City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

Indoor Aquatic Center, Tom Wilkerson Room

Feb 14, 2017 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alan Black, Heather Thies, Mark Hurt, James Pavision, Zachary Kelsay, John Augusto

MEMBERS ABSENT:

None

STAFF PRESENT:

Robert Nugent, Serena Pearson, Wendy Koerner, Jessica Mortinger, Danny Kaiser, Mike Sweeten

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Nikhila Gunda

 

 

1. Call to Order

Alan Black, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:10. Quorum met.

 

2. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

Minutes from the November 2016 PTAC meeting were presented to PTAC members for approval. There was a motion from Mark Hurt to approve the minutes, Jim Pavision seconded, all in favor, no opposed.

 

3. Share Your Story Contest – Serena Pearson discussed the Share Your Story contest with the group. There were three winners this year, each with different stories about how the bus helps them in their lives.  All of the stories are displayed on the Lawrencetransit.org website and at the Lawrence Public Library until February 28.

 

4. Review of PTAC By-laws (Action Item) – Bob Nugent explained that in the current by-laws the PTAC meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 4:10.  Does this day and time work for everyone? The group agreed that 4:10 is a good time to meet, but several committee members suggested that the meetings be changed to Monday instead of Tuesday. There was some discussion as to whether the meetings should be held every month, or every other month. The committee agreed that the meetings should be held every month and then cancel a meeting if need be.

 

John Augusto made a motion to make an amendment to the by-laws Article IV, Section 1 to schedule a monthly PTAC meeting for every second Monday of the month at 4:10 pm. Jim Pavision seconded the motion. All in favor, no opposed.

 

Mark Hurt questioned Article V, Section 1 where it specifies that PTAC has 9 members. He suggested that the number 9 be removed, since the committee can be between 5 and 9 members. Jim Pavision moved to strike the number 9 from Article 5, Section 1 from the PTAC bylaws. Mark seconded. All in favor, no opposed.

 

Mark also asked about Article II, Section 6 that says committee members shall be limited to serving two complete terms. He would like to replace the word complete with consecutive. Mark Hurt made a motion to replace the word “complete” to “consecutive.” Also, add a sentence to say “there is no limit as to how many terms a person may serve in a lifetime.”  Jim Pavision seconded. All in favor, no opposed.

 

5. Transit Day at the Capitol – Bob Nugent discussed the upcoming Transit Day at the State Capitol on March 8 in Topeka. This will be the second year for this event. This will be a chance to show state official what transit is doing in the state. This year, the plan will be to have transit information, along with coffee and doughnuts available from 7 a.m. until noon. The hope is to talk to representatives from each of the providers in the state. Bob will be working with KPTA in the next couple of weeks to formalize an official plan.

 

6. Advertising Policy (Action Item) – Bob Nugent discussed the possibility of putting advertising on the buses. When service began in 2001 - 2002, there was some discussion about putting ads on the buses. At the time, the legal department said that we could write a policy about bus advertising, but then PTAC made a decision not to advertise on the buses at all. This topic has recently come up again, so PTAC will need to make a decision again. In order to have ads on the outside or inside of the bus, a company needs to be hired to sell ads and put them on the buses. In small markets such as Lawrence, profits margins are very small since there are not a lot of opportunities for advertisement and not a lot of buses to put ads on.

 

Jim Pavision made a motion to not put ads on our buses for now. Zach Kelsay seconded. All in favor, no opposed. 

 

7. PTAC Retreat – Bob Nugent mentioned that we have new PTAC members so this would be a good time to get together as a group and have a retreat. This may give us a chance to get educate our new members on transit issues. We also need to let PTAC members know what they can and cannot do. We should probably have the retreat fairly soon. John Augusto suggested the BTBC on west campus as a possible location. They have nice rooms that we could use. Alan Black suggested that a Saturday morning would work best since everyone is busy during the week. Bob Nugent will look for possible dates.

 

8. Updates:

a. Transit Center- Jessica Mortinger explained that the MPO gets federal planning grant funding for projects, and since they have budgeted some money for Transit they are hoping to get approval to do another transit center study. Hopefully an RFP can be put together in the next few weeks and this item can go out for bid.

Bob Nugent explained that the last transit center study was done over four years ago. A location for a transit center was never determined and we need to get this item back on the radar screen. The 21st and Stewart location is still a possibility. Other possibilities are to purchase private property or do a multimodal center downtown.

b. Comprehensive Operational Analysis- Bob Nugent explained that the COA is completed and we will see more information on it next month. We may take some of the logic they used to make recommendations in the future. Even though the COA made recommendations to service, we will not have any route changes this year except for one change on a KU route.  

c. Tax Referendum Subcommittee – Alan Black asked when the transit tax referendum will be on the ballot and how it will appear on the ballot. Bob Nugent said that it will go to a vote in November, but how it will appear on the ballot is still not clear. It should be a separate item from other departmental referendums such as Public Works and Parks and Recreation. The tax referendum subcommittee consists of Alan Black, Heather Thies and Zach Kelsay. They will be meeting soon to discuss ideas.

 

Bob Nugent explained that two people recommended to the Mayor to be new members of PTAC will be appointed next week at the City Commission meeting.

 

9. Public Comment – No public comment.

 

10. Next Meeting – March 13, 2017

 

11. Adjournment - 5:30 pm

 

 

-Submitted by Serena Pearson