING NOTICE Goods Movement COMMITTEE Janet McRae Kansas Co-Chair Richard Greenville, Missouri Co-Chair There will be a meeting of MARC’s Goods Movement Committee on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. in the Heartland Room on the second floor of the Rivergate Center, 600 Broadway, Kansas City, Missouri. A G E N D A 1. Introduction and approval of minutes 2. Annual Policy Review (Whistle Blower/Conflict of interest) – Darryl 3. Fixing America’s Surface Transportation “FAST” Act – Darryl • Overview of the FAST Act freight component in the new transportation bill 4. National Freight Strategic Plan – Darryl • FHWA released the “National Freight Strategic Plan” for Public Comment. This is the link to the Plan’s website with draft versions of a national multimodal freight network, including state by state maps - http://www.transportation.gov/freight. 5. Freight Zone Activity Centers/Primary Freight Network – MARC Intern/staff/Darryl (action item) • Review/approve current/proposed zones i. Develop a recommendation for changes to Intermodal Connectors on the NHS ii. Review/comment on existing zones and provide recommendation including New Century Airport or any other locations for inclusion • Freight Zones represents a concentrated area of freight-based, transportation-dependent development. The zones have no distinct boundaries and some are larger than others. Size varies by elements contained within each Zone. 6. 2016 Work Plan – Darryl • Review 2016 Work Plan 7. Other Business • State DOT Updates Getting to MARC: Information on transportation options to the MARC offices, including directions, parking, transit, carpooling, and bicycling, can be found online. If driving, visitors and guests should enter the Rivergate Center parking lot from Broadway and park on the upper level of the garage. An entrance directly into the conference area is available from this level. Parking: Free parking is available when visiting MARC. Visitors and guests should park on the upper level of the garage. To enter this level from Broadway, turn west into the Rivergate Center parking lot. Please use any of the available spaces on the upper level at the top of the ramp. Special Accommodations: Please notify MARC at (816) 474-4240 at least 48 hours in advance if you require special accommodations to attend this meeting (i.e., qualified interpreter, large print, reader, hearing assistance). MARC programs are non-discriminatory as stated by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For more information or to obtain a Title VI Complaint Form, call 816-474-4240 or visit our webpage. Goods Movement Committee September 1, 2015 Meeting Summary Members/Alternates Present‐Representing Randy Rowson, CDM Smith Janet McRae, Miami County, Kansas Co-Chair Jeff Schwartz, MCC Lindsey Douglas, Union Pacific Marisela Ward, MoDOT Michael Duffy, Riverside Dale Watkins, OOIDA Karen Gilbertson, FHWA Allan Zafft, CDM Smith Richard Grenville, PortKC MARC Staff Present Chris Gutierrez, SmartPort Darryl Fields, Senior Planner Greg Heisman, FlexSteel Jermain Whitmore, Program Assistant Jen Johnson, Hg Consult 1) Introductions and Approval of Meeting Summary Janet McRae called the meeting to order and welcomed all attendees. Introductions followed, and the minutes were approved. 2) Overview of MCC’s Supply Chain/Logistic Studies Jeff Schwartz proceeded to give an overview of the training programs under MCC’s Supply Chain/Logistic Studies. The professional truck driving program started 5-6 years ago, and until recently, training 6-10 students a year. Additionally, Swift has a driving academy co-located at MCC, but is an independent truck driving school not part of MCC. As part of location/facility arrangement, Swift provides MCC with 5 fully- functioning, fully-maintained trucks for its program this has allowed MCC to restructure its enrollment strategies. MCC has switched to a rolling enrollment strategy; meaning, MCC no longer cancels or postpones a class if there are not enough enrollees. Therefore, if the program receive as little as 4 students classes proceed. Classes are one day a week and each class is a stand-alone, so no matter when a student comes into the program, they will cycle through all class trainings; and tied to a single instructor through the length of the program. JCCC also has CDL program that runs on weekends, using MCC services to support their classes. Chris Gutierrez asked if drivers get hired, and if MCC is connecting them to companies. Mr. Schwartz replied that recruiters contact them constantly and want to come in, which they had to limit in order to preserve the educational value of the program. In order to ensure each student comes away successful, there are two types of classes, a Type-A & Type-B. Type-A deals with the combination vehicles (large trucks), such as the tractor trailer, while Type-B deals with straight trucks and/or box trucks (small trucks). Those who have a tough time with the Type-A class and state tests can still proceed through the Type-B. Yesterday, the State Highway Patrol came out to stripe MCC’s parking lot in order to conduct CDL testing. This is the 1st off-site location to do the testing. MCC will not do the testing. The State actually will conduct the test one day a week at MCC. The Warehousing Program has a warehousing lab with racks and two forklifts. The lab is tied into a barcode system and is designed to teach students how to properly handle warehousing equipment. The barcode system allows MCC to instruct students by customizing scenarios to simulate real world warehousing events. Students come out with OSHA Certification on the forklift, which takes approximately 2 weeks, and better understanding of the whole process. The professional truck driving takes about 6 weeks to complete, that also deals with soft skills needed to not only obtain the job but also maintain their employment. Mr. Gutierrez inquired how many students come through the programs at a time, and Mr. Schwartz answered about 8-10 students. Darryl Fields questioned how MCC teaches them about drug tests, and Mr. Schwartz responded that before they are accepted into MCC’s program, it is required that they have a DOT card, a clean drug test and driving record. Numerous years MCC had for credit classes in its associates program in Logistics, Operations Management, Warehouse and Distribution Management, and Carrier Management that constituted a certificate in Supply Chain. This program was pulled a couple of years ago but it is now being refreshed. The new Logistics classes will start this semester and will have two classes per semester for those needing the training. For now, classes will be conducted on-site; although, depending on its success, there could soon be classes available online. In addition to the Supply Chain training classes are Welding, Machine, Electrician, SYSCO Networking, etc., which is thanks in part to BNSF being one of their biggest clients. BNSF sends most of their employees to MCC for continued up-to-date training for their respective job positions/skills. Mr. Gutierrez questioned if companies sending their employees drive classes, like the Welding program, or is MCC recruiting for those areas as well. Mr. Schwartz remarked that MCC does open enrollment, as well as contract training for those programs. Mr. Fields asked if MCC does flatbed and tanker training, and Mr. Schwartz commented that they do have Load Securement training as part of the CDL program, but there are no tank truck training. Mr. Fields then enquired how enrollment is going, and Mr. Schwartz reported that MCC’s overall enrollment is down about 5%. Janet McRae inquired where do the instructors come from, what are their skillsets, and how are they keeping up with industry trends. Mr. Schwartz answered that the CDL instructors are either active or retired drivers, and there are total of 15-16 instructors currently. He is still identifying quality instructors for courses. 3) Complete Street Policy Workgroup Darryl Fields informed the committee that the Complete Street Policy is in the process of being updated, and there will be a workshop coming up consisting of members from each modal committee. He request if someone from the Committee wished to participate. A questioned was asked, “What is the time commitment. Mr. Fields responded the work group would probably meet 3 times from October through December and provide recommendations to TTP in January. Mr. Fields informed the Committee that he would give them time to think about it and would give individuals a call to see if there was an interest. 4) Other Goods Movement related issues KC Port – the Port is operational once again and had its 1st barge since 2007. KDOT is working and completing its Trucking Parking (HNTB) and Transload (HDR) Studies. The Trucking Parking Study is looking at solutions to enhance and support better trucking parking on KS roadways. Study finding will be presented to the Statewide Truck Parking Advisory Committee. The Transload Study received numerous locations to review Garden City and Great Bend were selected. The selected locations will provide business/development plans and financial models for review and evaluation by KDOT to determine the level of availably funding to aid in development of the transload sites. There was no further business, the meeting was adjourned, and the next scheduled meeting Nov 3, 2015. Agenda 2: Annual Policy Review Conflict of Interest and Whistle Blower MARC strives to operate in an open and transparent way that demonstrates that the organization is an effective steward of public resources. The MARC Board of Directors approved the Conflict of Interest and Whistleblower policies, to provide guidance to the participants in MARC committees regarding conflicts of interest and actions to take in those circumstances, and on processes to report any wrongdoing in the administration of MARC’s work.