00:00:17,670	Paul Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board meeting before we start, uh, we’ll have the Pledge of Allegiance. I see the United States of America. You stands one nation. If we can call a meeting in order, call roll, please. Mayor Berglund, here. Comm Zachmeier, Mayor Froelich, Comm Schwab, Chair Schmitz here.

00:00:56,930	First item is review and possible approval of the minutes from the February 28th. Meeting Policy board members, what are your wishes? Make a motion to approve. I’ll second. Is there any discussion? Carnal call roll. Mayor Burland? Yes, Comm Zachmeier, Mayor Froelich. Yes, Comm Schwab, Chair Schmitz. Yes. Item 4 is the Pm1 highway safety improvement program targets.

00:01:28,530	Steven, are you presenting? Yes, I am, Chair. Thank you very much. Give me one moment. All right, so this is exhibit A in your packet, um, and I just a brief, uh, routine overview of this, uh, for Pm1, uh, PM stands for performance measures.

00:02:12,100	The North Dakota Department of Transportation recently adopted their annual highway safety improvement program performance targets for 2025. Federal requires that they do this to monitor the amount and rate of fatalities and injuries on the state road system. And use this data to monitor and assist in setting safety targets and pursuing roadway safety overall.

00:02:33,470	So NPOs, we are allowed to either set our own targets or support the state’s targets, and we have historically supported the targets that the state sets which are typically a little bit, uh, they typically set them a little bit more lower than the data shows, uh, for the numbers, so the resolution of adoption for this.

00:02:53,730	Uh, and the state’s targets are shown in that exhibit TAC recommended approval of the resolution as shown. Uh are there any questions from the board? Any questions, members? Carrying on what would be the wishes of the policy board. I would make a motion. To approve the resolution. Second Is there any discussion Carryonal call role. Mayor Berglund, Yes. Comm Zach Meyer.

00:03:51,470	Mayor Frelick, Comm Schwan. Schmittz. Yes. Next item 5 is the safety policy study, and I don’t know if Luke is on. OK, so liquid S SRF. It’s gonna give us a progress report, please. Yes, thank you Chair Schmitz and uh policy board members, uh, can you hear me alright? Yes. OK, thank you.

00:04:16,930	Um, a quick update, we are continuing um with project management tasks, uh, that includes biweekly progress calls with uh Bizman MPO staff, uh, Kim. Um, we’ve finalized the draft plan branding options which I will show you in a moment, uh, on the website and where you can find that information.

00:04:43,100	Um, we’ve conducted a thorough data collection process and have been reviewing and assembling data for our needs. Which includes but isn’t limited to center line, uh, roadway data, data, um, crash data from NDDOT.

00:05:13,000	And, uh, a draft literature and policy review memo documents that literature and policy review looks at, uh, federal, state, and local or regional, uh, safety planning efforts that have already occurred and uh essentially we’ll guide our planning process. Um, and build from a solid foundation or framework um in the region around safety. Um, we’re also taking a look at uh preliminary data review memo uh that will be presented. At the next steering committee meeting. We have a steering committee meeting scheduled for next Wednesday, the 26th.

00:05:37,530	Uh, and we’ll be going through, uh, a few critical items with uh technical staff. Uh, really quickly. Um, I’m going to share my screen and just show you the project web page. I’d like to give a big shout out to uh Steven atbizman MPO or um facilitating this and putting this together.

00:06:01,200	One moment please while I pull this up. And you’ll be able to see the plan, uh, branding here, uh, but this is uh Bismarck Mandan MPO uh home page and then you know you have your menu of uh sub pages on the left hand side and there is a 2025 safety policy study, uh, web page specifically for this this

00:06:24,000	effort and right now it includes some uh thorough study background and objectives of the of the study and then uh a preliminary schedule. that goes through the end of the year, uh, but I think most importantly is um the 2025 safety policy study subscription link where people can enter their email, um,

00:06:45,000	their name is optional and also submit comments uh with a survey form, so we’ll be monitoring that as it is blasted out, uh, this will be frequently updated with important updates as far as public engagement or background material, uh, safety analysis, that sort of thing.

00:07:08,900	And so, We’re moving forward at a good clip here on schedule, um, we’re beginning the safety analysis which is always the most, at least interesting to me, uh, and, and it’s interesting to see where um you know, over the past 5 years where crashes and severe crashes are occurring in the Bizan region, um, and that’s when, when things get a little

00:07:27,130	bit more interesting and we can start to roll up our sleeves and identify uh safety countermeasures and potential policy recommendations. through the plan, so, uh, things are moving forward really well.

00:07:49,530	Our subconsultant is working on public engagement and scheduling focus groups with uh uh some key stakeholders in April and so things are uh things are rolling along very well. Questions, anyone? I have one and I don’t know how to direct it, but I was on the Bismarck, City of Bismarck. A E Website is this also populated on the other jurisdictions websites. It would seem like it would be appropriate. Uh, thanks for the question.

00:08:15,730	uh, Mayor Schmittz and I Members of the policy board, uh, actually, it is not on the other jurisdictions websites. It is on the NPO website and so because the MPO website is housed within the city of Bismarck, um, domain.

00:08:42,270	It creates a a bit of an overlap, um, but it is specific to the MPO web page, um. So my concern would be, and I’m speaking for my brethren and sisters in the room. How would someone in Mandan or Morton County or Burleigh County out in the outside of Bismarck or Lincoln, no to accesses that they’re accustomed to going to the websites of those jurisdictions.

00:09:00,400	Or can there be a link? And yes, Mayor Schmitz, um, members of the policy board, there can certainly be a link provided to the other jurisdictions, and if they would like to, and typically they will when we have a study that’s underway, they will link to that study website, um, somewhere on maybe

00:09:21,300	their planning page, or engineering page, whichever department is kind of, um, heading up for, you know, housing that kind of work within it. Um, and so, you know, typically that would just be an Project website in this particular case, there was no provision made within the contracting portion of this study for a standalone project

00:09:49,000	website and so therefore, uh, we thought it best to house that within the MPO web page. But yes, certainly the other jurisdictions do have, uh, the opportunity to, to link that through, like I said, usually they’re planning or engineering pages. OK.

00:10:08,470	It is Seems to me like in the, in the view of transparency. And engagement we need to make sure we engage. Everyone saw. This is the Bismarck Mandan in Metropolitan Planning, so that’s just my My thoughts, I don’t know if we can do it, but We need to look at how we can do it. OK. Thank you. I appreciate that.

00:10:31,730	That, that’s my only question. Right. Moving on to item 6, the 2025 IT. S R Project overview and go ahead Kim. All right. Well, thank you, Mayor Schmitz.

00:11:00,800	Uh, members of the board last month at our February meeting, uh, we were introduced to a very in-depth and detailed overview of the ITSRA update, um, provided by Sharijad, uh, Hasan, who is stationed at NDSU Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute. He is the individual that will be overseeing and, um, performing the update to our ITSRA and, uh, because we live in a world of acronyms. I’ll let you know what ITSRA stands for. That is intelligent Transportation Systems Regional architecture.

00:11:25,470	I’m going to take a moment here to just share my screen. it’s Hm I don’t know why it’s not treating this. Like OK. Sorry about the delay with that, um.

00:12:23,830	This will just bring us to our cover, our cover slide for the regional ITS architecture plan, uh, again, we had a great overview of this entire project presented last month and so I’m not going to belabor that fact, um, but basically, the ITS is our intelligent transportation system amongst our, um, community service providers and, um, you know, that can be as basic as our telecommunications or it can be as advanced as, uh, connected vehicle.

00:12:45,200	to, um, you know, smart devices, kind of uh communication, so, um, a lot of times we’ll, we’ll relate to ITS to the, um, interstate located cameras for, uh, weather, uh, that is, uh, monitored through North Dakota DOT and things of that nature, but, um, it’s very expansive and so, um, pursuant to, uh,

00:13:09,370	our meeting last month, uh, we did hold the kickoff meeting with our large. Hoer G group and our large stakeholder group does include over 30 individuals from around the Bismarck Mandan region, um, in, in different areas of services that was held on March 30, um, I’m sorry, March 3rd.

00:13:28,400	This is going to be very awkward. I apologize. OK, it would be really nice if this would not scroll, but it does. Um Uh, and, and we did have very good, good attendance at that particular kickoff meeting.

00:13:54,100	Um, we had, uh, individuals representing the five service groups, um, which you see on this slide over on the left hand side represented in like the, the blue area, um, down on the lower left. The 5 service groups are public transportation management, traffic management, emergency management, um, and maintenance and construction management and then along with that, um, the archive data.

00:14:18,400	system or uh data management supports those service groups, um, next slide please. Um, there are several components to the ITS architecture, um, we want to make sure that our, our architecture is defining performing functions um that we’re taking a look at subsystems that are in place, uh, how those information flows are managed, um, interface communications, stakeholder responsibilities, any existing agreements that might be in place amongst jurisdictions or

00:14:48,530	um different departments and also, um, planning integration. So We want to make sure that our ITS update is considering, um, components that uh goals and objectives that come out of our metropolitan transportation plan and things of that nature, um, all of that combined together helps us to form a, a

00:15:07,800	good planning framework. Next slide please. Uh, so last week, um, as I said, we did, we had, first of all, the kickoff meeting with the large stakeholder group, and last week we conducted several small stakeholder group meetings, um, for the traffic management for our transit system for um construction and maintenance and also for our emergency

00:15:32,000	services. Uh, those were very good meetings and we collected a lot of information. However, uh, not all of the individuals that we had invited and hoped to have, um, participate, we’re able to make those particular session sessions, and so there will be continued follow up with them to make sure that

00:15:48,870	we’re gathering all that pertinent information to put into this update for this plan. So that’s going to be an ongoing, um, effort that will kind of take us through probably uh the month of April.

00:16:10,400	And then, of course, um, Sherry Judd will be compiling all of that information, um, to coordinate proposed changes, and he’ll be talking. To the stakeholders about proposed changes as well. Uh, this is a, a pretty in-depth and detailed effort that will take us through, um, probably about October before we are presenting back to the boards with um anything that’s really tangible, um, and then we will be looking for adoption towards

00:16:31,400	the end of the year, so, um, this slide does show you kind of that that timeline overall for this project. Uh, any questions? I would be happy to stand for questions at this point. Schwab. You know, as a former railroad Guy.

00:16:53,470	I’m looking at this thing, why? Isn’t like Valley City and Jamestown in North Dakota. picked at a stop. I mean, it looks to me like. That’s to the next, I think that’s our next agenda item. Huh? That’s our next agenda item, Comm. That’s the next agenda item. No problem with the question, but it’s the next agenda item.

00:17:16,000	And I will be happy to address that question through that presentation as well. Whatever. Any other questions on The ITS study. Now we’ll move on. Now we’ll move on to the The railroad. Di discussion, Big sky, go ahead, come. Thank you, Chair Schmitz.

00:17:50,400	Uh, yes, uh, on February 27th, Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority hosted its first webinar, uh, for its government partner program for 2025. And of course, we are our new members of the government partner program, so we were very interested in this webinar and it was um.

00:18:10,830	It was very gratifying in that, uh, the, the first portion of the webinar was dedicated to answering questions that, um, were presented by, uh, NPO jurisdictions and then forward it on to Big Sky. So I really wanted to share, um, kind of that question and answer portion with you, um, but also I wanted to share the introduction from Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority because with the new federal administration, there have been some questions as to, um, what is the certainty and the

00:18:29,000	stability of the federal funding, uh, especially involving some programs like the Federal Railroad Administrative, uh, administration’s long distance service study or, um, the corridor ID program, uh, and, and basically, uh, we were reassured that according to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.

00:18:54,770	He is, um, he has emphasized that economic opportunities such as increased access to jobs, healthcare facilities, recreational activities. Commercial activity or any actions or project components that will help alleviate poverty, enhance safety and primarily benefit families and communities by improving the quality of their lives, raising their standard of living or enabling them to participate more fully in our economy, our US DOT priorities, and these priorities that he

00:19:20,730	has stated seem to be, um, in well within alignment of the priorities involved with, um, The Big Skyrails project in uh restoration of passenger rail service through our area. Thank you, Stephen. Um, so although there has been a pause in the new new federal grant activity.

00:19:46,400	um, this pause is just to allow for the evaluation of uh existing programs relative to new administrative policies that have been rolled out, um. We have been assured that the corridor ID program and also the FRA, uh, LDDS study funding, uh, is, is safe and sound at this point, so.

00:20:12,470	Um, they also provided us a little update on their corridor ID program project, which is the Big Sky North Coast corridor, um, and of course, this is what directly impacts our region through the Bismarck Man Dan Burle Morton, uh, City of Lincoln area.

00:20:30,730	Uh, they are currently in step one, which is the scoping, um, portion of the plan. They were awarded that $500,000 to, uh, complete that initial scoping project. um, they are very near completion on the scope, um, and there is no local match involved with that $500,000 amount of money that was awarded by the way, uh, they do anticipate to have the scoping portion of this plan

00:20:55,270	done in April or maybe, you know, at latest by the end of May of 2025, and then that would allow them to step into the phase 2, which is the service development plan.

00:21:14,670	Um, and then that’s going to be kind of the, the heavy lift on this, uh, which would then be followed by the final design in step 3. Uh, Here we get to the map that I believe that um, Comm, uh, Schwwab was referring to with the big sky North Coast corridor.

00:21:35,270	Um, it does show the corridor from Chicago to the east all the way to Seattle, um, on the West Coast, and you can see that that does pass through, uh, the southern portion of North Dakota, um, beginning from Fargo, it does drop down and it, it is shown to pass through Bismarck Dickinson and then on. to the Montana border on.

00:21:56,670	The, the locations that are shown on here are, are basically, um, you know, some of the more major cities right now. These are not necessarily showing station locations on this map, and I, I just want to clarify that, um, they’re showing, they’re showing some, um, existing stations, um, they’re showing some, uh, larger cities that lend recognition to the proposed route.

00:22:23,370	Um, and again, The step one completion, it unlocks funding in advances route development and allows Big Sky, uh, passenger rail to move into that step 2 key service development planning phase, um, where they will be looking at how reconnecting communities and states from the Great Lakes to the Pacific can, can be done.

00:22:45,770	So, um, The questions from the Bismarck Mandan MPO, um. We, uh were addressed in, in this order. Um, first of all, they wanted to, um, address our questions on how cities are chosen to have train stations and um perhaps Comm Schwab, this address as part of your question right here.

00:23:08,770	So, uh, we were wondering what, what, if any specific criteria might be used to determine where train stations would be located. Uh, is there, um, something having to do with distance to other stations or The population of, uh, location or area and um.

00:23:31,230	We went into this pretty in depth with um Big Sky, and they said, first of all, we have to remember that this is going to be an interactive and consultative process, and that’s why the Bismarck Mandan MPO felt that it was important for us to have a voice at the table so that we could, um, be involved in these discussions as they were occurring instead of trying to catch up and make

00:23:50,500	our wishes known after the fact, um, they, they cited a key factor being. Local initiative, commitment and cooperation with surrounding areas and extending the corridor of opportunities.

00:24:13,870	So even though we have a rail line that passes directly through our communities, uh, big sky passenger rail is looking at the restoration of passenger rail as being a benefit to communities outside of that adjacent corridor, uh, and we want to extend the benefits, you know, um, and, and reach out to our neighboring communities as well.

00:24:40,100	Um, also, Local contributions to route goals is significant, um, they cited socioeconomic benefits and ridership relative to population, um, and corridor ID staff will evaluate this in the next step, so that will be coming in step 2. Um, interaction with uh intergovernmental consul consultation council, which is a council that has been formed, uh, representing states and tribes, um, there will be a, a formal public engagement process that’s going to be rolled out, and we want to make sure that we are.

00:25:05,670	On board and in step with that public engagement process right away to engage our communities and our citizens in this process. Um, and we’re doing this all cooperatively, um, because speaking with one voice as a consensus, obviously has more power than a lot of singular individual voices, um, but Big

00:25:30,830	Sky passenger rail did remind us that at the end of the day, FRA will have the final approval on where the stations are located. So, uh, next slide, they did say that there are some, uh, there are some conditions or criteria that might make some sites more likely than others, uh, trade

00:25:53,730	and service center cities might be more highly considered gateways to major destinations such as national parks and things of that nature. Um, also historic rail station locations. Gosh, I think I know of a couple, um, locally here, um, in this region. Locations providing operational services.

00:26:17,200	For passenger rail, communities committed to using passenger rail to develop opportunities for their citizens and for surrounding areas and then of course they will do some special case by case assessment if necessary, um, if communities are less than 50 miles apart in distance.

00:26:38,170	So if the proximity from recommended, um, station locations is less than 50, they will take a look at that as well. It does just because uh locations may be closer than 50 miles, um, does not mean that they will not be considered, so we need to keep that in mind.

00:27:00,630	The next set of questions, uh, was what resources such as funding or technical assistance would be available for cities who are selected to have a station, um, we’re kind of wondering about things like location analysis, land acquisition, construction, and then supporting services for the funding of, uh, perhaps transit infrastructure and service, including possibly rapid transit service between cities in multi city regions, for instance, Bismarck, Mandan, Lincoln, um, transit-oriented Development and infrastructure

00:27:26,400	relocation and things of that nature, um, they, they gave us some resources, um, they said, first of all, um, technical and funding development resources include Big Sky passenger rail authority and corridor ID staff.

00:27:45,370	They are always on, they are always at our um disposal, uh, should we have any questions, we can certainly, uh, provide them to, to the staff there and they will, will help us out with those. Also, the Western Transportation Institute. Um, and also Amtrak and other rail operators and we can access those through the link that’s provided on this slide at www.greamericanstations.com.

00:28:10,400	Um, they also suggested to continue to turn into tune into webinars that are offered and um other conferences and BSPRA will be hosting their annual meeting this fall, September 8th through the 10th in Livingston, Montana. We don’t have details on that yet. I don’t know if there’s going to be uh.

00:28:29,100	a remote option for attendance, but I will certainly keep everyone informed as I learn more information. And Next, um, questions from the NPO included how cities, counties, or NPOs can influence higher levels of government such as state and federal, to support or continue to support projects such as this, um, the ideas that they, they gave us were to help recruit additional government partners.

00:28:59,470	Again, there’s strength in numbers. Contact state officials about funding $200,000 per state for corridor ID matching. contribution. We have not touched on this, but this is part of those tiered phases, so phase one of the corridor ID program, um, provided $500,000 to BSPRA with no local match.

00:29:22,370	Uh, the second phase will have a local match that is attached to the federal funding that’s provided and phase 3 will have um an incrementally higher local match, so it is tiered. There is local match that will be. Required to, uh, facilitate this project and see it through to, uh, completion.

00:29:43,630	Now, you have to remember that there’s 7 states involved with this project because we’re going from Illinois into Wisconsin, uh, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, uh, and Washington. And so they’re looking at, um, the approximate local match, uh, split amongst those seven states at about 200,000 per, so about 1. For.

00:30:11,800	Uh, overall, but if, uh, if we can start, uh, generating interest and contacting our state delegation, um, and maybe our, our legislative, um, members, um, to, to gather the support for this. It might not be such a heavy lift.

00:30:37,000	If we start early, um, also, one of the recommendations was to, um, identify and, um, uh, gather prominent citizens to serve. on the Big Skyrail Foundation board for private fundraising. Now, um, when we became members of the government partner program, I want to emphasize that we said there’s no strings attached to this.

00:30:58,100	There is no further financial commitment from us for participating in this program, uh, and there are no requirements, and so this is completely at will, nobody, you know, where these are suggestions that have been given to us, um, in response to our question and how to, uh, how to. Gather more support for the project. And they are reasonable suggestions, but not mandatory at all.

00:31:17,830	Uh, also it was suggested that we talk to senators and congressmen about supporting the development of passenger service on the Big Sky North Coast corridor, um, also. On, on our end, we need to stay engaged, and that’s probably the biggest thing.

00:31:43,530	I will let you know that, um, through this webinar, it was indicated that the elimination of at-grade railroad crossings greatly increases the efficiency of, uh, not only freight service, but passenger rail service, uh, as well, which stands to reason. If you have no at grade crossings, you don’t ever that that train has um total right of way and never has to stop going through the communities except for at stations, um.

00:32:04,200	We’re very likely not going to eliminate all of our upgrade railroad crossings, um, however, as part of the safety policy study, we will be looking at our at-grade railroad crossings, and we will be, uh, trying to identify uh safety countermeasures, um, relative to those at grade crossings and incorporate them

00:32:24,500	into part of our plan. And that was one thing that was stressed through the webinar is that it’s very important to recognize passenger rail service. in the region through our plans, um, so it doesn’t appear to be an afterthought. It’s something that we’re actively engaged in.

00:32:45,370	And I guess that brings me to the end of the GPP webinar presentation. Uh, any questions now regarding what I’ve brought forward. You know, No It’s my account sound kind of. Crazy, but it takes. I believe are male here who’s Fargo gets sorted and comes back when they have time. And the timeline for mail.

00:33:16,800	If you have a check coming out of gate C to get over to the post office boxes is 11 days. And I’m just kind of wondering, do you think you guys have put mail cars on that train, help them out. They’re talking about parcel delivery service.

00:33:35,530	I don’t know why mail wouldn’t fall into something like that, but I guess it wasn’t that strange after all because, you know, when I was on the railroad, we delivered mail. And obviously, the post office, 11 days, I could walk across the street. And deliver it faster than what they’re doing. But then you’d have to stop and throw it out.

00:33:57,630	Yeah, it is, it is a thought. It’s something that they are considering through, um, that planning, that planned development, that phase 2. So as part of the service plan, it, it is, um. You know, one of the alternatives. OK. Anything else? Any other questions? Kim. Uh, number 8 on our agenda, North Dakota MPO directors meeting. OK, thank you, Mayor Schmitz.

00:34:25,230	Um, I will turn your attention to exhibit E in the packet on page 27. Um. The uh North Dakota, um, executive directors and their staffs from the four state MPOs recently had an opportunity to meet with, uh, several representatives of North Dakota, uh, Department of Transportation, uh, Federal Highway Administration and also the Federal Transit

00:34:50,830	Administration. We call this the um MPO directors meeting, and this was the spring meeting. Uh, this was on February 28th, and there are just a couple of things that I wanted to share, um, this board, which I feel, um, is pretty impactful.

00:35:10,000	Um, this forum gives us a good opportunity to take a look at the policies that we have been observing, um, the process of processes that we have been using and, um, what new items might be kind of rolled out, um, either through federal administration, um, code of federal regulations and things like that or just through necessary changes within our directorship.

00:35:32,930	So, um, I will direct your attention to the slides being shared on screen, um, probably the most significant item that we did discuss was that of our unified planning work program, uh, what we’ve been doing in the past as far as it’s um development timeline, and then also the timeline involved with the Contracting for the UPWP with North Dakota Department of Transportation, um.

00:35:59,100	We have, um, Uh, on occasion found ourselves in involved in what is familiar to a lot of, of folks in that year-end crunch, um, and trying to get things approved and so, uh, with a lot of uh coordinated effort with the NPO executive directors and also our MPO uh coordinator at DOT Will has been just great

00:36:22,000	working through timelines with us and all the details of our UPWP development and then turning that into a contract with DOT and what you see on Page 28 or the slide on the screen is, um, kind of that development timeline. And right now where we’re at is in that January to April time frame.

00:36:43,370	So right away in January, the NPOs have to start thinking about what kinds of studies are going to be beneficial to incorporate into their budgets and their work programs for their jurisdictions in the coming budgeting year.

00:37:04,270	So we’ve been doing that and then by uh mid April, North Dakota DOT will provide us with uh a budget amount basically. Um, that is based, uh, off of the consolidated planning grant availability funds, um, and we will be able to use that to formulate our budget for the coming year.

00:37:24,570	So there was a lot of discussion about this particular time frame because we’re kind of in a new, uh, kind of in a new system where our contract with North Dakota DOT, um, runs on not only an annual basis, but it is tied to one. single consolidated planning grant year.

00:37:49,370	So that means beginning January 1, our budget and work program is contracted to that consolidated planning grant only for that year and everything ends on December 31st. So if there’s any unspent funds within that consolidated planning grant. They just kind of go away. We don’t get to roll those over into the next year for our use.

00:38:12,630	They have to be de-obligated by North Dakota DOT, um, they have to be basically, uh, kind of reassigned to how the NPOs are going to use them, and then they have to be re-obligated in the fall so that they can be used for the following year’s budget. That’s where we find ourselves right here.

00:38:38,200	today, uh, in 2024, the, uh, the, the newest MPO up in Minot CDMPO Grand Forks MPO, and Fargo Metro Cob a along with Bismarck Mandan MPO. Uh, were advised of approximately $385,000 in funding that had gone unspent and in fact we’ll find that graph on page. 33 maybe. There we go. Um And at the time of our director’s meeting in February.

00:39:08,570	This was an accurate amount of CPG funding that was remaining. However, since then, Fargo Metrocog has submitted their final billing and request for reimbursement for 2024, which has eliminated their portion. So if you look at, um, the, the high bars um in the middle.

00:39:31,300	Those are Fargo Metro cogs and it was showing that they still had 90. $3000 in funding, um, that had been unspent with their last request for reimbursement, that’s now been eaten up, so the amount of 385,000 was reduced to about 291,000 to use.

00:40:00,400	Now, the DOT has presented, um, the NPOs with the unique opportunity, um, and we’re grateful for it that we as executive directors know our MPOs, and we know our study needs, we also know our local match capabilities and so DOT has presented us the opportunity to confer amongst ourselves and come up with a way to redistribute those unused.

00:40:25,030	Uh, we have done that as state MPOs, and we have provided our recommendation to North Dakota DOT. Now DOT has until April 15th to use the numbers and our distribution recommendation to uh bring us back our Budget numbers for 2026 budget development. I will tell you that of the 4 MPOs, um.

00:40:54,370	Uh, Central Dakota MPO up in Minott because they are fairly new and they don’t have a lot of staff, uh, expressed that they didn’t have the capacity to take on a lot more funding and be able to use that substantial amount of funding for studies and things of that nature, and so they, they basically withdrew or abstained from taking any of that funding

00:41:14,630	to roll into 26. So that left that funding to be split by Fargo Grand Forks. And Bisman, um, and we will be splitting that based solely on population of our MPO areas, um, so DOT has got that recommendation from us, and they are considering that and working those numbers out for us.

00:41:36,630	I’m going to pause here and ask if there’s any questions on this particular. process because it’s new. And, um, it’s impactful to us. Right, this is Will.

00:42:03,930	I don’t wanna interrupt, but you might wanna detail the portion on what happens if you guys can’t make a decision because I think that um should be known as well, just in case there’s any confusion in the future. Yeah. All right, thanks Will. um, I did have that. I had that in the slides.

00:42:23,100	Um, so yes, we did, I didn’t touch on this, but in the event, uh, the 4 MPO directors would be unable to come to a consensus on how to redistribute the unused CPG funds, North Dakota DOT has the option to determine how those funds will be redistributed. It will be at their discretion and They can use Any of the four methods that are shown on the slide on the screen or any combination of those methods.

00:42:47,030	So they could choose to distribute the turn back CPG to the NPO that released the funds, they might distribute the turnback funds equally amongst the NPOs, uh, they could incorporate it into the CPG formula and distribute the available funding to all the MPOs or, um, any other distribution that is at the sole, uh, discretion of.

00:43:11,530	the North Dakota DOT director, um. I feel that it is by far the most beneficial to have the NPOs be able to come to a consensus and provide a recommendation, uh, rather than turn it over to the North Dakota DOT to determine how our unspent funds are, are redistributed, um, and I

00:43:34,000	believe that I can speak for the other MPOs because we were able to reach a consensus, um, easily and quickly, um, that they do feel the same as well. Any questions? Yeah, I have a question. Go ahead, Comm. Is there a push or, Out of curiosity now.

00:44:01,200	To spend these funds or can’t they go back? Why, why? Seems to me like you’re, it’s kind of, We got to spin them rather than. And then that brings up waste. Thank you for your question, uh, Mayor Schmittz and, and Commissioners, um, so the consolidated plant grant planning grant is our operational funding.

00:44:29,470	It funds virtually everything that this MPO does, the way that we’re structured, um, we. We can anticipate, um, building our work program and, um, building our budget only off of the CPG funds that are made available to us.

00:45:00,470	In years past, uh, when funding was more plentiful, uh, there was the instance where there was a surplus of CPG funding and it built up. Um, and that was before our contract was tied to a specific one year grant, so.

00:45:30,370	What was happening Within our state was that each of the three MPOs had a different years consolidated planning grant open, and they were all pulling from their own different years’ worth of grant money and in the, in the face of MPO here in Bismarck, we weren’t spending our money as quickly as some of our counterparts in the state, and we were actually accumulating a surplus. of funds that were not being spent, and there was an instance where they were actually. Turned back.

00:45:55,530	To another MPO. Not to us because we effectively lost them due to the inability. Of being able to spend them down. Again, we at the time didn’t have the capacity to turn out the work products that would have spent those funds and benefited our jurisdictions. So we don’t spend the money frivolously.

00:46:21,630	We want to make sure that it’s to the benefit of our member jurisdictions, um, but again, the money isn’t as plentiful as it used to be, and so our budgets are now tight. Did I answer your question? Kind of. You can move on. OK We’ll move on to item. 9 bicycle friendly community workshop, Kim.

00:46:56,370	All right, thank you. Uh We have talked about the bicycle friendly community workshop being held in Bismarck in May. Uh, this is an opportunity that has been presented to the Bismarck Mandan MPO by the League of American Bicyclists, um.

00:47:19,830	We have scheduled this workshop for May 21 and May 22, uh, May 21st is a Wednesday and we will start at 9:00 a.m. at the Bismarck Public Works, uh, building down on 601 South 26th Street in Bismarck will have about, um, Uh, 3 hours of kind of classroom based instruction, uh, we’ll be focusing on the 55 E’s which we are um scored against for our

00:47:46,000	bicycle-friendly community status. Those 5 E’s are education, encouragement, engineering, enforcement, and evaluation. Uh, so we’ll be going over that. We’ll be having a lunch that is provided to us by the league, and then we will be, uh, moving to a new location for that afternoon and conducting an, uh, a bike audit, that location is yet to be

00:48:09,470	determined, as are the details. Uh, the next morning, we will reconvene at the public works building in Bismarck at 9 a.m. and we’ll have about 3 hours to discuss observations from the bike audit to discuss ways.

00:48:32,400	Of, uh, moving forward and implementing improvements, um, and so we feel that this is a very exciting and, um, uh, uh, it’s a great opportunity for us to learn, uh, not only, uh, how to be a, a bicycle friendly community, but why it’s important to be a bicycle friendly community.

00:48:53,170	What that can bring to us as a community in benefits, uh, and so we would like to open this up to uh our Administrative offices within our jurisdictions are administrative personnel are, uh, are. Commissions are council people are elected officials are uh county folks, so whoever is interested, I would encourage you to, um, maybe use the QR code here that you see on the.

00:49:17,670	Don’t see on the flyer. There we go. Or um hop onto the MPO website where we do have some information on that. You can click on a link and it will take you right to our registration form and, uh, yeah, we would, we would love to have all of you, but I do

00:49:34,870	need to say that we have been, uh, we’ve been held to a limit of 50 attendees, so, um, get your place reserved and we’ve had a lot of interest in it already, the registration is live, so any questions on that? OK. Doesn’t look like it. Thank you for your time.

00:49:59,130	1020 25 to 2028 TIF administration modifications, Stephen. Thank you, chair. Just really briefly, we processed 4 administrative modifications to our 25 to 28. Transportation improvement program, um, this is just the movement of 4 microsurfacing projects in Bismarck from fiscal year 2025 to 2026.

00:50:28,500	Projects are for work on Bismarck’s 9th Street, um, a couple of locations on Expressway. And on North Dakota 1804. Um, so just a routine project movement, uh, across funding years. Are there any questions? Any questions? Thank you very much. Is there any other business? Kim. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners, um, I will let you know.

00:50:59,200	I’ll just give you a little update on our transportation planner position, uh, applications for the position closed on March 2nd. We received 30 applications, so we are, um, very pleased with the response, and we are going through a refining process right now so that we can get those numbers down to a manageable, uh, amount for interviews and hopefully by this time next month, um, when

00:51:15,730	I come back to you, I, I can give you further information perhaps on having the ition filled or close to, so thank