00:00:07,070	Everyone, thank you for attending. Uh, today is. September 16, 2024. It’s 10 o’clock and I will call to order, order the Bismarckman and MPO technical advisory committee meeting. Uh, we will start with roll call. Ben Ereth here. Dan Schrie. Deidre Hughes, Chris Holzer. Here John Saki. Andrew Strommi. Jarek Wigness. Greg Greg Natalie Pierce.

00:00:44,030	Dean Schloss Wayne Zacher. Yeah Char Lukaszewski. Here. Uh, the first item on the agenda is review impossible approval of the August 19th meeting minutes. What are the wishes of the board? has been, I’ll move to approve the minutes as presented. Thank you, Ben. I have a first. Is there a second? This is Deidrell 2nd.

00:01:14,430	Thank you, Deidre roll call. Bean Ereth, Dan Triak. Yes, Deidre Hughes, Chris Holzer, yes, Andrew Stremi Jarek Wigness, Greg Fraser. Mitch Flanagan, Dean Schloss, Wayne Zacher. Yes, Cher Lukaszewski. Yes, the minutes are approved. Item 2 on the agenda is, uh, the Bismarckmanda and MPO bylaws with Steven. Thank you, Chair.

00:01:50,430	Give me one moment, I will share screen. Mm All right, so exhibit A in your packet is the bylaws of our MPO, which govern, among other things, attack and policy board and its authority over the NPO. And we have made a minor textual change to the bylaws, per guidance we received from NDDOT and Federal Highway.

00:02:29,730	The change affects specifically and I will show you, uh, where we’re at. It affects Article 61 letter C. Uh, which references the unified planning work program. It also affects Article 9. 0.1 again, uh, referencing the unified planning work program. So due to changes recently in DOT’s administration of our UPWP.

00:03:00,230	We are preparing our unified planning work program annually rather than by annually, uh, biennially. So the language and the bylaws has been adjusted to reflect this, um, but also to allow the MPO the option to produce a biennial UPWP in future, if it is determined that that is in our best interests.

00:03:18,370	But basically it allows us to do either once a year or once every 2 years, depending on uh. Going forward. So it’s, again, it’s a very minor minor textual change. Are there any questions on these adjustments? Stephen, I didn’t have a question on those specific adjustments, but I just had a maybe an observation on on page two, where it talks about the members who make up the.

00:03:43,830	The policy board Um, and it lists, lists the director of North Dakota DOT. Uh, I noticed for some of the other. County commission representatives, they allow for. Either that individual or a designated member of the the commission, um, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the director of the DOT at any policy board meeting, uh, so I was wondering if it would

00:04:06,400	be appropriate to put the director or designated member after after that item, just a, just a minor comment. I attend the meetings, um. But the then the, but the uh but basically we’re um ex officios or a non-voting member regardless. So I mean, the change is fine.

00:04:33,630	I, I just wanted to, it to be clear that we’re not a voting member anyway. Um, then what I would recommend is, uh, if that is the motion just to state that and then we can bring that forward to policy board and make the administrative change on the back end of approval.

00:04:59,700	OK, I’ll make a motion to approve uh the NPO bylaws with the minor change on page two to add after the director of North Dakota DOT or designated. Representative Thank you, Ben. I have a first. Is there a second? Like you, Andrew. Roll call. Ben Erith, Dan Tri Deidre Hughes Dan Tri Deidre Hughes. Chris Holzer Andrew yes, Greg Phaser, Mitch Flanagan, Dean Schloss Wayne Zacher. Yes.

00:05:30,630	Lukaszewski. Uh, yes, motion is approved. Item 3 on the agenda is an update with on the arrive 2050 MTP with Jason Carby. Hi Jason. Yeah, can you guys hear me? We can. Yeah, so yeah, the biggest thing we’ve been doing obviously is. I’m sorry? I think someone coughed. You’re fine. OK, sorry.

00:05:56,330	Um, so yeah, the biggest thing obviously is um getting that kind of that that draft review um done this week, um we are gonna have the draft report. Um, Go out next week.

00:06:15,600	Um, and so we did have the opportunity to talk with, um, Dan with uh Burley County um on Friday and we are gonna send a couple of updates for you to consider on the physical constraint list, um, based on that conversation, we did have a project or two on there that um had been recently, I think, done um by the county, and so we had a little bit of clarity.

00:06:32,430	So if, if anybody needs to have kinda some follow up discussions with that, um, I know we, we’ve got a table. And uh set up projects together I think with the two changes to that short term list for urban roads that we will be sending around uh today. And I think that’s the, that’s the biggest thing, um.

00:06:50,170	Really to, uh, you know, just to get uh all of you up to date on. And I guess, is there any questions or Rachel, is there anything else we should add? Uh, thanks, Jason. Um, I think the only thing else I would add is, uh, that. Once the steering committee finalizes their review, we are planning to. Uh, put the.

00:07:11,600	Um, final draft online for the public to consume for a 30 day period, and I believe that starts the 23rd of September. Are there any questions on the MTP? Jason, I don’t see any questions, but we’ll look forward to that updated, uh, urban. Roads. Uh, short range, short range, um, projects list. Or later today, thank you.

00:07:37,300	I see Wayne does have a hand up, go ahead, just a reminder, we need to start looking at management presentation dates. Uh, yes, I, I emailed you this morning, uh, to look for, for your calendar. I understand, um. Uh, we’re hoping to get the management meeting scheduled for. Sometime between now and.

00:08:03,900	October 23rd, which is the date of our first local, uh, Planning and zoning commission, um, And we’ll be working with you you have preferred, do you have preferred dates that you can send me that I can start looking at and and that type of thing, I mean it’s a little hard for me just to look at um

00:08:23,300	come up with a random date and say this is good for us. I was looking at your end. I, I can do that, yes. Uh, I’ll follow up with you, Wayne. Any additional go ahead.

00:08:45,130	I was just gonna say it’s usually I, I’ll try to schedule it for an hour and a half and we’ll, it’ll be uh 45 minutes to an hour of talk and or of uh presentation update and then time for questions, so um I’ll leave, leave it up to you, but I’ll try to schedule it for an hour and a half. We usually try to keep them under an hour, but, uh, depending on questions that of everything, so. OK.

00:09:04,370	Thanks, Wayne. Any additional questions? Comments? I don’t see anything. Thanks, Jason. OK, thanks everyone. Uh, item 4 on the agenda is an update on the safe routes to services, complete street study, uh, with Cody Christiansen. Hi, Cody. Hey everyone, can you hear me? We can go ahead.

00:09:32,170	All right, perfect, uh, yeah, so, um, for the, the Seros project, um, we are on the engagement side, preparing some materials for kind of our final engagement opportunity, uh, looking to try to schedule that. Um, Kind of the the 3rd week of October, we’re looking at October 21st trying to.

00:09:54,900	Nail down a a location uh before we firm up that date and we’re trying to schedule that in Mandan. Um, and then we’re also preparing for our final meeting with our community advisory group. Um, With the, the steering committee, um, and we had our, our workshop bus tour back in early August, um, so we’re Wrapping up taking uh a lot of the good information we got from that workshop, uh, to

00:10:19,630	adjust our, um, Uh, alternatives for those different priority areas, um, you know, we got a lot of good information on, you know, what the short term and long term of those corridors may look like, so that’s helping us uh dial in with those alternatives uh could be to fit within that kind of scope.

00:10:41,370	Um, And then we have our 4th steering committee meeting scheduled for October 2nd. Um, so we’ll be looking to present those refined priority areas. Uh, using that insight we got from the workshop also discussing uh implementation strategies to advance those concepts to uh projects uh and then.

00:11:06,800	Going over uh those uh final engagement materials as will be just a couple of weeks ahead of that engagement event. Um, So, you know, on the technical side, then like I said, we’re kind of wrapping up the refinement of those alternatives, um, laying out those summary sheets that were shared with the, the committee, um.

00:11:30,500	Uh As well as looking at some some kind of programmatic recommendations including uh transit updates, looking at mobility hubs, complete streets policies, uh, so a few things beyond just a a intersection corridor or subaa kind of recommendation. Um, so that’s, uh, what we’re doing for the next uh few weeks. Thanks, Cody. Are there any questions or comments on the update? I don’t see any questions or comments.

00:11:56,900	Thanks so much, Cody. Yeah, thank you. Item 5 on the agenda is an update on the 2024 pavement condition collection and analysis project with Kurt Peiffer. Welcome, Kurt. Rachel and team, um, it’s great to be back. Let me turn on my camera here. You should all be able to see me. There you go.

00:12:17,470	Um, yeah, so we received the notice received last week, um, and I’m currently scheduling uh the data collection, the mobilization up to uh Bismarck, uh, with Roadway Asset Services, RAS. They’ll be doing the data collection for um mid next week is looking like when we’ll actually be uh mobbing up there.

00:12:42,100	So I’m anticipating currently data collection beginning uh late next week, early the following week. In the interim, uh, we did receive The uh GIS uh uh uh an up to-date GIS and we’re, uh, I’m working with the uh RAS team and our team to make sure that we have everything segmented properly and uh basically up to date, uh, so that we’ll be able to hit

00:13:03,370	the ground running ASAP. Um, everything appears to be on schedule, so fingers crossed for a late winter, uh, we don’t want anything blowing in too early this year, uh, so we can get the data collection, uh, Uh, uh, completed as soon as possible. Um, with that, I’ll open it up to any questions. All right, thanks, Kurt.

00:13:25,800	Uh, any questions on the update? I don’t see any questions, but we’ll look forward to having that project get get kicked off and um we might also plan to have uh some type of involvement or. Or public outreach with the news, uh.

00:13:50,570	First off, just to let the public know that this will be occurring and that they’ll see some, uh, vans moving, uh, but also I think it’s, uh. Uh, an entertaining, and an interesting element for the public to engage with. Um, so, Curt, we can, uh, touch base, uh, uh, after our meeting to, to get that kicked off. Sounds like a plan. Looking forward to it. Thanks, Kurt. Thanks.

00:14:12,300	Item 6 on the agenda is the Big Skyrail government partners program update with Kim. Thank you, Rachel. Last month at TA we kind of talked on, um, the big sky Passenger Rail Authority and what their mission was, um. Or is and of course that is to.

00:14:42,670	Restore and expand passenger rail service throughout Montana and beyond, uh, for the economic development and transportation, um, options of its citizens, um, we, we talked about a presentation that BSPRA would be making to the policy board the following day, uh, regarding its corridor ID program, which is the restoration of the former North Coast Hiawatha passenger rail line and we talked about something that BSPRA is rolling

00:15:09,900	out called the Government Partner program. So today I just wanted to follow up on those items and let you know kind of where we’re at right now, um, as an NPO as possible um jurisdictional actions, and discuss. Maybe what our next steps might be in that regard.

00:15:33,600	So again, uh, Big Sky passenger rail has has been a proponent of the restoration of the North Coast Hiawatha passenger rail line and that runs from Chicago to Seattle, um, and it does have a southern tier running from Fargo, uh, through Bismarck Mandan and onward to North Dakota’s western border with Montana, and then it does continue on through the

00:15:58,270	southern portion of Mont. Toner into Idaho and then back up to the Seattle region. Um, this was a rail line that. Formerly operated in North Dakota. It was discontinued in 1979, and since then we have been lacking passenger rail in our region with only the northern tier being serviced through the Empire Builder line, uh.

00:16:23,100	Big sky passenger rail. Uh, they submitted, uh, an application for this restoration project through the federal corridor ID program. They were awarded $500,000 in initial funding for the planning efforts to examine exactly what this means for the states, the counties, the cities is impacted by this. Potential rail.

00:16:53,130	This program is federally funded for the next several years, and it does guarantee that the federal funds will be available for the restoration of this passenger rail line. So this is not a, a one and done kind of funding, um, scenario, they will be guaranteed funding through implementation and making this rail line operational in our area.

00:17:16,430	The the restoration of the rail line will be federally funded through this program 100%, it will not fall on the states or the locals. The only cost that would impact our local communities would be the placement of a Train or realway station, um, and it’s construction. We were also told that the federal government will supply.

00:17:44,170	Partial funding for the construction of train stations, but only to meet the standards um that they have set forth for. The condition of the train stations if we wanted to have something that was over and above what their, their, um, their ground criteria is, then that would be responsible to the local parties for funding.

00:18:08,770	So we know that the restoration of this passenger rail line, um, carries with it the potential for substantial, uh, economic. Uh, growth and um benefits. Um, also, It’s going to be a great expansion of our regional transportation system, um, there is going to be a lot involved in making this happen and um realizing those benefits,

00:18:37,770	things like um. You know, we’re going to again, Have to decide on placement of those train stations will have to take care of the details of their construction and then of course we’re going to have to have considerations and um planning and implementation for um.

00:19:06,900	Making sure that we have accessible transportation ties, uh, to tie together our geographical and different transportation modes. We don’t want people coming into our communities. Getting off at a train station and going, well, now what? Where do we go? How do we get there? We want to make sure we have those transit connections.

00:19:22,070	We want to make sure that we have maybe rideshare in place, things of that nature. And that’s all going to take planning. That’s all going to take some time to discern what our communities need and what the best course of action will be. So Big Sky Passenger rail has developed a program to help impacted communities work through these precise, uh, uh, considerations.

00:19:50,100	They call it their government partner program and, uh, this is tailored specifically for government entities. To become members, uh, the membership is on an annual basis and for that membership, the entity will receive support services for the year.

00:20:23,370	The support services include things like, um, engaging in forums with peer communities, uh, engaging in webinars, uh, the BSPRA will search out funding resources for impact. communities so that we do have funding available to carry out these construction and planning activities. Um, they’ll help to guide us in the proper um. Steps to engage the public to make our planning, uh, as comprehensive as possible and as effective as possible.

00:20:59,670	Now there is a tiered membership, uh, with the BSPR government partner program and it is based on population jurisdictions can all choose to become members on their own, but we talked to BSPRA and they said, yes, of course, the MPO would be able to.

00:21:24,100	Uh, go ahead and obtain this membership on behalf of its jurisdictions and then the membership would be based on the total population of the MPO area. Now, That amount would be approximately $6000 annually and just didn’t cost comparison if the jurisdictions were to embark on purchasing memberships on their own, they would probably be looking at about that $4000 range for each of their populations, so we know that we can realize a substantial cost savings on behalf of our

00:21:49,300	jurisdictions if we can pool our resources, the way that the NPO envisions this rolling out with that be that. Um, although we would be contributing 80% of the funding, the jurisdictions themselves would actually be the lead agencies and we would only be acting as the coordinating partner.

00:22:13,230	So therefore, While we are providing the bulk of the funding, the agencies themselves or our jurisdictions, um, would be acting as um. Like I said, like the lead agency, um, within the program, um.

00:22:45,830	We would need champions or designated representatives for each of the jurisdictions to act as a liaison between the NPO and, uh, the general public within that jurisdiction also elected officials, uh, they would be responsible for bringing materials to their governing bodies and information um requesting action if required from their jurisdictional governing bodies. Um, And then of course the NPO would. have an agreement, a memorandum of understanding or a memorandum of agreement that we would draft up and all of the participating jurisdictions would be party to that.

00:23:18,370	The agreement would outline everybody’s roles and responsibilities as we move forward through this membership process. So this is, this is one scenario and this is what we had initially thought we were going to pursue right now, we are waiting on, um, a little bit more information from our oversight agencies as to whether or not the membership

00:23:44,030	fee is actually ineligible expense for the MPO. The MPO staff does feel that we can make a pretty strong argument in its defense. However, it was indicated to us. Last Friday that our federal and state oversight may be leaning towards um the negative on this, um, we will be having further discussions and as I stated.

00:24:08,570	NPO staff feel that we can make a pretty strong argument in favor of the membership eligibility. But it really doesn’t pay to bring any information to our commissions on the program or come to them with an ask until we know whether the NPO can actually be a financial sponsor or not.

00:24:32,630	So with that in mind, uh, in the meantime, there are some things that we can consider as a group or individually, uh, and number one, that would be, um, how to prepare in the event that the NPO is able To, uh, procure this, this membership on behalf of its jurisdictions.

00:24:57,170	Again, we would, the NPO would draft an agreement, we would be looking at our jurisdictions to lead the charge with their governing bodies and bring the request to their elected officials to participate in this. Um, at that time, we would have monetary.

00:25:24,370	financial, um, information available to you and make sure that you have all the accurate information to present to your governing bodies before you ask anything of them. However, in the event that the NPO is not able to provide any financial support, then jurisdictions may have to think about whether they want to pursue a membership on their own or not, um, and again, uh, I think that we have received enough feedback from members of our jurisdictions, our

00:25:53,230	representatives of our jurisdictions that seem to favor. Membership in the government, government partner program, um, it just might be a little different story when jurisdictions are looking at. Taking the, the majority of that funding out of their own budgets. So something to keep in mind, um. If, if you haven’t had a chance yet.

00:26:22,030	I would, I would highly recommend, uh, Going ahead and viewing the presentation that was made to the policy board on August 20th at their meeting by the representatives of Big Sky Passenger rail, they outlined the program pretty well, um, they, uh, there was some good discussion with the policy board members afterwards.

00:26:48,230	Um, you can view that on Dakota Media Access government access to and um just click on the metropolitan planning Policy board recorded meeting and it starts at about 38 minutes into the meeting, I will let you know it was about an hour presentation slash discussion.

00:27:12,700	It was um pretty robust, uh, but a lot of really good information there and so it kind of provides some good groundwork, um, for, for anybody who is wanting to kind of get on board with this effort, so. Just to wrap up, where we’re at today, there are a lot of unknowns, um, again, hopefully, you know, the MPO might be able to lead this in a financial capacity.

00:27:36,830	However, if we are not able to, um, it may be up to the jurisdictions to consider embarking on this membership on their own, so today I, I didn’t have this down as an action item.

00:27:59,770	I didn’t feel that there was going To be any action today to take, but if the tack does have any strong feelings either way as to whether they just want to go off on their own, um, or if they want to wait for oversight to basically render a final decision on CPG eligibility. I would take comments either way. The other thing to consider is that time is kind of of the essence we have talked.

00:28:26,000	Previously about a deadline, um, being in place for memberships for this year and the deadline is actually October 31st. So, um, That becoming fairly close on. I believe that it would probably be in everyone’s best interest to, um, if this were, were the approach.

00:28:56,970	That we were taking to approach their jurisdictional governing bodies at the beginning of October and ask them, um, you know, whether they want to become a government government partner member or not, um. In the event that a jurisdiction is not wanting to become a government partner member.

00:29:27,230	There is also uh another alternative, and that is, um, without any financial consideration at all, it would be helpful to provide a letter of support to the Big Sky passenger rail Authority for their corridor ID project. Again, we know that there are substantial benefits to We gained in adding a passenger rail service through our area and the more support that BSPRA gains along the corridor for the project, the more quickly and seamlessly this can be

00:29:52,400	implemented. So, um, whether or not you’re elected bodies would choose to participate in the government partners program, we would ask that each uh jurisdiction would be able to. Provide a letter of support for the corridor ID project. So, uh, any questions or comments. Yes, thank you, Kim, right away.

00:30:21,200	I appreciate the updates on the project, um, two comments just. Feel free to kind of keep an eye on what we’re doing to make sure that we’re getting our letters of support and stuff in front of the Comm.

00:30:34,330	, any reminders you can provide for us would be really helpful for critical dates, but I think I’ve got some of them jotted down. Um, and then I guess my comment regarding the CPG and eligibility of funds to be used, I guess if I could be an advocate for a second, I think it would be a good thing for the.

00:30:52,700	Any oversight that is listening or wants to listen to, um, to consider allowing the NPO to do this. I think it would be a conservative approach for the region to provide support for the authority, and I guess I would just sort of urge them that if it’s a no because of something that can change, that’s an arbitrary regulation, then they should consider making the change to allow this approach

00:31:08,330	to take place, but it just my two cents. Alright, well thank you very much. Appreciate that, Andrew. Anybody else have any suggestions or comments? Yeah, thank you, Kim, uh I, I think maybe to dovetail this has been to dovetail on what Andrew uh has stated, I think this is the type of project that seems well

00:31:28,530	suited for what an MPO can do. It’s, it’s a, it’s a. Interstate travel thing that’s going to impact our region and we don’t know where, how, how or where best that we’re gonna inter our local transportation systems are going to interface with this interstate transportation system could be in Mandan, could be in Bismarck,

00:31:51,100	could be outside in Burley County. It could be outside in Morton County where a station gets gets placed and so I think the MPO is ideally situated to try to walk work through those conversations and the.

00:32:10,630	The best uh best case scenarios for where uh uh passenger rail terminal should should be placed and so I, I think this is a custom made type of project for the MPO and thanks for looking into it for us.

00:32:28,770	Uh, my preference would based on all of that would yes this, I would prefer to see if the MPO can can be a sponsor of this prior to me or or our staff going to our individual jurisdictions to ask for permission. It, it seems like in every man for them.

00:32:45,070	Self approach is maybe not the right way to go about it in my mind, uh, I don’t think we need to give the perception that we’re trying to You know, fight amongst ourselves for this, and I, I think a regional approach seems to make the most sense to me, and so I’ll, I’ll be.

00:33:02,430	Listening intently to whatever decision is made to see if, if the MPO can be a participant, but I think if not, I think it, it makes sense for us to ask ourselves, does it make sense for Mandan to be a partner and if Bismarck’s not willing to or vice versa, maybe it makes sense for all of us to be partners or none of us to be partners at that point.

00:33:20,870	And so I think we need to understand from a strategic standpoint, but again, I think that’s why from a regional transportation planning perspective, this is an ideal. project for that and and would certainly be supportive of that, so. Alright, thank you for your thoughts, Ben. Anyone else care to comment? Yeah, Mrs. Wayne. As we talked on last week, there was, I mean, we have, we shared our concerns.

00:33:45,700	Uh, when you, there are a few points that were made earlier. I completely understand where Ben was coming from, but there’s also talk about how jurisdictions would still be a lead. NPOs just kinda there for support and to get this quote unquote coupon type of a thing to get a better rate, so we’re, I’m, I’m trying to figure out how this is.

00:34:05,970	Um, would work because again, based on what I’ve heard, this sounds like it’s more of a coupon if you will, to get the jurisdictions a better rate. Um, to for the membership, um, that, that’s where, where we’ve been sitting, um, again, I, um, so that, that’s kind of where I’m at and I’m waiting on the, the

00:34:30,630	justification basically. I, Ben, I completely understand where you’re coming from, but based on what the other side that we’ve heard it again, it, it seems like a way to get a reduced rate and that’s not necessarily what the intent of the CPG is either, so. OK, well, thank you, Wayne.

00:34:48,370	Appreciate your remarks, um, and if I could just Uh, kind of add on to that. Um, I, I think that your concerns would definitely be addressed by the memorandum of agreement that is going to outline and lay out all of the roles and responsibilities of the jurisdictions, also the NPO in this, um, I, I think that this entire effort really

00:35:11,870	culminates with, you know, um, a, a coordinated and comprehensive, um, planning effort for our region, so. Um, again, I think that we can, we can tie the merits of the program and um how each of us, the NPO and its jurisdictions participate in that program, right back to the CFR. So, um, I would.

00:35:38,070	Like the opportunity to make those arguments with you. Um, any other comments at all? I guess, Kim, if I could also just add while it would be a really useful and beneficial promotional rate to join the partners program.

00:36:05,030	I think that is essentially what the NPO does for Mann and in a way it provides us cost savings and coordination and additional capacity building for transportation planning that’s if I had to sort of summarize what the NPO does to help the city, so, um, it’s promotional deal you could call it to to have the. NPO sort of facilitate the transportation planning of passenger rail through the region is. My mind directly tied to.

00:36:28,630	The mission and the activities of the NPO and shouldn’t be treated as something different. OK Thanks, Andrew. Uh, that’s all I had, unless there’s anything else. I will bring comments to the policy board tomorrow for their consideration, um, and ultimately it’s at their discretion which direction we move forward with this.

00:36:58,130	So I’ll keep everybody apprised and we’ll use email and other communication to try to keep everybody on the same page with this project. OK. Thank you. Thank you, Kim. That’s a very good update. Item 7 on the agenda is, uh, an update on area roadway projects.

00:37:23,230	Um, I don’t see John Psyche is on the line, um, but I don’t believe there are. Projects for Morton County, so, uh, Mitch, unless you have other wishes, um. Move beyond Morton County? Um, and Lincoln, I don’t believe Lincoln has had any updates this season, um, so, uh, with, with that in mind, uh, we will, uh, start with Burley County, you’re the first on my list, uh,

00:37:45,000	Dan, are there any updates on the Burley County projects? Yeah, we just finished up our uh mill and overlay of Highway 10 from essentially the City limits to Mackenzie, um, they got permanent straping left on that, but the asphalt is in place. Other than that, I don’t really have any other updates.

00:38:05,700	Thank you, Dan. Uh, next on my list is Bismarck, uh, Chris, I’ll let you, uh, provide updates for the city. Thanks Rachel. Uh, yeah, our South Washington Street Project is probably the, the biggest one right now. Uh, it’s progressing. A lot of the underground work is finishing up, so.

00:38:28,130	Parts of the project are having pavement put in so people can start to see. Some progress being made, uh, which is, is good, it’s still on track to finish this year. That’s been a popular question. Uh, Wachter Avenue is having a water main replacement between Washington Street and Highway 1804. That one’s progressing.

00:38:52,730	Uh, Tyler Parkway, we did a concrete pavement repair basically between Century Avenue and I-94. And this week and next week, that area is gonna have nighttime grinding operations. Um, all the concrete was replaced now they’re gonna do some grinding to make it as smooth surface, uh.

00:39:17,830	River Road is closed right now from Frane Barracks Road to the water treatment plant, uh, they’re doing, I believe it was reconstruction in that area. Divide Avenue is now open between 4th Street and State Street. Uh, that was a. Reconstruction project they replaced the asphalt with a concrete roadway. Um, and then over 19th Street in Calgary Avenue, uh, we had our first mini roundabout open up so.

00:39:41,800	There’s a little excitement right away on Facebook when that opened up, uh, but. My knowledge has been operating well. Traffic is flowing. As intended. OK, well, thank you, Chris. Um, uh, next on my list is Mandan.

00:40:06,430	Jarek, do you have any updates? 8th Avenue Northwest just 8th Avenue Northwest just west of the new high school was finished, I think, since the or substantially completed since the last meeting. The only thing left on that project is street lights and those will get installed in mid-October, I think was when they’re gonna be in. And then our Highway 6 trail. Um, from the, the, the Hart River Bridge down to 19th Street. That is substantially completed as well.

00:40:23,530	There’s a couple, couple minor items to wrap up on that too. Very good. Thanks, Jarek. Um, and last time my list, uh, Dean, are there any updates from the district? I suppose you won’t take no for an answer.

00:40:45,430	Um, 7 of the 9th Street is complete, um, in Bismarck, 161, they are continuing to work on the abutments and the piers, um, and building up the new ramps. Um, the bike path from 83 from Calgary to 43rd started a couple weeks ago, um. Currently they are, I think the they’re doing their last lift of payment today and tomorrow, so by the end of the week, that one should be wrapping up as well. Um, Grant Marsh.

00:41:09,130	They uh Today they they split the traffic back to one per each bridge, so one lane each direction they’re gonna work on the center, uh, medium barriers for removing the crossovers. Um, let’s see, we also started another project the.

00:41:30,530	Um, expressway, runway detection system is started a couple weeks ago and they’re continuing on that they’ve got almost all of it done there poured the uh. Uh, DMS board base, which they’ll have to wait for a while before that curs where they can start setting it, but that’s probably about all they have left, so. That one should be wrapping up shortly as well. Well, thank you very much, Dean. Thank you.

00:41:48,700	Good updates. Um, uh, depending on how the weather falls for next month, I think we will continue to have this item in the October meeting, uh, unless something, Um, cataclysmic cabins with snow and and all work stops, um, so we are wrapping up the end of our updates and I do expect us to

00:42:07,900	have, uh, updates next month. Um, Item 8 on the agenda is other business, Stephen and I both have some other business and I’ll let Stephen go first. Thank you, Rachel. I will share a screen very briefly here. Mm OK. So yes, we, um, processed an administrative modification to our 24 through 27 tip.

00:42:40,470	So this is a project that affects the 2024 fiscal year. Um, this modification moves in Burleigh County project, uh, for a seal cord on Highway 10 from funding year 25 to funding year 24 based on DOT’s direction, uh, we did not, none of the other project details are changing at this time.

00:43:00,730	We just received notice of this too late to get it into the regular agenda. This is just a FYI notice to our boards. Are there any questions? Thank you very much. All right, I have, um, two updates for you and Kim notified me that she also has one update, um, so she’ll go after me.

00:43:26,030	Uh, the first of my updates, uh, is regarding the safety policy study. Uh, we did receive proposals last Thursday and we received two proposals, one from SRF and one from Bolton and Main, uh, because we did not meet the, uh, minimum 3 proposals we have asked DOT to approve us to move forward with, uh, interviews.

00:43:51,100	Um, I did hear from a, a third company that was choosing not to propose, so uh we did have 3 responses, uh, but it depends on how DOT views this, uh. Um, And um, if we are approved for that, I will be reaching out to the selection committee with a little more information.

00:44:16,000	Uh, my second update is that, uh, last Friday, uh, um, all the NPO staff attended a meeting with NDDOT Federal Highway, Federal Transit, uh, as well as staff from the other NPOs. Uh, we do this 3 or 4 times a year. Um, and this meeting is called NPO Directors Meeting. Uh, there were a few mentionable items that I’d like to share with you.

00:44:34,200	Uh, first is, um, that NDDOT is updating software, uh, that has. become outdated, uh, softwares that they use to track, um, construction projects, um, and as a portion of this, uh, they are.

00:44:59,530	Instituting what is known as an E-tip or electronic step, uh, so this will be a software program, uh, that is available to, um, Engineering staff to uh. Uh, uh, NPO staff and of course, DOT staff to Both solicit for um create application of, um, and then track the progression of construction projects that use federal funds in our area.

00:45:29,670	So while our solicitation process and the selection process at DOT as well as the engineering staff’s work to to work through the construction of, of our federal aid projects. Um, those things have traditionally occurred in sort of siloed steps. Um, in the future, all of those will be handled within the same program.

00:45:53,730	Uh, Curly NDDOT staff is in the process of learning this new software and they’re liaisoning with the uh software company to create additional features that would be necessary and helpful for DOT staff. Um, there’s not yet a rollout date on this because that iterative training process takes a certain amount of time, um, but I would expect. For us to have updates on this in the future.

00:46:14,470	And, um, once it’s fully implemented at DOT, then, uh, it will be rolling out with um the NPO and the local, uh, jurisdictions. Um, we’ll be working with you and with the state partners to provide training on how to input your applications into the system, uh, but overall I think this will be a really helpful feature.

00:46:38,270	Um, so that once a project is implemented into the system, even if it’s not selected for funding, it still is in the program and it could be reapplied for without having to create a new application in the future.

00:46:58,870	Um, there also seems to be some um really strong benefits for, uh, being able to map and to view as, uh, these projects, their location within our community, and then to track the updates of the project as they move forward towards. completion.

00:47:24,630	So that’s very exciting, um, uh, the second update, um, is in regards to the use of urban roads funding and uh tech members will be well aware that within the MTP process, we’ve been trying to create a list of projects that we would like to pursue in the near future in our short range, um, plan.

00:47:46,470	Um, and we have received direction from DOT that with regards to the urban roads funding, um, we have a capped amount of funding that we can use each year and that we are no longer allowed to bank or save up those funds for a larger project, um. Uh This means that we’ll be looking at more maintenance type projects for the short range, um, future, uh DOT shared with us one caveat to this, uh, there would be conceivably one way for us to Use a larger amount of funding for a larger construction type,

00:48:14,700	um, urban roads project and the only way that this would work is that If our NPO region were to work collaboratively with the NPO region of Minot and the NPO region.

00:48:39,400	In Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, and the reason for this is that the funding that we receive for our urban roads, uh, projects is sub-allocated and it’s sub-allocated at the federal level for NPOs of our size. Um, Fargo Cog, uh, Metrocog, they are a larger size, so they have their own suballocation, but for the other three NPOs, we’re all in the same pot, and what DOT is doing is they’re dividing out that funding based on a formula.

00:49:00,000	To each of the three NPOs, so where in the past we might have collaboratively worked amongst our jurisdictions to share that funding. Now that process has been moved up to the NPO level.

00:49:20,800	And so, um, conceivably they there could potentially be a way for say Grand Forks MPO to use all of the funding in one year and then the next year for Bisman MPO and the next year for my not MPO to use all of that funding.

00:49:42,330	However, the coordination to be able to use that and the guarantee of the local agencies to be able to locally fund that level of a project, um, becomes a little bit more of a risk because there is now no ability to move that project to a different year or to lose funding on that project. Uh, for example, if we were to receive the full allocation for a larger project and then the local funding were to not come through or There would be some other issue with the project.

00:50:01,500	Um, that project would then essentially be turned back and none of that funding would be able to be used and we would have no guarantee it would come. Returning to us in a future year, so.

00:50:19,030	While it is possible, um, it’s, it would be very difficult to coordinate and there would be a higher risk, uh, but I wanted to share that with the group so that they were aware of that opportunity.

00:50:39,870	And if it’s something that you would like us to pursue NPO staff would then go to our counterparts in Minot and in Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, to see what opportunities there would be for us to maybe collectively rotate and share that larger allocation. So we’re very much open to doing that. But I wanted to lay out for you some of the drawbacks.

00:51:05,570	Um, Uh, the, the 3rd and final update that I wanted to bring to you from our directors meeting is that NDDOT is working on a process to issue old CPG funds. You’re well aware now that uh the NPO will work on a 12 month calendar, uh, with a 12 month grant, any funds, any federal funds that are not used at the end of the year go back to DOT and there’s no guarantee that they will return to our area.

00:51:23,630	However, DOT has been working um on a process where some of those funds may be returned to the NPO and the The way it would work is that the funds would um be returned in 2 years.

00:51:43,870	So for example, if there is funding in 2024 that we do not use by the end of this year that money will go back to DOT. There’ll be a bit of a process to sort through how much funding is collectively available for all the NPOs and then in 20.

00:52:08,100	In 2026, we would be able to plan for use of that funds, and there would be a process collectively amongst the NPOs of how much money is distributed back may be formulary, it may be just a shared process amongst the directors based on each NPO’s needs. Um, however, what I would like to stress to you is that if this uh reallocated money is returned to the NPO. It will be a very quick.

00:52:28,830	Turn around for the NPO to put that into the UPWP and assign it to a project or an acquisition. The NPO staff may prefer to have kind of a shelf ready idea of what, um, our jurisdictions would like to spend that money on and then if that money comes we can move very quickly on getting that procured.

00:52:51,700	Um, there are a lot of unknown, uh, questions with regards to the overall process, but um I’m presenting this to you so that you are aware that, yes, our unused funds will return to us, um, and to be aware that if and when that happens, we may be asking for a very quick collaboration. Um, And uh with that, those were all my updates.

00:53:16,800	I I’ll, I’m happy to take any questions that you might have on those. OK, well, I’ll let Kim finish up. Hey, thank you, Rachel. Uh, late last week, the North Dakota DOT did solicit for the fiscal year 207, Transportation alternatives program, um, because they solicited the NPO will now follow suit.

00:53:47,370	I do want to let you know that the Bismarck Mandan MPO has been using a two-tiered solicitation. So we have already completed our first tier of the solicitation which occurred, um, in, in July. We received preliminary applications from three of our jurisdictions in a total of 5 applications.

00:54:12,870	Those applications were reviewed by the Bike ped subcommittee and suggestions were made as to how each of those applications might be made stronger to become more competitive when they reach the state selection level. Uh, as we have completed that tier of the solicitation, uh, I’ll now send out tier 2.

00:54:38,200	which is the final solicitation all final TA applications will be due to the NPO by October 15th, um, Any jurisdictions uh getting suggestion letters for um. For additional um items to add into there their applications that have already been submitted, they will receive those letters in tandem with the solicitation.

00:55:04,670	So at their discretion they can incorporate those items, uh, also let it be known that any entity that did not submit a preliminary application can still submit a final application. Um, tier two is not dependent on having submitted a submitting a tier one. One application for review. So, um, that, that will be made clear in the solicitation as well. I look forward to seeing everybody’s application come November. Thank you. Thank you, Kim.

00:55:30,870	Um, are there any other elements of the business that the members would like to bring? OK, see, none I will announce