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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 01/05/2016 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 002, 2016, APPROPRIAgenda Item 7 Item # 7 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY January 5, 2016 City Council STAFF Karl Gannon, Financial Analyst Kurt Ravenschlag, Transfort/DAR General Manager SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 002, 2016, Appropriating Unanticipated Grant Revenue from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant for the Extension of FLEX Regional Route Service and Authorizing Execution of Implementing Intergovernmental Agreements by the City Manager. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to request a 2016 appropriation in the amount of $475,000 to facilitate additional service for the FLEX regional transit route. This additional service is being fully funded through a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant that was awarded to Boulder County for the extension of FLEX services to Boulder. Staff is not requesting any additional City funding because the local match is being provided by existing Transportation Management Association (TMA) partner contributions and by the City of Boulder. The additional service is set to begin in January 2016 under a three-year pilot program. Transfort is acting in the capacity of pass-through recipient of the CMAQ funding and will request from Council further appropriations for 2017 and 2018 service in the 2016 Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) process. These further appropriations will again be fully funded with external revenue. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Transfort is seeking an appropriation in the amount of $475,000 for the payment of costs related to additional FLEX regional service to the City of Boulder. In 2015, Boulder County was awarded a three-year CMAQ grant for the extension of FLEX services to the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. As the provider of existing FLEX service to Longmont, Boulder County has requested that Transfort extend its service under a contractual services agreement with Boulder County. An intergovernmental agreement with the City of Boulder with respect to the extended service is currently being negotiated. The Ordinance also authorizes the City Manager to execute implementing intergovernmental agreements with governmental service partners, including the City of Boulder. Funding for this project is being supplied by a three-year CMAQ grant that was awarded to Boulder County in 2015. The amount awarded for the initial year of extended service is $380,000 with a further local match amount of $95,000 being funded with TMA partner contributions, City of Boulder contributions, and fares. Staff is not requesting any additional funds from the City to undertake the additional service. Appropriations for the subsequent years' awards for 2017 and 2018 will be requested in the 2016 BFO process where staff again will not be requesting any additional City funds. The new extension trips into Boulder represent new trips on the FLEX route (as opposed to extending the existing trips). These trips will run as a complement to the existing FLEX trips between Fort Collins and Longmont, which will remain with their existing run times and with the same destinations. SH 119 is one of the Agenda Item 7 Item # 7 Page 2 most congested corridors in the region and was identified in the RTD Northwest Area Mobility Study (NAMS) as one of two highest priority corridors for future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service. Providing frequent and convenient transit service in this corridor is critical to providing alternatives to driving, and for setting the stage for future BRT service. Currently, there is no direct bus service in operation that provides a single seat ride on public transit service between the cities of Fort Collins/Loveland to Boulder. Residents trying to get from Boulder to Fort Collins/Loveland must currently take an RTD bus from Boulder to Longmont and then transfer to the FLEX route to reach Fort Collins/Loveland. The need for the transfer can add additional time/complexity to making such a trip, in addition to the added confusion of paying multiple fares and riding multiple transit routes operated by two different service providers. This interregional bus service would provide a one-seat ride between the cities of Fort Collins/Loveland and Boulder to help eliminate this barrier. The FLEX extension will utilize the existing routing of the FLEX between Fort Collins/Loveland to Longmont. The newly added trips resulting from the CMAQ grant will provide new service into the City of Boulder via Highway 119. People traveling between Fort Collins/Loveland and Longmont will go from having nine weekday round-trips to having fourteen round-trips available. Destinations for the route within Boulder include: Boulder Junction (30th and Pearl), Boulder Transit Center/ downtown Boulder (14th and Walnut), and the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. The FLEX extension will help to further goals outlined by many of the regional communities: to create interregional bus services to connect communities throughout the state. CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS The cost of the additional service will be borne fully by CMAQ funds (80%), by partner funding, in-kind services and generated fares (20%). Transfort is not requesting any additional funding from the City. ORDINANCE NO. 002, 2016 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROPRIATING UNANTICIPATED GRANT REVENUE FROM THE CONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITY GRANT FOR THE EXTENSION OF FLEX REGIONAL ROUTE SERVICE AND AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF IMPLEMENTING INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENTS BY THE CITY MANAGER WHEREAS, State Highway 119 is one of the most congested corridors in the region and was identified in the RTD Northwest Area Mobility Study as one of two highest priority corridors for future Bus Rapid Transit service; and WHEREAS, there is currently no existing single-seat, uninterrupted bus route between the City of Fort Collins and the City of Boulder; and WHEREAS, Boulder County has received funding from a Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ) grant for three years; and WHEREAS, FLEX is a regional bus route serving stops between Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud and Longmont, made possible through a regional partnership and operated by Transfort; and WHEREAS, at Boulder County’s request and utilizing the CMAQ grant, Transfort will extend FLEX services along State Highway 119 in order to provide an uninterrupted bus route between Fort Collins and the City of Boulder; and WHEREAS, the new extension trips into Boulder represent new trips on the FLEX route (the “Boulder Service Extension”), and these trips will run as a complement to the existing FLEX trips between Fort Collins and Longmont, which will remain with their existing run times and with the same destinations; and WHEREAS, this appropriation in the amount of FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY- FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($475,000) will be the first year of a three year grant for the extended FLEX services; and WHEREAS, the Boulder Service Extension is scheduled to commence on January 18, 2016 and appropriate intergovernmental agreements related to this expanded service are being negotiated. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That there is hereby appropriated for expenditure unanticipated revenue in the Transit Services Fund the sum of FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($475,000) for the additional bus services described in this Ordinance. Section 3. That the City Manager is hereby authorized to execute such intergovernmental agreements with governmental service partners, including the City of Boulder, as may be necessary or appropriate to establish the terms and conditions of the Boulder Service Extension, which agreements shall be in a form reasonably sufficient to implement the intent of this Ordinance and protect the interests of the City as determined by the City Manager, after consultation with the City Attorney. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 5th day of January, A.D. 2016, and to be presented for final passage on the 19th day of January, A.D. 2016. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 19th day of January, A.D. 2016. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk