00:00:05,970	All right. Good afternoon. It’s July 15th. This is the BismarckManan Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board. Um, we’re in the Ed Bosch. For like meeting room and Man City Hall. It’s 1:30 before we call the meeting in order, we’ll have the Pledge of Allegiance. to the flag. to America. to If we can call roll, please.

00:00:54,600	Mayor Frelich here Mayor Schwab Ker Schmitzs here. It Should be Comm Schwab. Comm Schwab, I’m sorry. All right. Thank you. Our first item on the agenda is election of officers as the two-year cycle is now expired.

00:01:36,270	We need a chair and a vice chair, is that correct? Chair Schmidtz, if I may, just respectfully, um, Comm Zachmeyer has respectfully declined any nominations for either chair or vice chair, uh, also Mayor Berglund is obviously absent from the policy board meeting today.

00:01:54,930	And so, um, I’m going to leave it at the discretion of the, the, uh, policy board members who are in attendance, uh, as to whether we should move forward with the election of officers or postpone it to August. Me I guess it doesn’t matter to me, but I. We can certainly, we have a quorum. We do. And so We already know that One person does not wish to accept any role. Correct. So Three of the 4 others are. Here Yeah. OK, let’s make this easy.

00:02:28,700	I nominate Mayor Schmitz. For Chair. OK. We have a nomination of Mayor Schmidtz for chair, uh, So by standard protocol, I guess you could say that, um, you make a, you, you make a motion for a unanimous, um, nomination that Mayor or Mayor Schmitz.

00:02:59,130	Be chair of the policy board and then we can close nominations and then it’s just a roll call vote or not a roll call, it’s just a a or I or not nay, right? OK, so we should have a second to the motion though, to be completely under Robert’s rules. OK.

00:03:18,800	Oh, I’m sorry, I guess that I’m acting as secretary, so I would call for a second to that motion. Is there a second? Second, I can’t hear anybody. Speaking of your mics, what am I saying? To nominate me to continue to serve as chair of the policy board.

00:03:39,800	I, I guess we have a 1st and a 2nd on that, so we could Los nominations related advice to chair, we still need a vice chair. OK, call for nominations for policy board vice chair for the next 2 years. I’ll move the mayor Fri like me.

00:04:03,830	Vice chair OK, do we have a second on that motion? Second All right, we have a 1st and a 2nd. Do we need a vote? All in favor, say I. Those opposes same sign. It looks like we’re OK so now we can move forward.

00:04:30,300	Um, next item is minutes from last meeting in June 17th, and, are there any changes if Auditions, if not, I would entertain a motion to. Uh, except those and approve them. I’ll make that motion to approve. Second Uh, Carroll, please. Mayor Frelick Yes Comm Schwab. Yes. And er Schmitt. Yes. Next item, item 5, the 2026, 2027 draft, uh, UPWP Kim. Thank you, Chair Schmittz.

00:05:15,400	Is this on? Can everybody hear me? I think you’re going to have to speak. In it, I can hear you, but I don’t, not everybody can, so I don’t know how much closer I can get. Is this a little better? OK, great. So thank you, Chair Schmidtz.

00:05:32,270	Uh, today we’ll be talking about, uh, the draft copy of the 2020. 2026, 2027 unified planning work program for the Bismarck Mandan MPO, uh, this is a draft of this particular work document, uh, we will be looking for an approval on this draft so that we can submit it to our oversight agencies for a 30 day review, after which time we

00:05:54,300	will bring it back to this board for a potential final approval. So just to begin with, um, we’ve been functioning under an annual budget for the Bismarck.

00:06:14,400	and MPO, we are going to go back to what we’ve historically performed under and that is a biennial budget, so this, this draft document is for the years 2026, 2027, and I’ll try to present an overview just by, uh, kind of calling out some of the items that are new within the document. So, um, skipping ahead to page uh. 314, um, in your packet.

00:06:37,530	It’s the table of contents for the document and we’ve been advised by North Dakota DOT and Federal Highway to add a statement that certifies um. That Everything that is contained in this document is true, accurate, and uh uh complete and that we are aware and do acknowledge that there are penalties for providing fraudulent or misinformation, willingly or knowingly.

00:07:01,400	So moving on to the body of the document on page 15, the only addition there, uh, it just provides an introduction of what the UPWP is, again, it’s a two-year work program and budget for the NPO so that we can lay out um some reasonable expectations as to what we are going to accomplish in the next 2 years and how

00:07:22,930	we’re going to do that fiscally, um, this page does include board membership, and we have added the names to. Rack board member um designations and also to those of the policy board on this page.

00:07:43,070	Moving on to page 16, uh, we have updated our meeting dates for both the attack and policy board and of course in keeping with a biennial, uh, program, uh, the dates are for both 2026 and 2027. All are subject to change, but these are pretty standard.

00:08:07,070	Uh, moving on, we list our previous accomplishments for the last 12 months leading up to this UPWP and those accomplishments that we anticipate to achieve through the end of 2025. From there we move into our planned work activities for years 2026 and 2027. Now these are just narratives or a listing of the studies and data, um, purchases that we intend to pursue. we will be getting into the budgeting portion of those a little bit later.

00:08:30,570	On page 7, excuse me, on page 18 of the document, we have an overview of the UPWP, um, it does talk about the fact that we address MPO activities within this document and pretty broad terms, and that is to allow us to um use a format that better aligns this document with the city of Bismarck, uh, budgeting, and

00:08:54,670	the reason for that is because they are our hosting agency and they provide 20% of the. on all of our administrative and operational activities, um, so we, we again address our activities in broad terms under staff expenses, which includes all staff time, wages and benefits, and then outsourced expenses and office-related expenses.

00:09:21,730	So yeah our outsourced expenses would include uh study consultant and data procurement and services in those areas and then the office related expenses would include supplies or building rental and staff development items.

00:09:44,200	Uh, below that we do have a couple of tables that help us to indicate the source of funding used. for our UPWP, um, this is a new addition to the document we’ve not included that before. This is intended to, to provide a snapshot overview at a glance as to what our expected federal funds are for each of the years 2026 and 2027, uh, how much of that is contributed by the North Dakota

00:10:08,730	planning um and complete streets and FTA funding and then how much is contributed by local match. Now there’s always a 20% local match, but the amounts that are contributed by each of our jurisdictions varies depending on their involvement in our studies and to what degree? I just want to

00:10:32,270	note that the 2027 figures are based on estimates of a 2% increase in federal funding over what was estimated as a 2026 base CPG and so these numbers are um they are subject to change, uh, and another item to note is that although this is a two-year budget and work program.

00:10:56,800	It is adopted on a rolling basis. So we’ll be revisiting this. next year on an annual basis, the, the 2nd year in the budget and work program, in this case, 2027 serves almost as an illustrative year.

00:11:20,770	It gives us a, a very good idea of what we will be pursuing and with what funding, but again, all of that is subject to change, so about this time next year we’ll be looking at a 2027, 2028 by an ill UPWP. I going on after the uh funding sources we look at our federal planning factors.

00:11:48,600	These are, um, our federal planning factors that the NPO strives to uh adhere to and to incorporate in its activities and studies, and on the next page, page 20 we do have a chart that indicates our planned studies and how they help to meet.

00:12:17,930	performance goals and objectives that have been identified in our current metropolitan Transportation plan below that table is a timeline for the development of the next metropolitan Transportation plan and uh that stretches out for about a 3.5 year time frame, um, where at that time we’ll be will be uh adopting our new MTP. At the top of page 21, we note there are eligible expenses, um, that is detailed here.

00:12:40,400	This is also a new addition to our UPWP and was included uh to, to base compliance with 23 CFR 420 113, and that is quoted in part as part of this section. It talks about how the NPO is going to ascertain and verify that all of the expenses are eligible under 23 CFR 420 and these uh 5 objectives and how they meet compliance with that before

00:13:12,870	they are submitted for payment. Below that is the UPWP Amendment guidance, uh, this tells us how we can amend our UPWP if necessary or at what threshold we can stay below and just uh make changes with an administrative modification. The next page is a copy of our self certification statement.

00:13:38,530	You’ll notice that this is last year’s self-certification, uh, we will be updating our self-certification for this year and once that is updated, signed and approved, will be inserting that into this document for final approval. Of the UPWP.

00:14:05,400	The next section beginning on page 23, uh entails how the Bismarck Mandan MPO activities support the Title 6 program, uh, very recently, North Dakota DOT and Federal Highway have advised the NPO on specific language that should be removed from documentation, um, to maintain compliance with recently issued executive executive orders earlier in the year.

00:14:35,300	Uh, so this particular section has been revised to eliminate some of the diversity, equity and inclusion language that included um. Uh, environmental justice references, uh, but otherwise it does remain the same.

00:15:03,130	Moving on to page 25, we start looking at uh the four task areas that the UPWP embraces task 101 is administration and of course, um it details the staff of the NPO and the proposed work of the MPO staff in order to uh coordinate and um Facilitate all of the activities and programs of the MPO that continues on page 26 and 27 as it details each of the uh work product documents that the NPO does produce and also some of the other additional staff

00:15:29,300	activities that may or may not occur within each of the two years indicated in the UPWP. It culminates on page 29 with a schedule and completion, uh, A completion date process for our required work products and those work products are the transportation improvement program or tip, the unified planning work program or UPWP and the Metropolitan

00:15:59,000	Transportation Plan or MTP. Now on page 30, uh, we move into our next task, and that’s task 102. That’s the one that, uh, everyone kind of seems most interested in because that does include professional services, vendors, and consultants, which equates to our studies and data acquisitions, um.

00:16:31,100	We have reformatted this somewhat to provide an at a glance, snapshot of what we are going to be pursuing in 2026 and then again in 2027 through the UPWP. These tables are formatted so that you can see the name of the project or study a brief description of what that will include the total project cost of the study or data

00:16:54,530	acquisition what per what amount of that is actually allocated to the year that you’re referring to in this case, 2026. And then a targeted start date or contract date for that project and anticipated date of completion.

00:17:17,470	So I’m not going to go through the whole table, but just listing some of our. Our work products that we intend to pursue in 2026, we will be in year 2 of the AAC annual master agreement. Uh, we expend $10,000 a year on that.

00:17:43,870	We also do contract through addendums to the master agreement, um, for AA to perform study associated modeling for us and so we do dedicate some funding to that each year, um, up on the top of page 31, you’ll see that we intend to pursue the 2025 Fringeer Roadmaster plan update, a transit development plan update. A manan signalized intersection analysis through a tac. A passenger rail station sighting study. And a parking constrained areas study.

00:18:16,300	So those are the intended projects that we will be undertaking in year 2026, uh, these were all vetted through jurisdictional representatives in April, we brought this study list, uh, in a budget form to the tack and policy board last month and so we’ll be kind of taking a look at that budget sheet as well.

00:18:42,330	Moving forward then on page 32, uh, it is the same formatted table, but for year 2027, and you’ll see that again we have that 3rd year of the ATAC annual master Agreement fee. We also have study associated modeling performed through a tac with a designation.

00:19:11,300	Of 20,000 there, uh, we’re going to be continuing and concluding the transit development plan in 2027 as well as concluding the Man Down signalized intersection analysis, the passenger rail station sighting study will also conclude mid-year in 2027, and we will be pursuing the purchase of socioeconomic data, which will be uh it’ll consist of household and employment data. So that MPO can refine it and provide it to AA for the update of our travel demand model.

00:19:42,130	The travel demand model update will begin in year 2027, AA will be performing that and that will be contracted for as an addendum under the AA master agreement. This is the crucial first step, uh, for the NPO’s update to the Metro. Politan Transportation Plan.

00:20:07,200	Also in 2027, we anticipate kicking off the Morton County Future land use plan and map as shown on the top of page 33. And then, of course, uh, towards the end of 2027, we anticipate kicking off our travel demands socioeconomic update and the Metropolitan Transportation Plan combined study.

00:20:31,370	Uh, after the table, we do provide kind of that narrative with the final listing of final projects, um, the schedule and completion date referring you back to the table and so at this time I would ask if there are any questions regarding uh the UPWP in general or the studies and projects as shown to this point.

00:20:58,470	Are there any questions? hearing none. OK. We need action on this or there’s just a few more items. Um, we have task 103, and I’ll continue with that. That’s just capital operational and travel expenses, um, and that is, that is detailed somewhat within that narrative on pages 34 and 35, and then on pages 36 and 37, we

00:21:22,470	have our final task, which is 104. That is simply a tracking mechanism for our. Uh, complete streets activities. And then, uh, on page 38, you will find the actual budget tables for years 2026 and 2027. These very likely look familiar to you. You did see these last week.

00:21:48,070	I’m sorry, last month, uh, when they were presented to your board, um, all of the final totals for total budget and federal share, local share are all the same. Some of the numbers within the budget have been finessed.

00:22:06,270	But all of the local match that’s provided here, the totals are exactly the same as what you saw last month. Um, and that is for both 26 and 27. The final page of the UPWP includes a map of the MPO boundary um and planning area along with the jurisdictional boundaries for Bismarck, Lincoln, and Man Down.

00:22:28,900	Uh, again, if there are no questions, if there are questions, I would be happy to stand for those if there are no questions, tack did recommend approval of the draft 2026, 27 UPWP and staff would be seeking the same from policy board today. Policy members, any questions? would be what would be your wishes? I make a motion to accept the uh the draft.

00:22:58,600	Second Any discussion He none will call roll. Mayor Frelick, yes. Comm Schwab, yes, and cherish Schmitts, yes. Next item 6. 2025 UPWP amendment, Kim. Thank you very much, Chair Schmidtz. um, thank you to Steven as well for sharing screen. I appreciate that.

00:23:32,900	We’re now on page 41 of the packet exhibit B, which is Amendment number 1 to the 2025 unified planning work program, so the 2025 is the budget that we’re, uh, functioning out of right now, and the work program for its activities, we do have an amendment here to task 102, which is for the fringe area Roadmaster plan study.

00:23:52,100	Originally, we, we had planned for a very light update to the fringe area Roadmaster plan, and so that was put into our 2025 work program and budget with a budget amount of 88,500 and it was intended to be a very light update, just kind of a a desktop review with some hotspot evaluation.

00:24:17,600	Um, however, when we visited with our jurisdictional representatives earlier this spring, they indicated. that they wanted to have a much more comprehensive uh update of the fringe area Roadmaster plan.

00:24:39,670	Uh, they wanted to take a little deeper dive into things like topographical issues and really examining where we’re putting those alignments to make sure that, um, you know, there’s there’s something that makes sense. Um, in addition, I, it just seemed that it was a good fit to kind of take a look at that, uh, beltway concept that was originally identified.

00:25:02,470	within the 2014 Fringeria Road master plan and see if that still made sense and how relevant that was and how we would include that in this update. So with those items and also with the fact that the hotspot evaluations were going to be costing a little bit more than what we had originally in anticipated we knew that there would be a scope increase to this study, there would be a cost increase to this study,

00:25:22,670	there would now be public engagement involved since it was a comprehensive update of the farm pea, um, and so then the study length would be increased as well. That’s what This amendment is for, and that is all, um.

00:25:45,730	Summed up in the very last paragraph, uh, I do want to point out that although this is amending for a scope increase and a net length increase, um, to the study in 2025. There’s no budgetary. Um, impacts to our 2025 budget.

00:26:16,130	All of the additional uh funding that would be would be required for this study would be incurred in 2026, and so that would be part of our new UPWP that we’re developing. This amendment only applies to 2025, and there are no budget impacts to year 2025. We have $47,0295 that’s dedicated to the fringeer Roadmaster plan in 2025. That is a fixed amount. It will not increase. Are there any questions on this amendment, I’d be happy to answer them.

00:26:43,430	Any questions? And you’ve already taken this into account in your preliminary draft for 2026. We have. If there are no questions, uh, te did recommend approval of Amendment one to the 2025 UPWPS presented and staff would be seeking the same from policy board. I’ll make the motion.

00:27:09,000	To accept Amendment 1 for the 2025 UPWP. Second Any discussion He none will call roll. Mayor Frelich, yes. Comm Schwab. Yes and Cha Schmittz. Yes. Item 7 Frier map fringe area Road master plan update. Uh, Stephen Thank you, Chair. Give me just one moment.

00:27:40,530	I will share screen from the podium for you. people online. Hm Mm OK. So this is an exhibit C or page 43 in your packet. Uh, this is an RFP or request for proposals for an update to the NPO’s fringe area Roadmaster plan or farm P as we just discussed with the recent amendment. That the board approved.

00:28:17,930	So this is the uh request for proposals for this study. Uh, the last farm P update took place in 2014. Uh, the Pharm P assists the NPO’s jurisdictions in planning the arterial and collector road network necessary to support known and anticipated residential and commercial development on the fringes of your communities.

00:28:42,930	So the update will incorporate all approved amendments that have been made to the plan since its adoption, evaluate 6 hotspots within the fringe area road network that were identified by jurisdictional staff, so some on the uh Burley, uh, Bismarck side and some on the Mandan Morton side.

00:29:05,330	Um, examine the functionality of the north-south roads currently labeled as a potential beltway in the current plan and then provide a comprehensive look at the MPO’s overall fringe area road network. There are challenges to both the natural and built environment in planning future roadways, so addressing these challenges is one of the primary goals for this update.

00:29:29,930	And the final updated document will continue as a living plan to assist the jurisdictions and future development and roadway expansions by showing potential new road connections within the existing road network. Um, I will just note a couple of Areas on the document that are significant, um, On page. Beginning at page 50, uh, item 7.

00:29:55,700	We talk about the objective of the plan and then go into the scope of work, which is item 9 on page 51. And that details of the work we’ll be expecting of the selected consultant for this project. And then also, I want to call out item 11 on page 53, and this is the public involvement plan.

00:30:20,170	This will involve at least 2 meetings with the public on both sides of the river. Um, so we are, you know, setting up for some, some significant public involvement as part of the update.

00:30:41,500	The update again has a not to exceed budget of 181,000 which as already noted 47,000 in change is budgeted for 2025, and the rest has been planned for 2026. Um, So yeah, uh, discussions with our jurisdictions led to the decision to pursue this more significant update and uh we hope to start work on the project around October of this year. With the update scheduled to conclude by the end of 2026.

00:31:00,700	Are there any questions from the board at this time? Mr. Schwab. What is the definition of a fringe area? So this would be typically areas outside of city limits or on the edges of the city limits. It involves anything within the MPO area.

00:31:29,170	So I believe the current plan covers include the ETA because we are having a lot of problems with that and uh I don’t see anything here that’s going to settle that. We are going to be having a meeting on that. Yeah, but this is, this is the road network.

00:31:41,100	This is to give you an example, you weren’t married at this time, so I’m not pointing a finger at you. I got a call from a Guy that wanted a house, build a house south of Lincoln. The city went out there and would not give him a driveway unless he was way down this low spot, he went at a slope about like this to get up to his.

00:32:00,500	Grudge Well, he hired me, so I wasn’t on the commission at the time. Went up, talked to the highway department, he said, no, they are the ones that designate when you can put a driveway where you can put a driveway.

00:32:22,000	And this was close to an intersection 200 ft down and the Guy had a straight shot in, no problem, but the city insisted that’s going to go down this low spot. In other words, the Guy couldn’t build. Tell them problems are resolved. I can’t support this but this is, this is the road network. This isn’t. This is fringe, but, but it’s road network.

00:32:45,970	It is not, it’s not, it’s it’s building code ordinance or zoning. I will note that one I mean challenges with the goal of the plan again is to Look at future roadway development, so we are going to try to look at challenges associated with Existing property lines, um, subdivisions, things like that to try to make sure that we’re putting future roadways in in a

00:33:05,600	responsible way. But yeah, it’s, it’s targeted at roads specifically, like how are we going to Where are we going to build roads in the future to support future development.

00:33:23,830	That’s the, the target of, of the plan when you build roads, you take into consideration where subdivisions are going to be, right? Correct. Yep, so that’s part of what we’re looking at Bismarck, I think we’ve got about $250,000 to fix it and it still ain’t fixed. This was city zoning before your time. And anybody that drew by that dro drove by there, knew that’s a swamp.

00:33:42,600	And I’m going to tell you. Person on a high spot wins because his sewerage goes to the next house and there’s to the next house.

00:33:58,330	And I don’t see any of that addressed here and you guys want to put roads in there and say, well, that’s good enough, but roads in I can’t support it until we get this stuff settled. Because those poor people out there, some, I believe, turn their keys in and just had it. That’s it. We’ve had enough. And it’s a new subdivision on the 80th Street. Just north of Highway 10. And The county tried to fix it.

00:34:20,370	Well, you can’t fix. Poor engineering. And in this case it was a city that ed all this stuff and The city has an engineering staff. When I was on a city commission, you have an engineering staff to handle city work. But they are completely lost out in the county. Completely lost.

00:34:48,670	And I don’t see nothing like that addressed in this, but we’re going to plan to do this and that and that, that doesn’t work with me. I’ll second a motion, but I won’t support it. That’s fine.

00:35:04,670	You have, you, you have every right, that’s your, yeah, that’s your I mean it, it, it was my only point is this is not this is road network, which is. But and it’s not even roads that are necessarily, it could be new roads. It could be how we addressed existing roles to fix some problems that may exist, so that’s, that’s the significant difference here. It’s we’re going to have our meeting in around ETA and whatever it’s that gonna be fun.

00:35:27,600	Um, but that’s a whole different topic, you know, when you, when you talk about a road network. That includes all the roads, not just. Farm to market roads, not just highway, not just the interstate. Everything that connects to a road is in that network. I’m not going to disagree with that.

00:35:50,670	So But so we have a 1st and a 2nd, we can have discussion. If we want some discussion, I’ll make that motion. Oh, I, I’m sorry, I didn’t, I didn’t mean to. I, I got lost, yeah, we would be looking for a motion to approve the RFP is basically. Second, OK, do we have further discussion? Yes.

00:36:13,530	Kim, could you delineate the difference here? Thank you, Mayor Frelich and Comm Schwab, Chair Schmidtz, uh, I, there was one point that I did want to make regarding the master plan. And that is, uh, of course, these are proposed alignments, but They aren’t.

00:36:38,670	They don’t become reality until the development actually takes place at which time there is an amendment process that is laid out within the Fringeer Roadmaster plan document itself so that amendments to the proposed alignments can be made and While still making those outlying connections.

00:37:08,000	We want to make sure that we’re building out our outlying connections while being able to connect within our interior roadway network as well. So this is just to provide a blueprint or kind of a map to help guide us, um, but we want to make sure that the alignments that are being proposed within the farm P are realistic that they’re reasonable that we are taking into account land uses, uh, small parcel ownership, large parcel agricultural ownership,

00:37:36,900	things of that nature, everything that might impact a fruit a future roadway in that area needs to be considered. That’s why this will be a very comprehensive farm P update, um, and in addition, I wanted to call out the fact that the amendment process will be detailed um to a great extent

00:37:55,570	within this document and how we can all follow that process, uh, to create a living document, um, that is, is usable and and feasible for future development and hopefully not all of your concerns, Comm Schwab, um, you know, they will not all be met, but hopefully some of them will be met through the document.

00:38:19,600	You need to have a definition of. And it’s not clear a road network and. My idea of a road network is if there’s going to be a road opened up or widened. And There’s a fight over where they can put a driveway. We’re not accomplishing the right thing. I did second that, right? OK. OK. Any further discussion.

00:38:52,070	Here no will call roll. Mayor Frelich, yes. Comm Schwab. And er Schmittz. Yes. I mean, public transportation agency agency Safety. Plan And targets A Thank you, Chair Smith. share a screen on there. Exhibit D, page 61 in the packet. Thank you.

00:39:42,530	Um, is a resolution of support for Bisman Transit’s public transportation agency safety plan or PASP, can you hear me? Sounded like I went out. OK. Look closer I’ll start over, um, in the packet is the reso resolution of support for bizan Transit’s public transportation agency safety plan or PETA and its associated safety targets.

00:40:10,000	The Federal Transit Administration or FTA requires public transportation operators to develop a PTA and accompanying safety targets to ensure its operators and public remain safe during public during transit operations. The transit board adopts or updates these targets and the PT test on an annual basis.

00:40:33,530	The targets may be set by a State Department of Transportation and adopted by local transit providers or the transit provider may set their own targets separately. And for 2025, 2026. Bisman Transit set its own safety targets and adopted them in May. FDA asks that the MPO support Bizan Transit targets and PETAS, which is why the MPO today is requesting the board adopt the resolution of support.

00:40:55,930	And yesterday tak did approve this item as well. Are there any questions? Any questions, policy board members? Harry no what’s the wishes approval of the adoption of the resolution of support of Bisman Transit’s PTAs and their targets. I’ll make that motion. Second Is there any discussion? Nenne will call roll. Mayor Frelick, yes.

00:41:31,830	Comm Schwab, and Chair Schmitz, yes. Item 9, Bismarck, Mandan MPO self-certification. Stephen. Thank you very much, Chair. So this is exhibit E in your packet or page 63, um, just a real quick, uh, item for you, Bismarck Mandan MPO Self-certification is required by United States Code.

00:41:59,470	NPOs must certify that their planning documents and processes are being carried out in accordance with federal law, attack and Policy board approved our most recent self-certification in May this year, but we since received guidance from the Federal Highway Administration and NDDOT requiring the complete removal of references to equal employment statutes in the document, which were recently rescinded by executive order.

00:42:25,130	So the NPO has updated our self-certification accordingly and. s that the board approve the updated self-certification for inclusion in future planning documents. Um. Tack approved the item as presented yesterday, and I can take any questions. Are there any questions? Hear in one of the wishes. The policy board Or request, I guess it’s a request for an approval, right? I’ll make that motion.

00:42:53,930	Second Any discussion He none will call roll. Mayor Frelick, yes. Comm Schwab. No. And cherishments. Yes. Item 10, 2025 safety policy study progress report is Luke on still with us. Yes, Schmitz, can you hear me all right? OK, great. I’ll provide a quick update on progress being made on the safety policy study.

00:43:29,230	June was a pretty busy month for our team internally. We had a steering committee uh with your local technical staff on June 26th. And presented a plethora of information, critical information, including uh focus group meeting summaries, uh, we met with law enforcement or emergency services, and then a bikeped group as well as a youth aged

00:44:01,200	or younger driver group of folks and presented some of the key themes from those meetings. We also presented the key themes that we we heard about uh at the, the Bismarck Earth Day Festival and Mandan tru touch a truck event, uh, both of which were very successful.

00:44:21,500	We had over 100 comments placed on a map of some specific areas of concern at that meeting as well, we presented the preliminary results of our safety ongoing safety analysis, including the crash trend summary, which we did. Discussed briefly last time and then the high injury network which we also discussed last time.

00:44:46,070	I’m really quickly going to share my screen and um Show you what your uh local technical staff are, are helping us, helping us with, so bear with me while I share this screen. Hopefully you can see things all right. You should see a bunch of dots on the on the bizman MPO boundary.

00:45:09,530	Schmitz, can you confirm that you are seeing it. OK, great. Um, so there’s a, there’s a web app. This is a, a collaboration tool that we’re using with the steering committee to dive in a little bit deeper to the, uh, the, the safety analysis components of the plan.

00:45:30,330	Uh, I’m going to start with is showing you where we received feedback from folks, um, at the Earth Day festival and Touch a Truck event, so we have in here, um, these are specific locations that people identified uh with areas they, they believe are concerned and so there are specific comments that we can click on, uh, to see what their

00:45:52,270	concerns are. Um, The second piece of this is that steering commenced steering committee members are able to add comments here about specific things they are looking at, uh, for example, if I turn on crashes, um, a member is wanting to dive into this intersection specifically, uh, because we, as we zoom in.

00:46:17,370	On East Main and Expressway here, this intersection you see. Orange is a Incapacitating injury, crash, red would be a fatal crash in the last 5 years. Um, additionally, and this is, this is pretty technical, but I do want to share this with you.

00:46:39,270	We have a high injury network by uh by mode of transportation, so I’m actually going to click on, um, we’ll look at motorcycle crashes, 2020 to 2024. So these are showing in red fatal motorcycle crashes, orange. incapacitating injury crashes and the blue are um Minor or none incapacitating injury, crashes.

00:47:09,130	Uh, we’re overlaying that with the high injury network which it starts to identify corridors uh that You know, have a high concentration of severe crashes. Uh, so if we zoom in to Memorial Highway here on the Mandan side you’ll see, um, you know, several motorcycle severe crashes in this area, but the map also allows All of our technical folks to collaborate, add comments, and start to dive

00:47:30,570	in here a little bit more, uh, to see, oh, hey, we have a, a, a fatal crash at this intersection. Well, what’s going on there? That, that might need to be addressed. Um, so things of that nature.

00:47:48,230	Um, as far as other, other major outcomes of that meeting, you know, there was a lot of interest to dive into a few areas including um we see an uptick of severe crashes in the summer months, and at first glance, it does look like that’s, you know, proportionate to how much people are driving our traffic in North Dakota in general sort of peaks in the summer months.

00:48:11,070	And so we are double checking and normalizing some of the, the data that we’re, we’re seeing, um, as far as seasonality. And then there was other things like uh off-highway vehicles, um, which will be diving into, uh, we, we actually, we did meet with the state.

00:48:34,070	OHB, um, Contact and got some really good background uh specific to Bismarck man Dan or Burley and M Martin County. And OHV regulations and citations, and then we will be also diving into motorcycle crashes as I think I mentioned last time, um, there’s just, we, we want to know what’s going on because there’s a, a very high proportion of motorcycle

00:48:54,270	crashes in this region, result in a severe, that would be a fatal or incapacitating injury, um. For the, for the, for the rider. So um there’s some interesting outcomes.

00:49:16,730	We’re still rolling up our sleeves and diving in, but rest assured that your, your technical staff are all, um, Diving in with us and and helping us out here with a, a very robust analysis of safety across the Bbizan region. Um, with that, I think um Yeah, I look forward to talking more about this plan at at your future policy board meetings and I’ll, I’ll field any questions that you might have. Anyone have questions? Thank you, Luke. Thank you.

00:49:43,400	Item 11, Title 6 update. Stephen Thank you, Chair. I will share screen briefly. OK, so this is exhibit G or page 73, and so I’ll just give you a brief overview.

00:50:28,800	Exhibit F contains the MPO’s updated Title 6 plan, uh, as a recipient of federal funding, we are required to have a Title 6 and nondiscrimination ADA plan. In place to ensure we take all necessary steps to prevent unlawful discrimination. We do a self audit of the Title 6 plan each year and make appropriate updates this year, only minor routine changes were made to the document.

00:50:49,600	Updates to dates, complaint forms, uh, goals, demographics, uh, things of that nature, uh, of note, we did update the demographics supporting our limited English proficiency plan, and then the Title 6 maps were also updated and Though show kind of uh current years transportation improvement program projects and then some census-related demographic populations, um.

00:51:15,270	All the changes because they were minor in nature, no action is required by the board on this item. Uh, this is just presented for informational purposes, um, and The policy board chair will have a couple of Title 6 forms to sign, which are signed every year. Are there any questions? Questions? Doesn’t look like it. Thank you.

00:51:36,100	And I believe that. Am I, am I next as well? OK, yeah, sorry. I’m staying up here. 13, 2025 highway safety improvement program and transportation alternatives funding. Go ahead, Steven OK so I actually I’m still on 12, the monitoring, and then I’ll skip 3 I’m sorry. I No, you’re fine.

00:52:02,800	So yeah, just a really brief update on the monitoring report. Uh, we have finished reviewing the information that we collected at the workshop we held with jurisdictional staff in May. And now we have begun to work on the outline for the new monitoring Report document.

00:52:21,030	So the next several months will focus on collecting the data needed to support that document and on drafting the document itself, we are on track to complete the project by year end. So yeah, just a really brief update, um, we’ll have more substantial items to share as we get closer to having a draft in place. Any questions? No, we can move to item 1313.

00:52:41,800	Um, In exhibit, uh, I in your packets, uh, so I have basically summaries, uh, for each, for 3 different grant programs that we solicited for at the end of last year. So beginning with the FY 29 Highway safety improvement Program.

00:53:07,330	So we solicit for that last year, we received one application from the city of Bismarck for a roundabout at Yegan Road and Lincoln Road, and so we received word from DOT and DDOT that the project has Been approved for funding.

00:53:27,670	So that is something that we should be including in our next tip, and yeah, that will be scheduled for FY 29, um, we also solicited for FY 27, Transportation alternatives, uh, in the fall of last year, and we received 5 applications, uh, so attack and Policy board elected to send these to DOT for consideration in a prioritized manner. So our top priority project was the Highway 1806. pedestrian trail project in Mandan.

00:53:51,330	Second was the sunrise Trail Connection Project in Bismarck, 3rd priority was the 3rd Street Southeast sidewalk installation in Mandan. Fourth priority was the Memorial Highway pedestrian ramp Reignment in Mandan and the fifth priority was the State Street M multi-use trail rehab project in Bismarck. So we got notice from DOT on these that the 2nd and 3rd priority projects for us.

00:54:15,200	The Sunrise Trail connection in Mark, the 3rd Street, Southeast Sidewalk Installation in Mandan that they approved those projects for funding, um, and then finally we received word on the FY 28 urban Grants program.

00:54:42,970	We had 2 applications submitted for that one for the Bismarck reconstruction project on East Main Avenue and one for a Mandan reconstruction phase 2, Downtown and neither project was approved with this round of fun. are those uh urban grant funds went to other communities with this solicitation. So yeah, those are the updates we receive from DOT and we wanted to pass those on to the boards, uh, for our last year’s solicitation.

00:55:00,530	Are there any questions? Any questions? Go ahead. No, thank you. Item 14 to 2025, 2028. Tip administration modifications? Yes, and just real quick, we processed two administrative modifications to the 25 through 28 tip, and that is exhibit J at the end of your packets.

00:55:29,930	Are these modifications move two projects, one, a memorial bridge project and won a Downtown Man and reconstruction project from FY 25 to FY 26. Per DOT feedback, uh, and the details of the projects are listed on the modification forms, but these are just informational minor changes that were made. Any questions? Yes. structural So let me see. Let me open that up real quick so I can see what. Mhm 133.

00:56:09,870	Oh, sorry. Structure paint. I was a typo on my. On my, uh. Uh, form, but yeah, the project is a, a bridge, the Memorial Bridge project is for deck overlay structure paint, joint repair and other miscellaneous improvements on the bridge. Um Did you have any other questions? OK. All right.

00:56:38,800	Is there any other business for the policy board? Jim. Thank you, Chair Schmidtz. I do have a couple of items. Uh, the first item is that Senate Bill 2180 from the 2025 legislative session was passed and that resulted in some changes to our North Dakota Century Code regarding public comment opportunities at public meetings, um, SB 2180 requires

00:57:09,200	political subdivisions such as cities, counties, townships, school districts, etc. uh, to, uh, provide a public comment opportunity during their regular meetings. Now, North Dakota Century Code has been updated to include, um, uh, some certain items, uh, of requirements or requirements that can be imposed by political subdivisions.

00:57:33,430	Right now, the impacts to our attack and policy board are this that we must at each of our meetings offer a public comment period of what length is basically up to us. We can set a time limit.

00:57:52,130	limit overall, um, as say a 30 minutes uh for public comment, we can assign a time limit per individual of, for instance, 5 minutes per individual, or we can choose to set no limits at all as long as we do offer that public comment period.

00:58:09,030	Um, this is something that we can choose to do very formally through a bylaw amendment or we can just um make sure that we’re opening each of our meetings with a public. Uh, the, those who wish to provide comments, do need to sign in, providing their name, um.

00:58:34,070	Also they can comment on anything at the current meeting that is not a public hearing item or at the very previous meeting, um, anything on that particular agenda, so there’s kind of a two meeting um. Uh, limit as to how far back they can go, just one or the current.

00:58:52,930	I just wanted to bring this in front of the board because this does have an August 1 implementation dates, that means with our August meeting we’ll have to include the public comment period and of course, um, I would leave it to the board’s discretion if you want to address this item through any changes to the bylaws or not.

00:59:15,670	To So I know the city of Bismarck just last week we adopted a policy to address this. Which covers all those specific things you just identified. We are I, I don’t know what man city Manan’s doing yet. I know Burley County, you just adopted your public comment policy, did you not, or at least I’ve had discussions on it.

00:59:38,730	kind of did kind of didn’t So So So I, I mean, if I think we should have something formal. OK. And If you want to look at what the city of Bismarck has because it gives the chair discretion to expand the public comment period and the time for the person speaking so if Obviously, if we have a lot of comment, we can go beyond 30 minutes if it’s

00:59:55,870	really worthwhile comment or I don’t want to leave personally anyone out or cut someone off if they’re sharing vital information. This may not be a medium that gets a lot of that, but I think we should have something documented, Comm. I was watching my not, and they are developed the policy if there’s a subject comes up.

01:00:17,600	It’s 30 minutes, 5 minutes per speaker. Yep. And that’s it and the. And I’m What bothers me about Putting a policy out there. Like we’ve had some pretty rough meetings over there lately and you can get people to come in there and they’re gonna come in and everything and they can keep

01:00:36,870	you going till 3 in the morning. Well, for no reason and That’s why we, we put some guidelines in ours of 30 minutes, but the chair has discretion to expand it and 5 minutes but the chair has discretion to expand the time per person, but also to limit, you know, It’s to the

01:00:55,600	agenda. What’s your limit total that we just said 30 minutes, but the chair can expand. And then we limit it to the non-public carrying items on the consent agenda or regular agenda and one meeting prior, one regular we chose regular meeting prior.

01:01:16,870	Uh, but it had to be on the topics need to be those that were on the agenda. Are you having the same problem that we’ve been encountering that, you know, you speak once. And let somebody else speak, you know, and, and that’s it, and then all of a sudden they try to roll over and just keep we have controlled that.

01:01:36,830	We have, we have a good job with that. Let the next person, because otherwise you’re not being fair to the public and, and, you know, we’ve We’ve been pretty successful, but we, I mean, we’ve been doing this for a long time already. So, what will that change our policy at the city other than back one meeting.

01:01:55,370	I don’t know that’s what we did. We don’t, we don’t want Festivists. We don’t want an airing of grievances. I can’t hear you. We don’t want festivists. We don’t want an airing of grievances from 20 years back or I realize it’s limited to what the state. Uh, put forth in the bill. I go, I.

01:02:12,430	I think public input is important and it’s really interesting, but When it gets down to the point, everybody’s repeating everything and then starting to attack the commissioners, that isn’t public input anymore.

01:02:37,330	That’s when the, the commission or needs to or the chair or whoever needs to try to hold the ground and, and it’s hard, I trust me, I’ve been there. It’s hard. Yeah, and then you’re the bad Guy for doing that. It’s hard, but I, I mean, I don’t think we need a I don’t know that we need to change a bylaws, Kim. I just think A policy of something. I don’t see any problems, but.

01:02:53,570	If you had problems with it? No, we have not something isn’t broke. We just got to make sure we follow the statute. Well, of course. It’s the only thing minimum requirements to follow the statute would be to provide the public comment opportunity at each meeting.

01:03:12,400	We’ll just do it right away in the beginning of the meeting. I mean. Sounds good. OK. Uh, I did have one more item as well, uh, the big sky passenger rail Authority is going to be holding their annual conference on September 8th, 9th, and 10th in Livingston, Montana.

01:03:32,000	I just wanted to get the word out, um, all of the responsible parties for each of our government partner program jurisdictions have this information and they should be sharing that with elected officials within your organization, um, administration and things of that nature, but I kind of wanted to get it out here, uh, because this is kind of um an early invite that we’ve received as government partner

01:03:51,670	program members um we are definitely invited and encouraged to attend the conference, um, there is going to be a, a workshop session on the 8th on the 1st day, um, for the government partner program and so I would encourage anybody who is interested in attending that to uh watch your

01:04:13,070	emails, your, your, like I said, you’re responsible party should be disseminating that information. To you, um, and if you don’t see it soon, uh, please reach out to me and I will extend that, uh, that offer to you as well with all of the links. OK Is there anything else? We stand