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Home My WebLink About2002-01-16 Government Operations Committee Minutes ' , GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES � January 16, 2002 � Councilors Present: Joe Baldacci, Dan Tremble, Anne Allen, Gerry Palmer Staff Present: Bob Farrar, Bob Dawes, )oe McNeil, Norm Heitmann � Other Present: Don Cooper (BACTS) ' With a quorum present, the Meeting was called to Order by Committee Chair Baldacci , at 4:30 p.m. Please note Item 2 was discussed first on the agenda. � 2. Review/Discuss Transit Operational Policy � Bob stated to the Committee that the policy is fairly straightforvvard. Section 2.0 ' provides the City various factors that have to be considered when dealing with inclement and/or hazardous driving conditions. Bob stated that on the morning of December 24, 2001, taking into account all of those factors, the weather � forecast, and other information that Bob and )oe had at their disposal, the decision was made that it would be imprudent to operate given the ice conditions that morning. , Council Palmer stated he would like to hear more about how decisions get made. Gerry stated that at 6:00 am on that day, he was in his vehicle and did agree � that the roads were slippery. But it was the holiday season and some people have no other means to get around other than the bus or cab if they could afford it. � Joe McNeil passed out copies of some guidelines that he used to evaluate the � situation. ]oe stated that he normally arrives to work �/z hour early at 5:00 am. However, on the 24"' of December, he went in at 4:30 a.m. He went to the bus stop then checked the east side and the west side. The east side was not as bad ' as the west side. The west side was really terribie. Joe stated that he was very nervous even driving to work. He also called Highway to make sure they knew how bad the driving was. They did have one sait truck ready to go out. ' Knowing that one salt truck would not serve the needs of the Bus made Joe a little nervous. On that particular day, there was no question in the morning that ' , ' � it was icy and was supposed to stay icy until mid-morning and then go back ' down to 30 degrees range and stay that way through the night. Obviously, that did not happen. Joe stated that Channel 2 pretty much said the same thing when the decision was made not to run the bus. One of the problems that the ' buses have is after they have been out and start serving the general public, is to get them back in which takes about 2 hours. , Councilor Tremble stated that as far as driving conditions go, he has 4-wheel drive and went to work at 6:00 am and the roads were very slippery. He ' questioned if this were a public works issue rather than a bus. Some of the problem may be that the drivers for the Bus and Public Works live outside of town. So with Public Works' employees at 4:00 or 4:30 a.m., when they get ' called to sand and salt, they have to try to get here in slippery road conditions. Bob stated that one of the other considerations is that there are five other � communities including the University that the City has to consider. If Bangor is in this situation, what are the other community roads going to be like? It isn't just as simple as saying Bangor's roads are great, but we also have to make a ' judgment about where we are with the other communities as well. Bob stated that he does not recall that the City has ever had any other town or city manager call or complain or even question the call. They have usually gone along with ' the City's judgment in terms of whether it was a safe day to operate or not. � Councilor Palmer asked what the means by which the public is notified that the Bus is not operating on a specific day? And who does the notification and what time? � Joe stated that all radio channels and TV channels are notified and that he is responsible for notifying them. He calls the drivers first so they do not come in. ' Councilor Palmer asked if all of the drivers were sleeping in their bus at the barn, would that have impacted the decision that day? ' )oe stated that before he called Bob, he held the drivers for an hour to see what would happen with the temperature. Joe could have easily sent the drivers back ' out but then saw that the temperatures were going to again drop in the afternoon. iBob stated that he and Joe spent ten to fifteen minutes on the phone and Bob quizzed him pretty hard about the idea of holding service first thing and starting � up at 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. and running through day. But when he described what he was seeing on the radar and the weather report saying that by mid-afternoon it was going to get back down into freezing temperatures ' � ' � again, at that point the decision was made to halt service. That was a judgment call and, unfortunately in this case, the weather worked against the City in terms , of what eventually happened. Bob was glad the day was better but in hindsight, if Joe and Bob had known it was going to warm up and stay warm, clearly, the Bus would have been running. ' Councilor Palmer asked what the linkage was between Public Works and the Bus. Joe stated that if a driver calls in a slippery spot, the message gets passed on to ' Public Works and they take care of it the best that they can. Joe stated that the , Bus and Public Works have a good relationship. Councilor Palmer asked if Public Works was used in discussions in the mornings , to decide whether to operate or not run? Joe stated that he calls Public Works and asks how many plow trucks are on the � roads and how long before they get to Pickering Square and clean it up. Council Chair Baldacci stated that Councilor Allen arrived and that Item 1 and 3 , have not been discussed yet. Councilor Allen stated that her only concern is the e-mails that were sent out ' afterwards from Ed Barrett said that the roads were clear. She continued to state that she was following up with Councilor Palmer's concerns and asked why , the Bus could not have run on the 24rn Bob stated that Councilor Allen's concerns go back to the issue that at 6:00 a.m. , the road conditions were not good. The roads did clear up fairly quickly thereafter but looking at the weather, it was forecasted to turn to freezing temperatures by early afternoon. Therefore, Bob and )oe's judgment, was not to ■ hold the Bus until 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning and to run it potentially until only ! 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon if the weather had turned to freezing cold again and then to suspend service if in fact traveling got treacherous again. It was , thought that running the Bus for 3 or 4 hours and trying to get everyone in that had gone out, would not have made a lot of sense. Again, that could have , worked for some people but a lot of people use the Bus as a primary transportation for day long work. At that point, if there are Bus travelers out in the public and we shut down at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m., then the City gets the call , asking how they will get home. It is easier for the Bus to be closed for the day than to start up and have to close early because all those passengers who are out are expecting the Bus to transport them home. It is a tough call to make. , Councilor Allen asked about delaying versus canceling. ' , ' � ' Bob stated again that the weather forecast was that by early afternoon it would turn cold again and were concerned that at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m., potentially Bob and Joe would have to revisit the issue of an early shutdown. It did stay warm ■ all day, but the best judgment at 6:00 a.m. was that it was better off to let ■ people know up-front that the Bus could not run than to delay, start, and may be have to shutdown early. That would be very confusing to the public. , Council Chair Baldacci stated that this was an issue because of the day it ' happened on and a lot of people probably wanted to get to certain places. Understandably it is hard to second guess safety decisions because there are other factors involved. In terms of Public Works, are there issues that need to , be dealt with? Bob stated that he is not aware of any issues. The ice storm came very quickly � and glazed over. There was at least one plow truck out if not two. There were some issues on people getting into work. ' Bob stated that on days that the Bus runs but Penquis Cap does not run, technically the Bus would be responsible and compelled to provide service to the people that normally get transportation from Penquis Cap. The other issue that ' the City has concerns about is if the bus gets into an accident and has a number of people on it, there are no seat belts so people get tossed around. The bus is � a large vehicle and if it comes in contact with a personal car, there are liability issues to consider. Again, Joe and Bob have to think about all of the issues when making the decision whether to run or not. It is not an easy decision to ' make at 6:00 a.m. trying the balance the public's needs with safety and liability. Councilor Allen asked if there was any possibiliry that the bus could just be ' delayed until 10:00 a.m. until a definite decision can be reached rather than shutting down totally. � Bob stated that it gets confusing when that happens. There will be people standing at the roadways for the 6:00, 6:30, or 6:45 a.m. pickup who will have missed the delay announcement. � Councilor Allen asked that the bus be delayed untii 10:00 a.m. and at that time a ' decision be made whether to run or shutdown versus making the call of a complete shutdown. � Bob stated that if the Committee wouid like, he and Joe could come up with some language and incorporate that idea and come back to the Committee for consideration, if they wished. ' , , i Council Chair Baldacci stated that he does not know if it needs to be policy, but � Councilor Allen has a good point for consideration. It is a real delicate balancing act. The Bus did only close twice last year. The general consensus of the Committee was to leave the current policy in place, , but to be as considerate as possible to the implications of suspending or ceasing operations. ' 1. Review of BACTS Transit Route Redesign Study RFP , Council Chair Baldacci stated that there are some issues whether the locations of pick-up and drop-off of passengers is adequate. ' Councilor Allen stated one of her concerns is the fact that the bus does not go down Ohio Street from Westland Street to Griffin Road. � Don Cooper stated that in the Scope of Services which is on page 47 of the packet, one of the numbered tasks specifically mentions service on Ohio Street. , Council Chair Baldacci asked if there should be a particular item or task that � references senior citizen facilities. The city does have several large facilities. One is on Ohio and one is off York Street. Councilor Tremble asked about extending services on Stillwater Avenue to the , new vision care facility, the new Goodwill Store, and the trailer park that is further out. � Bob stated that the city had collected requests and passed those along to Mr. Cooper. , Don stated that during the course of the study itself, there is an advisory committee which is composed riders, operator representatives, planner � representatives, and other people who have made specific requests. That advisory committee can say"what if" or"have you thought of this". � Councilor Allen stated that having the advisory committee is an excellent idea. But she questioned whether the committee really looks at the option of � somebody in Orono being able to take the bus from Orono into Bangor for a doctor's appointment on Broadway and back to Orono using a certain timeframe. Also, serving people that have come into hotels. , ' , ' ' Councilor Tremble asked if the thought of having two hubs to shorten distance ' and time had been considered? Don Cooper stated that it is a possibility but would make things more � complicated. Councilor Allen stated that two hubs would be very advantageous to people. She , also stated that she does not think peop►e would mind transferring. ' Councilor Palmer stated that it is not windmill when you look at the alternative for a metropolitan downtown like St. John is a pedway system. People walk, if needed, snow does not come in, you can go from building to building, across , streets, etc. However as St. John changes, those pedways are locked in place. He stated that he is not sure that the bus as it is configured is the vehicle or the mechanism to do that. He does think that as time goes by there will be more � and more demand for the bus. He does not think there is a demand for the level that the Ciry would like to see, but as time goes by the City will have to look at that very closely. ' Bob stated that the actual process is that the requests go out and are due back on January 25"'. Then there will be the review process and selection process. ' Councilor Palmer asked if the committee was going to look into Sunday ' operations. Even if the hours were shorten from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 or 4:00 p.m. Don Cooper stated that that is possible. That would be another transit ' opportunity. Councilor Allen stated that the University has a very serious bussing problem. ' Bob stated that the city does have a very good and positive relationship with the University. He also stated that if there are members of this committee that ' would like to be on the advisory committee, please let Joe McNeil, Don Cooper, or Bob know. As a brief remainder, any increase in the local service will be a direct increase to the subsidy that the City of Bangor provides. If the City , rearranges the current service, subsidy basically remains the same but if the City wants to expand or increase the service, the Ciry is already at the maximum in ' terms of what we get for federal and state assistance, unless fair rates are raised which is currently 75 cents, or Bangor's subsidy is increased which is currently $200,000 to run its share of the system. There are a lot of good ideas or ' important ones that will come out of the study in terms of expanding and different days and hours, etc., but uitimately the Council will have to judge those issues in context with other priorities. � , , , Councilor Tremble asked what percent of the fair rate pays for operational costs? ' Joe McNeii stated 31%. Councilor Allen stated that she would hate to see the fair rate increase. She , suggested more contributions from other communities. ' Bob stated that each community gets its fair share of federal funds, state funds, and the fair box revenue. Each community has to add in subsidy to pay for the , rest of the operating expense. The City of Bangor does not pay any operating expense for other participants. Joe stated that Bangor gets 63% of funds, Brewer gets 10°/o, the University gets � 21%, and Hampden gets 6%. That is based on the number of hours of service that is provided. Brewer is considering doubling their service next year. � Councilor Palmer asked if there were any innovative things that the city can utilize in terms of making tickets more accessible to the public? The drivers are , a good source, but are limited in terms of the amount of money they are allowed to carry. Is there a way to look at perhaps a vending machine for tickets? Is , there a way to look at a downtown partner or some retail establishment that would like to sell tickets to people? Can we use tickets in promotional ways? Joe stated that this is the first year that the City has used the tickets in a , promotional way. Joe is not sure what is available in the line of vending machines. There is a possibility that the parking garage could sell tickets for the ' bus. Councilor Tremble asked how much the subsidy represented? , Bob stated that the city subsidy is a little bit more than $200,000. Bangor's total operating cost is $600,000 to $700,000. � Councilor Allen suggested instead of individual paper passes, maybe the use of a � monthly card pass with a magnetic field and a counter on the bus. Joe stated that the City looked at a media stand box. That probably will not , happen because media stand box itself is almost $8,000. Hardware and accessories would be an additional $40,000. The Committee thanked Mr. Cooper and staff for the update, and look forward to i seeing the study results and recommendations. ' ' , ' 3. Em�lovees Seekin,y Election to Political Office ' Councilor Allen stated that basically she has some concerns how the Section is written. The overall view of what she is looking for is to allow people to run for ■ public office at the state and county level. This was also a request from a former ■ city employee that has passed away. She does not think people should be restricted to run for office because that is something a person would have to do ' on their own time. ' Council Chair Baldacci asked Councilor Allen if she was aware of what other communities had for a policy? ' Councilor Allen stated that she did know that the City of Portland has a person in the State Legislature who is a city employee who lives in Westbrook. , Bob stated that the Policy was revised in 1997, but that the same clause was included and that this is not something that had been recently changed, but does dating back to 1970's. Since Bob has been with the City, he has had at least 3 ' employees approach him about the policy. He did caution if an employee did get elected to political office and took a position that was not in favor with what the Council wanted, it could create a situation where the Council could be unhappy , with an employee and/or department head or division head. , Council Chair Baldacci stated that an issue could be whether or not an employee takes a position for or against the city. He feels that an employee should be able to run as long as they did not use their office. , Councilor Allen stated that the key is that once an employee is eleded, they still can work. ' Bob stated that he could get more information on what other communities do to assist the Committee with this issue. � Councilor Baldacci stated that he would not say that a person cannot run just because he/she works for the City of Bangor. As long as a person campaigns on , his or her own time. ' Councilor Palmer stated that he thinks people should be able to run and thinks that there is plenty of policy available to look at to see what works best. He does think there is the risk that people would be using their employment office ' for political purposes. , , ' Councilor Tremble remarked that he had concerns about employees running for , o�ce depending upon their position with the City, and the potential for an � employee, once elected to take positions opposed to the City Council's views. But, he was also concerned that the current language was overly restrictive. City Solicitor Heitmann stated that there are two parts to this. There are other � provisions in the City's Ethic's Ordinance and Personnel Policy that talk about misuse of a job within the City. , Council Chair Baldacci stated that Bob wiil gather information from other , communities and talk about this again at the second meeting in February. With no further business to come before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned at ' 5:35 p.m. � , , , , , , , , ' ' ,