00:00:00,000	So no It And call the meeting of the TAC to order for April 14th, 2025. Stephen, could we have a roll call, please? Ben EHreth Here Dan Schriock. Deirdre Hughes. Here. Gabe Schell. John Saiki. Here Andrew Stromme. Jarek Wigness. Greg Feser. Mitch Flanagan? Yeah. Natalie Pierce Dean Schloss. Will Hutchings, Chair Riepl. Here. Thank you.

00:00:47,100	OK, we’ll call the meeting to order and the first item on the agenda is the review and possible approval of the minutes from the March 17th meeting of TA. They were included in your packet. Are there any corrections or additions to the minutes.

00:01:05,830	If not, do we have a motion for approval. Did you moved to approve. We have a first or second for approval. It’s Jarek second.

00:01:23,400	And Jarek, Yes, Gabel John Saiki. Yes. Andrew Stromme Jarek Wigness Mitch Flanagan Dean Schloss Will Hutchings, Chair Riepl. Yes, minutes are are approved as presented. Thank you. Uh, we’ll move on to item 2 in the agenda, and that is the arrive 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan Amendment. We do have a proposed amendment.

00:01:53,370	This would be the first amendment to uh the Metropolitan Transportation Plan that we adopted in December of 2024, um, The title of this amendment is Urban Regional Roads Program, PEA references and miscellaneous because it does cover, uh, quite, quite.

00:02:18,400	a large number of items, um, the purpose for this was to provide revised information regarding primarily the urban regional road program funds and address numerous miscellaneous changes throughout the document, um, in an effort to provide, uh, more accuracy or clarification of information. The urban regional Roads Program funding information was revised through changes to text and tables. Uh, we also removed text and table.

00:02:43,570	starting, planning, emphasis area, um, these PEAs were actually rescinded through an executive order, uh, by the president. And then also, um, there were additional numerous items that were revised or modified and, and for the, the sake of, um, ease and clarity, all of those were detailed throughout this amendment, um.

00:03:06,000	A 15 day public comment period was advertised in the Bismarck Tribune on March 29th, and it was also posted to our website. We, in addition to, um, providing public notice, did reach out specifically through email to our oversight agencies and also our TA members informing them of the proposed amendment and, uh, allowing for

00:03:29,870	any comment or questions to, to be voiced, um. To date, we have not received any comment, uh, through our. MPO, uh, email that is reserved for public comment, um, the only thing that I did receive back was a confirmation from oversight stating that their concerns had been satisfactorily addressed

00:03:57,170	through this amendment. So, uh, with that being said, Um I will Open this up for a public hearing as it was advertised for that 15-day public comment period ending with a public hearing at today’s meeting. Um, so at this time, I will open the public hearing for comment.

00:04:20,830	Do we have any comment from the public, either in person or online. Second call for public comment. And 3rd call for public comment. ing and seeing none, the public hearing is closed. Is there any discussion on the amendment that’s been proposed, Gabe.

00:04:44,730	Kim probably more just a question on what will happen after this? Is it the intent to replace the pages within the MPO’s document, or is it the intention to have an attachment at the end that says, you know, see these other pages. Can you maybe just talk about the formatting and what we’ll experience or what the public will experience if this passes. Certainly, Gabe. Thank you.

00:04:58,570	That’s a very good question. Um. Just as you had alluded to all of the changes that are made will be made in, in the document itself, and so there will be a clean document posted on the MPO website and, uh, distributed, uh, to our attack members for their use, um, in addition, this proposed

00:05:19,930	amendment, should it be uh approved, it will change from proposed to approved on our website so that folks can always look back and kind of see uh how.

00:05:41,300	How the, the The methodology kind of played out in making those changes, but yes, the actual document itself will be completely revised, updated, and there will be a clean document available. Thank you. You’re welcome. Any other questions at all? OK, I will. No, no questions, but a comment. Just to say, uh, thank you.

00:06:01,470	I know that this process got a little out of order, uh, because of the, the transitions that were happening within the MPO staff at the time and some things were missed, and we really appreciate that the MPO was able to take the time to work with us to get these rectified and, and the changes made and then of course then we had to go a little bit farther

00:06:12,370	and making sure that we had the um changes reflective of the presidential executive order. So again, thank you and we have no further comments, so. All right, well thank you for that, well, uh. As there are no further comments.

00:06:30,400	Would there be a motion to recommend approval of the proposed amendment to the MTP. Andrew had moved to approve. Thank you, Andrew. We have a first. Is there a second? And Gabe 2nd roll call, please. Ben Ereth. Yes. Deer Hughes. Gabriel Johnacki. Yes. Andrew Stromme, Jack Wigness Mitch Flanagan. Yes, Dean Schloss? Yes. Will Hutchins, Chair Ripple. Yes.

00:07:02,470	The proposed amendment has been approved for, uh, recommendation of approval to the policy board. Thank you. Number 3 on the agenda today is the 2025 safety policy study update, Luke Champa, I believe, is online to join us and provide that update this morning. Thanks Char Ripple. Can you hear me all right? Yes, we can. Thank you. Good, um.

00:07:24,370	Yeah, quick update on the safety policy study, uh, we held our second steering committee meeting. Thank you all for attending and participating in that there’s a lot of content to to get through and uh we we did it somehow some way we got a lot of good feedback on a couple

00:07:42,470	exhibits that are included in your packet, uh, the first being the literature and policy review, uh, we received some notes regarding access management policies, uh, as well as.

00:08:08,200	triangle, um, policies or guidelines, and so we’ll be adding those components in as applicable to uh local jurisdictions, but in general I think that will help us, uh, provide some, some policy level recommendations for um best practices and improvement. Uh, in, in some of those areas. Um, again, a reminder, the uh lid and policy review is intended to, uh, provide the, the framework.

00:08:32,630	And, um, The guidance For us moving forward and what to expect, uh, with the safety policy study. For example, uh, one of the things from the national and state literature, uh, is the Vision Zero and uh establishing a leadership commitment and goal setting related to that.

00:08:54,030	We, we had a good conversation about that and uh feedback, so we’ll be putting together a draft, uh, vision 0 statement and uh uh. Associated with that. Uh, so it’s a very helpful meeting for our team, uh, the second exhibit that you’ll see is, uh, Related to the data review and we’re calling that a working memo.

00:09:17,730	Uh, moving forward with our, our safety analysis we’ll be documenting how we are using specific uh data. Um, or we are listing our um intended use of that data, if we haven’t got there yet, so there’ll likely be some changes to that memo as we move forward uh to document how we’re using things in in the development of the, the study.

00:09:41,470	Um, as, as far as, uh, Critical next steps, we have been cruising on on safety analysis. Um, so, Between now and our next steering committee meeting we will be, uh, likely blasting out a bunch of uh of material and background information including a crash trend summary, a draft leadership commitment and goal setting, uh, language and target and then uh there is also the high injury network

00:10:07,830	analysis, which we discussed. Which will get out, uh, and then we are still, um, figuring out our methodology for, uh, systemic. Uh, type analysis looking at risk factors, in particular those which may may be outside of the urbanized area and in rural portions of Morton and, and Burleigh County.

00:10:30,100	Um, because that there’s likely a you know, less density of severe crashes or fatalities and serious injuries. In real portions of the county, just, just given VMT and. ADTs Uh, so we’ll be doing a systemic analysis to supplement that eye injury network.

00:10:53,000	Um, and then another goal for, for our June steering committee meeting will be to discuss, uh, The safety countermeasure tool kit and um specifically, you know, the items that we’re listing, but also how we are going to um filter those things, uh, you know, whether it’s through functional class or urban versus rural, uh, those are pretty straightforward ways to filter those safety

00:11:19,270	countermeasures, uh, but we can discuss and we will discuss that in in June. So there’ll be a lot of material coming your way. Before the meeting and then it’s shaping up to be a, uh, a pretty robust, at least from a content standpoint meeting.

00:11:37,370	In June, but you’ll, you’ll get another update between now and then, so. I think that covers oh no well there’s one other critical item, um, our subconsultant partner emergent strategies group, uh, is scheduling focus group meetings, um, targeting May 1st for those meetings and then uh we do have to pop up events that we’re calling community

00:12:01,270	conversations. Uh, the first is happening at the Earth Day Festival. On April 29th, so about two weeks away. And then the second is, um, The touch of touch a truck event in Mandan on May 17th and um the intent for those is to engage people of all ages and walks of life and a conversation about

00:12:25,930	transportation safety and specifically get some uh Qualitative feedback about specific areas where they they might have the most concern. So be more of an open-ended conversation with some maps and stickers and uh some, some activities for, for younger kids as well, so. Um, with that, I think that’s the the major stuff.

00:12:49,470	So, um, I’d be happy to answer any questions to rip off, if anything comes up. All right. Well, thanks for the great update, Luke. Are there any questions at all? Um, well with DOT, I just had a quick question.

00:13:07,100	I know that Bismarck and Mandan are both either uh nearing the end of their update to a zoning ordinance or in the process of one and um when you’re talking about some of the data you received, I was wondering if we’re getting you information that we anticipated will be once this plan is is done or if there’s uh been any discussion about uh the fact that those are changes that are potentially coming.

00:13:22,730	Yeah, we haven’t, we haven’t had a conversation that’s a great question. Well, we haven’t heard, um, Any conversation about that. about that yet, but um, there, there may likely be some. Um, I’m thinking of like the, the site triangle.

00:13:47,300	Uh, guidance, for example, or access management and and how that kind of crosses over with LDC or uh development code updates um and so. I, I think I’ll reach out, um. Separately to uh each jurisdiction Mandan and Bismarck about that, um. Just to see if there’s specific things that we need to to look at or coordinate on if those are sort of nearing the end of their process, um.

00:14:11,670	We’ll probably just want to understand like the breadth and and scope of of some of the updates and then um. There may be some policy level recommendations. I’m thinking of like. For example, um, Things like, uh, circuity or uh connectivity in your local street network, so I, you know, interesting example would be.

00:14:34,100	Avoiding um You know, cul de sacs or numerous cul de sacs, um. Maybe increasing or increasing that uh directness of travel. Um, or having that redundancy in your system can oftentimes, uh, you know, help with reliability and and safety and um cut through traffic, things like that, so, um.

00:14:59,130	That’s a, that’s a really good point. May I ask who would be the best contacts to sort of have a conversation about the status of the LDCs and Um, how we, how we might or might not incorporate. Some of that into the safety policy study.

00:15:21,100	Who would be the best you, you would probably want to speak with Daniel Nairn with the city of Bismarck Community Development department and then of course um. Andrew Stromme has been leading the effort and manow side, so. OK. Also I can certainly get you Daniel’s contact information as well.

00:15:44,100	I think I’ve, I’ve had an email, um, or two from Daniel in the past, but I’ll reach out Kim if I have any issues. That’s good. Get a hold of him. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions for Luke or? Comments on the safety policy study? OK, thanks. Thank you all. Thank you, Luke. All right, we’ll move on to item number 4, which is the 2025 ITSRA update, um.

00:16:10,870	We started the update to the intelligent transportation System Regional architecture, uh, in February, March, we held a series of small group stakeholders, um, meetings and uh some of the feedback from those meetings are still being processed.

00:16:34,300	This information is going to help develop the questionnaire for the next round of meetings and, uh, in addition to those March meetings, follow up to input received in the gathering of additional feedback. is ongoing. There were several small stakeholder group, uh, representatives that weren’t able to participate in those meetings and so, uh, we’re kind of doing some one on one follow up.

00:16:58,370	Um, in addition to that, a meeting is proposed for April 17th, which will involve, uh, city engineer Gabe Schell and several other other representatives, um, such as from public works and, uh, from IT departments, uh, we’re going to be trying to identify IT issues related to both the traffic and the maintenance service areas.

00:17:22,870	We know that sometimes, um, due to, um, heavy cybersecurity measures that are Are implemented, uh, sometimes there are barriers, um, to the folks that need to gain access to. And some of this information, so we wanna make sure that we’re staying ahead of that curve.

00:17:39,370	Uh, we are still in need of further information from the city of Lincoln Police Department and public works departments there as well, so still some follow up that’s occurring. Uh, we do anticipate being able to share some new information in May, including insights gathered from the different youth centers, uh, which are emergency traffic maintenance, transit, and IT, um, any questions at this point regarding the ITS update. OK.

00:18:06,530	Kim, I CC you on the same email, but there, our meeting that should be scheduled for this week. We didn’t see that invite come through yet, so hopefully that gets arranged and that that availability is still open on the various people’s schedules that we’re trying to grab.

00:18:19,630	So that might get pushed out if, if we aren’t able to all meet at that time. I noticed your email this morning and I kind of thought that was gonna go out on Friday, but I didn’t see anything either, so I’ll follow up with Sherry Dad on it. Thank you.

00:18:39,100	Anything else on the ITS update? OK, well then we will just, uh, roll right into item number 5, which is the 2025 monitoring Report update and Stephen will provide us that. Thank you. Thank you very much, Chair. So, uh, just a very brief update on this project, uh, which is an update to the MPOs, uh, monitoring report, which is tracking statistical transportation and demographic data for our region.

00:19:01,130	We finalized our contract with HDR, the selected consultant for the project on March 21st. So we held the kickoff meeting for this project on March 31st, and I will be meeting with the consultant on a regular basis going forward.

00:19:18,630	We will be reviewing the existing monitoring report documents for data, content, and we will also be holding a stakeholder workshop in the next couple of months, the date to be determined, but we’ll be meeting with our jurisdictional planners and engineers, so many of you will be included in the invitation for this meeting, um.

00:19:34,630	So we can better understand your data and performance measure needs as we prepare this update, so just keep in mind. You know, if yourself or your elected officials, what kind of information, uh, you might, might be helpful to you to have available, uh, on a kind of easy one click basis, um. The contracted completion date for this update is December 31st.

00:19:52,230	So more updates, uh, will be forthcoming as we proceed. It may not be every month, but the consultant is planning to be present at many of our board meetings going forward. Any questions? Any questions for Stephen on the update. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Stephen.

00:20:13,100	All right, number 6 is the 2024 Consolidated Planning Grant redistribution update, um, I’ll just, uh, give you a reminder here, um, we did talk about this briefly at last month’s meeting. Uh, regarding our 2024 consolidated Planning Grant funds and the unspent funds and what would happen to those at our MPO directors meeting, uh, that took place on February 28th, North Dakota DOT kind of

00:20:39,730	rolled out the process as to how we were going to address the redistribution of these funds, um, we had worked, you know, over the past year to coordinate this, and it was decided that in coordination with the MPOs, uh, Federal Highway and and DOT, um, local government division, they would

00:20:59,470	review the estimated turnback CPG funding balance from each of the MPOs and then share that information, uh, as a cumulative figure, um, with the MPOs, and then we would have 2 weeks to discuss amongst ourselves as MPOs, uh, what we felt best would, um, or how, how we felt we could best

00:21:22,670	utilize those unspent. 2024 CPG funds, uh, the 4 MPOs were able to provide that information and recommendation to DOT on March 6th, so, uh, they, they took a look at that, um, made some calculations.

00:21:46,000	They’re kind of, um, still in the process of getting us those final numbers, um, but they do have until April 15th, so I’m hoping to have a, a good number to work with by tomorrow, maybe. Well, we’ll see how that goes, um. In the meantime, the MPO is starting to um work on its, you know, beginning budget and work program development and in fact this afternoon, there will be a meeting of uh.

00:22:06,370	Many of you in this room, uh, well, we’ll get together and we’ll start discussing, uh, uh, studies that had been previously identified for years 26 through 29 and maybe any new needs to the jurisdictions and we’ll be taking a look at at what we would like to get programmed into our biennial, uh, budget

00:22:25,730	and work program for 26 and 27, um. We, we are working with some very fluid figures at this point for our, our budget, um. Our 2025. Federal portion was 684,000 and change and typically we, we project about a 2% increase year over year for, for our budgeting uh process so you know that might

00:22:54,270	put us at about the 609,798,000 range, and then we’re hoping with um, uh, you know, the 2024 CPG turn back that it might put us in the in the 800,000.

00:23:22,170	Ballpark, um, again, like I said, we’re working with very fluid numbers at this point, uh, we won’t know anything more concrete until we have our, our 24 CPG turnback figures from DOT, but, um. Will, will embark on identifying our studies, um, kind of based on some real loose numbers, um, any questions regarding the, the CPG redistribution or how that fits into our budgeting process.

00:23:48,730	Gabe do you have a timeline for like a final resolution of when, when you will have certainty on what that budget number is. Uh, well, again, we, we typically start developing our work program and our budget based on the assumption that we’re going to see a 2% increase over the, uh, the allotment that we, or the allocation that we got the year prior, uh, and, um.

00:24:10,130	Uh, we, we won’t know about the redistribution for sure until tomorrow, um, April 15th, but yeah, I’m hoping that, uh, for, for policy board I can bring a little firmer number in for that and for our discussion today, like I said, we’re working with some, some pretty fluid numbers, uh, typically by

00:24:30,370	the time that we have developed our work program and, and budget, um, you know, we’ll bring this back. Around maybe July for hopeful adoption.

00:24:48,530	We’re gonna try and get a little earlier timeline going this year than we have in the past, so, uh, we would hope that we would have some pretty, pretty concrete numbers from DOT working with us on that by then. And Will, you might be able to add uh how that rolls out through the DOT, um, just a quick reminder, we’re working on continuing obligation for our funding bill, so, you know, everything’s a little bit more fluid, uh, and we don’t have,

00:25:06,170	um, FTA funds. exact until um later in the year. So, uh, we’ll develop it, we’ll give you an estimate based on like a 2% increase over previous years, um, and then when, while we’re developing the list, we’ll have a more concrete number from FTA, um, but overall, yeah, your process is correct.

00:25:24,800	When, and by tomorrow we’re we’re, we’re required by federal regs to have that number out to you, so by the policy board meeting tomorrow, I, I think I should be able to get you an updated amount. Uh, if you were looking at it, that 800,000 mark at the pretty much close to.

00:25:39,830	Spot on on that, so, right, well, thanks for that.

00:25:52,630	Any other questions? Mhm OK, why don’t we you’re going to provide that for us. All right, thanks. Hi everyone, just makes it a little bit easier, I guess, to look at everyone, um, so just a quick update on kind of what’s been going on with Transit 2024, part of 2025 so far.

00:26:13,570	Um, we’ve had some really exciting things happening, so I wanted to make sure to share that with the group and then obviously policy board tomorrow. Um, so we celebrated our 20 year anniversary in May of 24, um, we had two free ride weekends, so it’s the first time that we’ve done a free ride weekend as opposed to just a free ride day.

00:26:28,570	Um, we found to be very successful. We had 831 trips the first weekend. And 914 trips the second weekend just on Cat. Um, so those are the biggest weekends that we’ve had since pre-COVID. Obviously at that time. Fortunately, through the rest of 2024, we did have some bigger weekends following that.

00:26:45,130	Um, one thing financially that was a big win for us was we switched to Brightline Insurance from North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund. We had some issues with um not wanting to cover us to the $3 million requirement, um, for our brokerage agreement with the city of Bismarck.

00:27:01,100	Um, so then we have to seek out an umbrella policy to get us that last million that they weren’t able to provide, and that’s a umbrella policy ended up being more than our base policy. So, um, did some looking around, met uh individual insurance broker at the DTA conference in Mayot um through Brightline Insurance and uh a lot of nonprofit transit agencies, especially in South Dakota,

00:27:20,900	have used them in the past, had great, great reviews. Um, we were able to sign with them and save about a $90,000 annually, um, with that policy change.

00:27:39,400	Um, we did a lot of community outreach this last year, uh, University of Mary Community Fair, United Tribes Technical College Community Fair, Touch a Truck, New American Job, uh, Fair, the YMCA National Senior Health and Fitness Vendor showcase, um, train the trainer with Cloverdale, uh Global Neighbors Group, uh, Kappa on the on board training, um, pre-presentations at United Way Homeless Shelter and some in classroom training as well.

00:28:00,900	Um, Missouri Valley slope para transit training, and then worked with BPS. Life Education program for some para transit training. Um, we also had, we’re fortunate enough to receive some funding through the ND Council for Developmental Disabilities to create and um put on an introduction to cat and introduction to para transit, um, courses.

00:28:20,100	Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot of interest in those, but through that program, we were able to actually record and develop um training that we can use for future, um, future trainings if we’re not able to go on site, we can just share a video, PowerPoint with them.

00:28:35,830	Um, we did extend our city of Lincoln Pair transit service contract, so we are good to go with the City of Lincoln, continuing that service. Um, advertising revenue has been a huge push for us, um, since we took it in-house. I want to say it was 2019 or 2020, um, where we’re no longer relying on a third party.

00:28:52,400	So any of the revenue that we’re getting for advertising is coming straight to us. We’re not paying anyone commission any longer, and we were actually able to exceed our advertising goal, and we sold $123,953 in advertising revenue.

00:29:13,870	Um, also, we are fortunate enough to have a Opportunity to invest in quite a few CDs last year, um, and in ongoing into this year, so we’re able to generate $280,930 in interest off CDs and our cash reserves, which is wonderful because that was all revenue that we had not anticipated until those interest rates started to go up and we actually had enough to invest with our cash flows.

00:29:31,000	Um, we also did offer free ride days for all the elections for both or for both para transit and fixed drought. So on June 11th we provided 466 cat trips and 33 pair transit trips, and then on November 5th, we provided 562 cat trips and 358 pair transit trips.

00:29:50,670	So both were really big days for us considering they were Tuesdays. Um, we did receive 4 replacement pair of transit buses and 2 new vans, so they were not um fleet editions. The the buses were not fleet editions, they were just replacing, um, vehicles that had exceeded useful life, the vans, one of them was an addition and one was a replacement.

00:30:08,870	Um, with Stuff the bus, we had, uh, this is our, I think our 6th year. 5th year of So the bus, um, and we collected for ministry on the margins this year. We collected over 700 items for them, so we did our weeklong drive and then took everything over there.

00:30:23,800	I think it was December 16th and dropped it all off. So it’s, it’s always an exciting experience to see, um, where you’re, you’re being able to help the community and not just the paratransit and the fixture side of things, but, um, a lot of people who are likely our clients who are using that

00:30:40,100	service. Um, our cat ridership, we ended the year at 121,538 trips. So this was a 20.89% increase from 2023. Um, I’m working on our national transit database reporting, um, that we have to do annually, and they flagged this thinking that um it was a a typo because we had such a significant increase

00:31:00,800	from your year over year, and they said that’s very unusual if you haven’t had any um revenue hours or service area changes. I said, no, that’s, that’s real. So it’s, it’s exciting to see that. of a jump. Um, our pair transit ridership was 90,27, which was just a 2%, 2.8% increase from 2023.

00:31:20,200	Um, our Black Route was our top performing route, and our second, um, high performing route was our orange routes. Uh, we were fortunate enough to, uh, have a reduction in our at-fault accidents. Um, we had 19 in 2023 and only 14 in 2024.

00:31:38,170	Um, and then obviously measure one passing in both Bismarck and Mandan, um, that leaves a lot of work for several people at this table, um, into this year, but we’re really excited what that’s going to bring for our service as a whole and obviously handling the deficit that we had projected for several years, um, but some 2025 accomplishments so far as

00:31:55,630	we just received our final audit. Um, this is the 5th year of a clean audit for us, um, so it’s very exciting, especially with a small group of people, um, to have clean audits back to back.

00:32:12,730	Um Let’s see here, the uh urban directors for all the transit agencies, so that’d be my not Fargo Grand Forks and myself, um, had worked together to advocate for Senate Bill 2254. Um, the governor did sign that on April 3rd.

00:32:34,100	So what it is is $2 million to the Department of Transportation for the purpose of providing grants to fixed rout city transportation providers for associated pair transit services for the biennium beginning July 1st, 2025 ending June 30th, 2027. Um, it’s a one time funding item um through that there’s Also, um, A legislative management shall find the funding needs for a fixed drought, uh, study, so hopefully we’ll see something come from, from that study, um, for all the urbans.

00:32:54,930	Um, and we just received awards for our FY 26,, 5310 and 5339 grants that we had applied for, um, so all of the projects that we had applied for last fall, I think we’re approved by this committee for the application were awarded, um, so that was, uh, all of our operations grants, um, that covers our demand response or early

00:33:11,470	morning or after hours, our Sunday and our holiday service at 50/50, and then our mobility manager, which which is an 80/20 split. We did also get $611,184 in federal funds for a replacement of um 4 cutaway buses, um, and then 561,000 to replace one fixed rope bus and another 157,000 to help cover

00:33:34,470	the costs of a grant that by the time we were able to place an order for a fixed bus, the cost of that bus head inflated so much that we weren’t able to proceed.

00:33:47,830	So we were fortunate enough to be able to kind of get, um, Uh, supplements, so we’ll be able to order to fix route buses this year for hopeful delivery next fall. And then, um, some other shop equipment and then one other exciting one that’s kind of more of a um ridership or client facing is, um, transitioning all of our fixed rope buses to the fatt tire

00:34:04,230	bikes. We did receive funding for that project, so $12,800 in federal funding. So we’ll be ordering, um, the Fat tire bike racks within the next month or so to hopefully have them installed for the summer season.

00:34:24,170	Any questions? Well, any questions for Deidre on BisMan Transit activities through the year. Thanks, Deidre. That was, uh, that was an amazing amount of information. Uh, you have a lot of exciting things going on, and I, I would just want to congratulate you, I, I don’t know if anybody else pulled this out, but, uh, 5th year in a row clean audit. good job. I mean, that’s outstanding.

00:34:43,470	You have a lot of things going on. You got a lot of balls in the air, so yeah, every year, every year it kind of compiles, but it’s going good, so thank you. Thank you. All right, we’ll move into our um updates on roadway projects.

00:34:59,930	I, I don’t know the season, you know, we’re just kind of getting started, so oh oops, I’m sorry I skipped. I have so much writing here that I skipped right over the, um, FY 26 RTP program’s gonna give us that North Dakota Parks and Recreation District solicited for applications for the FY 2026 recreational trails program or RTP. So they opened their solicitation. It was a tight window.

00:35:24,930	They opened on April 1st and accepted applications through yesterday, April 13th. So we send out notification of this on April 4th, and unfortunately, yeah, unfortunately, we overlooked, uh, getting this notice sent earlier, so we apologize for that, but if your jurisdictions submitted an application to the Park District for the program, and you have not already done

00:35:43,100	so, please forward the information to me so that we can pursue approval of the project at our board meetings next month in May and provide you a letter of support to add to your application. This is required, but it can be submitted after after application submitted.

00:36:00,370	Um, I’ve so far received 22 applications notices, um, so I expect to at least have those to bring to the board next month. Thank you. Any questions you Stephen. Any questions for Stephen on the RTP program. Oh Ben Yeah, thanks for the update, Stephen. Um, you, you noticed that it, it, it, it was a, a tight window.

00:36:22,130	I, I don’t recall if it’s ever been this short a window before. Is this, is this a new development that that the window for application has, I guess, shrunk or is, is uh is this an anomaly or anticipated in the future maybe.

00:36:41,270	I think it presents some challenges for for you and the MPOs, probably all the MPOs across the state to get it through their, uh, approval processes. Yeah, I think last year it was a similar window if I remember correctly, but I don’t, so I think it’s I think it’s only been, but I only think it’s been just 2 years as far as I know.

00:36:59,930	Yeah, I can kind of add to that too, um, thanks, Stephen and, and Ben, that’s a good question. We’ve had, uh, A considerable um uh differential in, in the application windows that have been provided by North Dakota Parks and Rec for this particular, uh, funding program, um, they’ve, I, we have had 60 days in the past,

00:37:20,830	um, 30 days, but, um, I think that they have been steadily working to refine their program and the process involved with it, uh, we do have the agreement worked out with, with them that although the approval of the policy boards.

00:37:42,400	For MPO area applications is required, um, it is not necessarily required as part of the application process, so they’ve, they’ve kind of allowed us that latitude and the applicants that latitude so that um uh they don’t get hung up, but um. Yeah, this is probably the um tightest application timeline that we’ve had to work with, so. Yeah, thanks, Stephen and Kim.

00:38:04,800	It, it has been a great program for the Bismarck Mandan area, so hopefully it continues to be uh to support the area not only, I think it presents challenges for the MPO, but probably more importantly, the applicants themselves probably have a tighter window, so, um, yeah, I’m not, not, uh.

00:38:26,470	Not, not sure of the, the, the quality of applications that they’re getting with this tighter window, but, uh, it certainly seems to present some challenges for all, so thanks for that clarification. And this is, uh, yeah, I, I’m surprised too by the thirteen-day window.

00:38:46,730	Um, Is there any opportunity for the MPO to work with its member jurisdictions to pre-identify potential projects or is it, or is it the or you can do I’m waiting until the application is open and you know exactly what’s available and what it will fund.

00:39:00,730	Right, um, and that’s a, that’s a good thought, like, um, just like pre-soliciting, um, and we do that with um. Most of our other, our federal opportunities, um. However, As I said, I, I feel that North Dakota Parks and Rec has been trying to refine their process, and I would be a little hesitant in, in trying to, you know, get a head start on that without knowing how they were going to roll things

00:39:23,300	out for the year, so through their solicitation, um, until such time as, you know, things maybe get worked out in that regard. I, I think we’re better off kind of waiting for, for their notification so. Yeah But uh we hope that this will continue to work for our jurisdictions.

00:39:43,800	Um, we’ve been getting very, very good quality applications through so and uh the approvals and the awards, um, are they’re pretty successful in getting funds awarded, so that’s also a good thing.

00:40:07,870	Anything else on the RTP? OK, then we will move on to our roadway projects and um I am going to start with Morton County is John Saiki still on with us? Yes, I am. Yeah, OK. You got anything I have nothing to report. OK. Well, it’s pretty early yet. I wasn’t sure what we were going to have going here. All right, uh, how about the um City of Mandan.

00:40:26,000	Um, the only two I can think of really off the top of my head are, are Old Red Trail shared use path and our. Rapid rectangular flashing Beacon projects.

00:40:43,630	Both of those are, have been bid and Awarded and they are currently through going through contract routing, so we’re gonna get started on those soon. And I do have Memorial Highway, but I was going to leave that for, leave that for Dean. Yeah OK, um, let’s see, we don’t have anybody from City of Lincoln.

00:41:08,670	How about Burleigh County, Mitch? Um Burleigh County, um, yeah, I, I know we’re working on replacing the bridge on 236th Street, uh, other than that, you’d have to ask Dan

00:41:22,100	Yep, so we’ll only have one project, uh, federal aid related, and that’s our South Washington Street project that we did the majority of it last year, but they’ll still be landscaping, um, asphalt tie-ins, some chip seal, uh, some pavement marking type things that will be done this year.

00:41:38,630	So activity will be sporadic throughout the construction year, but that should be all done, you know, early to mid-summer time frame, um, not federally funded but pretty significant in our world is our East Centurry Avenue construction project funded through state, um, flexible transportation grant funding and the majority of it.

00:41:56,300	Uh, through our local half cent sales tax, so it’s our reconstruction of excuse me, Century Avenue from about Centennial Road out to Fifty-Second Street and then actually constructing 5 2nd Street from.

00:42:14,470	Gold Drive down to Century Avenue, so we’ll start getting hot and heavy into that, um, maintaining two-way traffic at all times, uh, at least to Roosevelt Drive, uh, from the West, so might not be on the existing road. It might be building you a new road or might be building you a temporary road, but we’ll be keeping, uh, the public activity through that area with anticipated more activity occurring one school, um, is out for the summer. Uh, that’s when we’ll see the most of that activity start happening in earnest.

00:42:30,930	And if anyone wants more information, Bismarcknd.gov/streets has a map of all of our anticipated construction maps and, and projects that we’re going to be doing this summer. good resource. Thanks for providing that Gabe. How about from the district DOT. Um, I guess, uh, 161, we’re currently.

00:42:55,930	One lay closed in each direction, that’s going to remain that way for a while. Tuesday of this week, they’re going to start setting beams. So from 10 o’clock to 6 o’clock, the interstate will be closed and you’ll have to go up the ramp and over to make PM, yes. Thank you for that clarification. Um, currently they’re, they’re pouring with slow protection.

00:43:15,170	That’s why they have the lane enclosures, but, uh, big news is that one will be, it’ll interstate would be closed for a while throughout the night. Um, and then you, uh, 16, uh, the interstate starting from 161 to Minokan, that’s one lane in each direction as well.

00:43:32,630	Later this week, that’ll go head to head in the Westbound lanes. And they’ll start removing the eastbound lanes, so that’ll be a lot of work in one little area.

00:43:48,400	And then I did forget about the Memorial Highway and I was jotting it down right where you said it, but uh currently there, they’re getting all the traffic control set up to get barriers out there later this week and start removals there as well. So on that one, they’ll be, uh,, 22 lanes in each direction and a center turn lane at all times, no matter what surface you’re on, it’ll be a temporary road or the current one, but.

00:44:03,500	Similar to what Bismarck’s doing. All right. Well, thank you, Dean. Good stuff to know all of it, um, will be. Will be watchful as we’re motorists out there for road closures and lane, lane reductions and things like that, so, um, OK, that wraps up our roadway project update, um. Other business.

00:44:26,370	Anybody have any other business I’d like to share? Um, yeah, this is from DOT, um, just a couple of quick updates. One, we start the process of updating our long range transportation plan, um, our transportation connection, as it’s called, uh, they reached out, um, the, the planning team reached out and

00:44:42,800	asked if any of the MPO or cities have pedestrian or bicycle counts and that they could take and and integrate into their efforts for modeling the strategic plan. I know that this is, um, your, your MPO is doing a little bit of kind of information you’ve gotten some through uh various um.

00:45:01,000	Uh, automated counters and whatnot, um, if you have any additional counts, it’d be happy to take those from you. Uh, the other update I have is, uh, save the date for the 2025 Vision Zero partner conference that’s scheduled for May 7th through the 8th.

00:45:15,930	It’s here in Bismarck, and it’ll be held at the State College, uh, National Energy Center of Excellence. So, uh, you can attend this one in person or virtually and I encourage all who have interest to consider attending. I want to tell you about your hotel accommodations for a block of rooms, so I don’t really think that really applies here.

00:45:32,370	So, yeah, give me additional questions, there’s information on our website. OK, thank you, Bill. Uh, and you and I, we can maybe touch base, uh, offline regarding some bike ped counts too, OK. Uh, any other other business? OK, well, I have a couple of things that I would like to share. Oh, I’m sorry, did I miss something? No, go ahead. You got it. I’m checking.

00:45:54,870	No, no, you have something that, that’s yours, I think. I thought you were going to do it. I have some other things. Oh, darn it. I don’t want to hug it all.

00:46:10,130	Anyway, um, Logan Bay, he’s here, he’s gonna be taking over my spot in the, the TA committee, so. Um, he’s new to this position, but not to the DOT. He’s got a lot of experience and a lot of planning, so it’ll be quite helpful, I think, in this position, so. Well, thanks, Dean. We’re gonna miss you at the table.

00:46:27,670	We’re gonna miss having you here, yeah, um, but we really are going to extend a warm welcome to Logan because, um, you know, by all accounts, I’ve heard that he’s gonna be a great resource to, to this tech and so we’re looking forward to having you join us, um, next month up here and yeah, it’s

00:46:43,630	good to have you, Logan. Yeah Um Let’s see, um. In in that spirit, um, And since we’re talking about people kind of coming and going, uh, it, it’s kind of a bittersweet thing that I have to announce that Andrew, um, this will be Andrew Stromme's last meeting up at this table as well, um, he is

00:47:12,370	got some other pursuits that um he’s he’s going to go after, um, so I would just like to thank Andrew for um and and and you Dean, um, you know. Everything that you contribute to this technical advisory committee, um, sometimes you don’t realize, I think how valuable your input is and what your contributions

00:47:35,000	are, but they’re far reaching and, and it’s very, very much appreciated, so, um, I’d like to thank both of you and um. Uh, Andrew, if you have anything that you’d like to add because you are kind of. Adventurous, um. Thanks, Ken. I don’t really have much.

00:47:59,470	I didn’t realize as part of starting these jobs that Resigning on live TV was gonna be part of it. But now that this is round 3, I, I have announced that I have um. Kind of resigned from my position. I’ll be done on May 9th.

00:48:18,470	I’ve learned a lot from everybody at this table and all the different tables that we’ve sat around together over the course of the last 4 years. Um, For the next year or so I’m going to just kind of take a little bit of a break from.

00:48:36,630	Working on these sorts of projects and, and these sorts of roles and uh take a little bit of time to reconnect with myself, my goals personally and uh eventually returned back to the field or find something else to settle into. I’m hoping to get to ski quite a bit in the meantime and, and I’ll be living in.

00:48:54,270	Kind of months or so, so. think again. Andrew, I’m a little offended you, you blocked off the internship years so that puts you more like 6 or 7 actually, so. Yes, it, it’s been a, it’s been a good run. Good to have you here and uh we wish you all the best on, on your future adventures and endeavors, so.

00:49:17,200	Uh, OK, that’s enough of people leaving. How about, how about something here we’ve got, we’ve been going through um. The interview process for the MPO’s transportation planner and we just concluded the interview process last week, in fact, um.

00:49:44,400	We had a great response to our um advertisement for, for the position, um, with over, with 30 candidates actually, 30 applications that were put in and we had to go through, uh, a two-tiered interview process just to get the candidates refined to a number where we could, you know, um, get those interviews actually conducted. So, um, I am very, very proud and happy to announce.

00:50:08,670	announced that Stephen Larson rose right to the top, um, through the process and, uh, has accepted the offer to be the MPO’s next transportation planner, and so, um, we’re very happy for that.

00:50:29,400	We feel that this is going to be a pretty seamless process and um we’re, I’m sure you’ll all join me in, in congratulating him and welcoming him to his new position. In the meantime, he will still, as he’s assuming some of the transportation planner roles, he will still also be maintaining, uh, those. Responsibilities and those activities that he was conducting its transportation specialist.

00:50:52,730	So, um, in regard to, uh, administration of the tip and all of our financial management, uh, if you had any, uh, connection with, with Stephen in that regard, um, continue those conversations and those connections with him, he’ll, he’ll still be assuming

00:51:09,800	uh, I also would just like to um put a bug in everybody’s ear with the reminder that the MPO is hosting a bicycle friendly community workshop on May 21st and 22nd. Uh, this is free to anybody who would like to attend. Uh, it is a 1.5 day workshop. It will start the morning of the 21st, um.

00:51:33,930	And that afternoon we will have a bike audit, so we’ve coordinated with, uh, Bismarck Parks and Recreation District for the use of their bee cycle, uh, bicycles, um, 10 of which are electric, um, e-bikes.

00:51:57,870	So, um, those are kind of being distributed on a as needed, um, by indication on the registration kind of basis, um. And then the next morning we will kind of conclude things uh in a classroom type setting again. Now I just, I want to extend this offer to absolutely everybody. We’re hoping to see elected officials there.

00:52:21,900	We’re hoping to see uh administrative staff from our jurisdictions, um, uh, just general public and bicycle advocates active transportation advocates, um. Participation and attendance at the full 1.

00:52:44,370	5 days is not required, and so I want to let people know if you feel that you can come for a 4 hour block, please, uh, Please get your registration in, um, we need that for bicycle counts and for the free lunch that’s being provided on May 21st, so if nothing else gets you there, maybe free food, um.

00:53:00,400	But I do have the Flyers back on the the uh signing table and so if anybody wants to grab one of those on the way out, there’s a QR code there that will take you to more information and possibly uh a form that you can register there, um, I believe that is all I had. Last call for any other business. All right, well, we’ll call the