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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 03/03/2020 - SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 038, 2020, MAKINGAgenda Item 3 Item # 3 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY March 3, 2020 City Council STAFF Kaley Zeisel, Transfort Capital Planning/Grant Compliance Mgr Claire Havelda, Legal SUBJECT Second Reading of Ordinance No. 038, 2020, Making an Appropriation for the Expansion of the Transfort FLEX Service to Boulder. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Ordinance, unanimously adopted on First Reading on February 18, 2020, appropriates unanticipated grant revenue awarded by Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) to fund the expansion of the FLEX to Boulder Regional Route. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on Second Reading. ATTACHMENTS 1. First Reading Agenda Item Summary, February 18, 2020 (w/o attachments) (PDF) 2. Ordinance No. 038, 2020 (PDF) Agenda Item 15 Item # 15 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY February 18, 2020 City Council STAFF Kaley Zeisel, Transfort Capital Planning/Grant Compliance Mgr Claire Havelda, Legal SUBJECT Items Relating to FLEX Regional Route Operations Grant Revenue. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A. Resolution 2020-019 Authorizing the Execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement between the City and the Colorado Department of Transportation for Transfort FLEX Service. B. First Reading of Ordinance No. 038, 2020, Making an Appropriation for the Expansion of the Transfort FLEX Service to Boulder. The purpose of these items is to authorize Transfort to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for funds contributing to regular operations of the FLEX Regional Route and to appropriate unanticipated grant revenue awarded by Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) to fund the expansion of the FLEX to Boulder Regional Route. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution and Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Transfort’s commuter FLEX routes contribute greatly to the transportation community in Northern Colorado, serving the citizens of Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder and smaller population centers in between. FLEX weekday service consists of 19 round trips to Loveland, 14 round trips to Longmont, and 5 round trips to Boulder; weekend service consists of 17 round trips to Loveland and 4 round trips to Longmont. FLEX served over 200,000 riders in 2019. Ridership on FLEX regional routes has continued to increase year over year since its initial launch in 2009, adding routes to Boulder in 2016. These numbers demonstrate the demand for transit service between these communities in Northern Colorado. Currently, there are no weekday southbound trips leaving Fort Collins between 6:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. that travel all the way to Boulder, a service gap of over seven hours. Likewise, there are no northbound trips leaving Boulder between 8:09 a.m. and 3:18 p.m., a complementary gap of seven hours. The new midday trip would cut this service gap roughly in half, making it possible for people to travel between Fort Collins and Boulder for a half-day via transit, instead of the current forced full-day excursion. Currently the FLEX does not operate at all on Sundays, and no FLEX trips come all the way to Boulder on Saturdays; all existing Saturday FLEX service terminates in either Loveland or Longmont. The four weekend roundtrips funded as part of this project will not be extensions of existing Saturday trips; rather they will be new Fort Collins-Boulder roundtrips added on top of all existing Saturday service. It will be determined later how best to allocate the four weekend round trips between Saturday and Sunday. Possibilities include four roundtrips on Saturdays only, three roundtrips on Saturdays and one on Sunday, or two roundtrips on Saturdays and two on ATTACHMENT 1 Agenda Item 15 Item # 15 Page 2 Sundays. Transfort will conduct outreach to its riders in addition to looking at ridership trends to determine the most productive weekend split. This expanded service is anticipated to begin August 2020. CDOT has awarded the City of Fort Collins a $200,000 grant from the Statewide Competitive Pool of the FASTER Transit program for FY 2020. The grant funds and the local match will be dedicated to the operating expenses for FLEX regional routes, including fuel, payroll costs, administrative and overhead outlays. This grant requires a 50% local match of $200,000. The total $400,000 will contribute to the overall operating cost of approximately $1.9 million for FLEX. Transfort maintains intergovernmental agreements with each partner agency (Loveland, Berthoud, Longmont, City of Boulder, and Boulder County). The agency contributions are based on the ridership levels of each municipality and contributes to the annual operating costs. The $200,000 local match contributes toward the City of Fort Collins’ share. The award amount of $200,000 and the local match of $200,000 were appropriated in the 2020 Transfort budget. If adopted, the Resolution will assist maintaining the exceptional service that the FLEX route provides to citizens and surrounding communities. Council previously approved similar resolutions in 2018 (2018-001) for FY18 FASTER FLEX Operating grant funding and 2019 (2019-009) for FY19 FASTER FLEX Operating grant funding. Through a separate call for projects, DRCOG awarded a total of $1,000,000 specifically for the expansion of service on FLEX to Boulder routes: $250,000 each year over the next four (4) years (FY20-FY23). This ordinance is appropriating FY20 funds only, FY21-23 funding awards will be incorporated into future Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) offers. Operating assistance is an eligible expense under the CMAQ program but is limited to start up operating costs for new transportation services or the incremental costs of expanding transit services. The intent for using CMAQ funds for operating assistance is to assist start up transit services that will demonstrate air quality benefits. Other funding sources should supplement and ultimately replace CMAQ funds for operating assistance after approximately five (5) years of funding. Transfort will continue to evaluate the net air quality benefit provided by the service in part by analyzing ridership numbers and demand for service. Transfort works with multiple partner agencies to fund the FLEX Regional Route including Boulder County, City of Boulder, Loveland, Longmont, Berthoud, and Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Once CMAQ funding is no longer available to fund this expanded service, Transfort will work with these partners to fill the funding gap. CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS Financial Impact related to the CDOT FASTER Operating Agreement Resolution: $400,000 of Transfort funds were previously appropriated for FLEX operations through the BFO process for this grant. Financial Impact related to the appropriation of CMAQ Operating funds for the expansion of FLEX service to Boulder: DRCOG awarded this project $250,000 for FY20, which requires a local match of 20% or $62,500. The FY20 local match will come from existing partner contributions, recognized as prior year FLEX spending (which will be requested for reimbursement). The City can and will request reimbursement for prior year expenses related to the service, and as such, revenue will be greater than expense for 2020. 2020 revenue will be $250,000. The increased expense from expanded service will increase 2020 operating costs by $85,000. ATTACHMENTS 1. FLEX Route Map (PDF) -1- ORDINANCE NO. 038, 2020 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE TRANSFORT FLEX SERVICE TO BOULDER WHEREAS, Transfort’s commuter FLEX routes contribute greatly to the transportation community in Northern Colorado by serving citizens of Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder (the “Partner Agencies”) and small population centers in between; and WHEREAS, the Colorado Department of Transportation (“CDOT”) has awarded the City a $200,000 grant from the Statewide Competitive Pool of the FASTER Transit Program for fiscal year 2020 (the “CDOT Grant”); and WHEREAS, the CDOT Grant requires a 50% local match of $200,000 from the City; and WHEREAS both the CDOT Grant of $200,000 and the local match of $200,000 were budgeted and appropriated in the 2020 Transfort budget; and WHEREAS, the City of Boulder, as a Partner Entity, sought additional funding from the Denver Regional Council of Governments (“DRCOG”) to expand FLEX to Boulder services, including a new midday route on weekdays and an extension of FLEX weekend service (which currently ends in Longmont) to Boulder (“Expanded FLEX to Boulder”) to commence in the third or fourth quarter of 2020; and WHEREAS, DRCOG has awarded an additional grant funded by the Federal Transit Administration (“FTA Grant”) of $1 million, in increments of $250,000 per year over 4 years (beginning in 2020), specifically for the Expanded FLEX to Boulder service; and WHEREAS, the local match of $62,500 for the FTA Grant for fiscal year 2020 will come from existing Partner Agency contributions, recognized as prior year FLEX spending that is eligible and will be requested for reimbursement; and WHEREAS, the CDOT Grant (including the City’s matching funds) and the FTA Grant (including Partner Agency matching funds) will contribute to the overall $1.9 million operating costs for the FLEX routes, including the Expanded FLEX to Boulder service; and WHEREAS, under the FTA Grant the City can and will request reimbursement for prior year expenses incurred in providing the FLEX service, resulting in a need to appropriate $85,000 of the FTA Grant funds in 2020 for the Expanded Flex to Boulder service; and WHEREAS, this appropriation benefits public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Fort Collins and serves the public purpose of improving Transfort Expanded FLEX service to Boulder; and WHEREAS, Article V, Section 9, of the City Charter permits the City Council to make supplemental appropriations by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the total -2- amount of such supplemental appropriations, in combination with all previous appropriations for that fiscal year, does not exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received during the fiscal year; and WHEREAS, the City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein and determined that this appropriation is available and previously unappropriated from the Transit Services Fund and will not cause the total amount appropriated in the Transit Services Fund to exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received in that fund during any fiscal year. 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 from unanticipated grant revenue in the Transit Services Fund the sum of EIGHTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($85,000) for expenditure in the Transit Services Fund for the Transfort Expanded FLEX to Boulder service. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 18th day of February, A.D. 2020, and to be presented for final passage on the 3rd day of March, A.D. 2020. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 3rd day of March, A.D. 2020. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk