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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 10/05/2004 - RESOLUTION 2004-121 AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER T ITEM NUMBER: 27 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY DATE: October 5, 2004 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Thomas L. Frazier SUBJECT Resolution 2004-121 Authorizing the City Manager to Negotiate a Draft Intergovemmental Agreement with the City of Loveland to Provide Transit System Services Within Loveland. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution. FINANCIAL IMPACT The projected expense for Transfort/Dial-A-Ride to operate the COLT System is $900,000. The supporting revenue for these expenses will come from the City of Loveland, federal grants, fares, and advertising. All the expenses for administration, operation, maintenance, and capital will be included in the Intergovemmental Agreement (IGA). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For the past two years, City staff has been discussing with Loveland the possible management of COLT by the Transfort/Dial-A-Ride staff. The City of Loveland's staff has examined various methods and agencies to operate COLT. In 2005, COLT is projecting comparable service to the Transfort/Dial-A-Ride estimate to be $947,258. Following the designation of Berthoud, Loveland, a portion of Latimer County, and Fort Collins as a Transportation Management Area (TMA), Loveland realized the significant supervisory and administrative requirements needed to adhere to the federal regulations. COLT had to increase its staffing. Electing to contract instead of hiring additional staff,Loveland's City Manager requested a proposal from Fort Collins to operate COLT. Since May 2004, weekly discussions have been on- going between the two communities to develop satisfactory terms. The Intergovernmental Agreement negotiations should be completed by November 2004. The projected COLT service start date will be 3-4 months after the execution of the IGA. BACKGROUND The Transfort/Dial-A-Ride staff has nearly completed a proposal and negotiations to provide full operational and administrative services to the City of Loveland for operation of the Loveland Transit October 5, 2004 -2- Item No. 27 System (COLT). The anticipated fee for these services is projected to be around$900,000 for the first year. The scope of service included in the contract is: • Administration of all state and federal grants/contracts • Operation of two (2) fixed route buses and approximately three (3) paratransit vehicles • Hiring, supervising, training, and scheduling all personnel • Paratransit dispatching/ride scheduling • On-street supervision • Vehicle maintenance and repair • Collection of fares and other revenues • Measuring and reporting on system performance Benefits The North Front Range Transportation&Air Quality Council has identified Regional Transit as an important element in the North Front Range 2030 Regional Transportation Plan. This coordination of transit services between communities, as currently reflected in the operation of the FoxTrot Bus Route between Fort Collins and Loveland, is the beginning for development of additional regional transit service. The City of Loveland has identified the following reasons for outsourcing the operation and management of COLT: • More cost effective and efficient method of providing transit services • Enhanced customer service • Professional expertise of Transfort/Dial-A-Ride staff • Elimination of redundancy of administrative, dispatch and vehicle maintenance services • Enhanced ability to secure state and federal funding for system improvements For the City of Fort Collins this arrangement provides the benefits of: • Assisting Loveland with its transit needs through use of operational and management knowledge and skills of the City's existing personnel • Improving the customer service between the two communities by eliminating different operational policies and service levels such as standardizing fares • Administering the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Grant for the Transportation Management Area (TMA) is the responsibility of the City of Fort Collins, and combining Transfort/DAR and COLT services will vastly improve the ridership reporting requirements and the federal grant submittals/payment requests. The enhanced measurement and reporting will result in additional revenue from FTA. • Increasing the opportunity for additional federal funds for both systems (see Financial Impact below) • Improving Transfort's staffing level to provide the COLT service will also enhance transit service to the Fort Collins customers through expanded Dial-A-Ride trip scheduling and on- street transit service coordination. Through this contract the City will add three positions that perform work tasks for both COLT and Transfort/Dial-A-Ride. One position will provide additional bus routing,training,and accident investigation,and the second position October 5, 2004 -3. Item No. 27 will provide additional customer intake and scheduling tasks for both agencies by adding to our capacity to accept customer's ride reservations for COLT and Dial-A-Ride. Customer service will increase due to the number of initial phone calls answered and reservations completed. The third position will handle financial, operating statistics, payroll, and reporting primarily for COLT, but also for Transfort/Dial-A-Ride. • The potential use of the Loveland vehicles for any incidental transit service needs in Fort Collins Financial The contract proposal includes reimbursement for all fully loaded expenses as shown below. There is no negative financial impact to the City as all expenses for administering and operating COLT are included. The expenditures have been projected at a higher level than those incurred by Transfort/DAR to allow for any future changes in economic conditions. 1. Personnel—all expenses for bus operators,supervisor,dispatching,and grant administration are included. Three new positions have been proposed to meet COLT's service requirements and also improve Transfort/DAR's service level. These new positions will definitely improve Transfort/DAR's service in the form of Dial-A-Ride dispatching and scheduling, on-street supervision and route coordination, and will provide timelier, more accurate submission/drawdowns of federal grants and federal reporting. 2. Vehicles— all expenses for fuel, maintenance, fleet administration and repair of the COLT vehicles are included. Fort Collins is proposing to lease the vehicles for$1/year per vehicle. COLT will be responsible for vehicle replacement. 3. Administration — all expenses for marketing, office supplies, office equipment, computer software, insurance, and other commodities are included. The major financial advantage to the City of Fort Collins is the potential of increased federal funding. This can happen in two ways. First, there is a strong potential that Fort Collins will be eligible for a larger share of the federal funding. Proposed FY2006 federal reauthorization legislation includes a provision that would limit federal funds to be spent only on "Capital Related Expenses"(80%fed&20%local). If"Operating Expenses"are not allowed as an eligible expense, this creates a large problem for Loveland because most of their expenses are related to operation (fuel, drivers, etc), lessening Loveland's opportunity to utilize federal funds. Fort Collins has sufficient "Capital Related"expenses to spend the total federal appropriations. If these regulations are enacted, then potential federal funding of$100,000-$150,000 would be available for use in the Transportation Management Area(TMA). The federal funding disbursement formula would need to be recalculated and approved by the TMA members (Berthoud, Loveland,Latimer County, and Fort Collins) and the MPO Council. Transfort probably would be the only transit system capable of using these funds. The second method of increasing the federal funds is through improved reporting of COLT's transit system performance figures. The federal funds can be increased by reporting key ridership data throughout the year. Transfort/DAR currently is the only transit system reporting this information. This data is utilized in a FTA funding formula to determine annual grant appropriations. COLT has not been reporting this information, and by Transfort operating the COLT system,this information will be collected and reported to the FTA. The estimated increase in federal funds to the TMA is October 5, 2004 -4. Item No. 27 $50,000-$60,000. In FY2006, Transfort will probably be the only transit system capable of using these funds. These new federal funds would be utilized to fund capital expenses that are currently seeking funds, i.e. concrete repairs, shop equipment replacement and upgrades, fuel system upgrade, bus wash improvements, bus alternative fuel conversions, building repairs, software upgrades, emergency generator upgrade, and backup computer server. Major Issue Pursuant to Section 5333(b) of the U.S. Code, the Department of Labor has certified arrangements which would require Loveland to compensate employees whose employment situation may be "worsened" as a result of federal assistance. While neither Loveland nor Fort Collins Transfort/Dial-A-Ride,human resources and legal staffs have concluded that any potential adverse effects to employees resulting from Loveland's decision to contract with Fort Collins for transit services would be as a result of Federal assistance,those staffs have been working together to create strategies that minimize potential impacts to employees. Final discussions need to be held with Loveland. Next Steps Pending City Council's approval to move ahead, staff will present a draft intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to Loveland staff for its review and approval. Following approval by both Loveland and Fort Collins administrative staff, the IGA will be submitted to both City Councils for approval. It will take about 3-4 months after the IGA has been approved to begin the COLT service. The goal is to begin service as close to the first of the year as possible. RESOLUTION 2004-121 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE A DRAFT INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF LOVELAND TO PROVIDE TRANSIT SYSTEM SERVICES WITHIN LOVELAND WHEREAS, the City of Loveland has requested that the City of Fort Collins consider providing transit system services within the City of Loveland; and WHEREAS, the provision of transit system service within the city of Loveland by the City of Fort Collins could provide the City of Fort Collins with the following benefits: • Provide assistance to Loveland with its transit needs through the use of existing personnel's operational and management knowledge and skills. • Improve customer service between the two communities by eliminating different operational policies and service levels, such as fees. • Improve ridership reporting requirements and the federal grant submittal/ payment requests by combining the administration of the Federal Transit Administration Grant for Transportation Management Area, thereby resulting in additional revenue from the FTA. • Increase the opportunity for additional federal funds for both systems. • Enhance transit service to the Fort Collins customers through expanded Dial-A- Ride trip scheduling and on-street transit service coordination by improving Transfort's staffing level. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that the City Manager is hereby authorized to negotiate a draft intergovernmental agreement with the City of Loveland whereby the City of Fort Collins would provide transit system services within Loveland, and to submit the draft agreement to the City Council for review and approval. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins held this 5th day of October, A.D. 2004. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk