03/17/2015 Minutes — CITY OF GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA
MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
March 17, 2015
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a Study Session of the City Council of the City of Grand
Island, Nebraska was conducted in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 100 East First Street, on
March 17, 2015. Notice of the meeting was given in the Grand Island Independent on March 11,
2015.
Mayor Jeremy L. Jensen called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The following Councilmembers
were present: Mitch Nickerson, Mark Stelk, Jeremy Jones, Chuck Haase, Linna Dee Donaldson,
Michelle Fitzke, Vaughn Minton, Roger Steele, and Mike Paulick. Councilmember Julie Hehnke
was absent. The following City Officials were present: City Administrator Marian Ferguson,
City Clerk RaNae Edwards, Interim Finance Director William Clingman, Assistant City
Attorney Stacy Nonhof, and Public Works Director John Collins.
INVOCATION was given by Community Youth Council member Mari Paramo followed by the
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
Mayor Jensen introduced Community Youth Council members Ruth Palma and Mari Paramo
along with board member Maria Lopez.
PRESENTATIONS:
Presentation of Grand Island Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (GIAMPO) Long Range
Transportation Plan. Public Works Director John Collins introduced Clyde Prem representative
from Olsson Associates who presented a PowerPoint on the GIAMPO Long Range
Transportation Plan.
The MPO is a federally mandated policy-making and planning body. Federal law requires a
regional, coordinated process for transportation planning. Long range and short range plans must
reflect investments that support regional and national goals.
MPO does a Multi-Modal Transportation Plan through planning and implementation. The Long
Range Plan was for a transportation plan with investments to improve the condition and
performance of the transportation system. The draft plan was due late February, 2016. Public
involvement would be sought through-out the process.
Plan elements included: streets and highways, bicycle and pedestrian travel, movement of
freight, aviation, rail crossings, safety, and technology.
The Long Range Plan looks at transportation needs over the next 25 years and has a financial
component of the project — estimate costs and revenues available. The plan will develop goals
and use the goals to prioritize projects along with building the technical tools to achieve these
items.
Page 2,City Council Study Session,March 17,2015
Triveece Pendelton representing Vireo explained the public engagement of the project. The
following four community engagements were mentioned: outcomes, measures, scenarios, and
priorities. She commented on the importance of community involvement with this project. The
first step was to create a public involvement plan. An online survey would be done in the
beginning followed by an outcomes workshop.
Regional Planning Director Chad Nabity answered questions regarding any other plans the city
might have done in the past. He stated South Locust Street corridor after the tornados in 1980
was an example along with the South Locust Street exit interchange. The MPO plan would be
adjusted every 5 years.
Mr. Prem stated this would be a computer based model with the input of population and
employment, infounation on travel characteristics, and roadway network. The output would be a
model produced traffic volume forecasts. This travel model would attempt to replicate human
driver's trip making decisions through the use of mathematics.
Areas the model would look at were railroad, transit, bicycle & pedestrian, freight and aviation.
The next steps would be to hold a public input meeting in May, obtain data, existing conditions
analysis, and model development.
Quiet zone areas were mentioned along with noise walls.
Presentation on Capital Improvement Program Budgeting and Funding. Public Works Director
John Collins reported that the current practice was to budget capital improvement program (CIP)
funds each year, rather than with each project which may take multiple years to design and
construct. City staff would like to establish a dedicated CIP fund with payments set to the fund
each budget year to allow funds to remain in the account until moved to a specific project.
Mr. Collins explained the difference between operating funds and capital funds. Operating funds
could be used for any purpose and persist through the fiscal year. Capital funds could only be
used for capital assets and persist through the life of the project. He stated many capital projects
took more than 1 fiscal year to complete with the design and construction time dependent on
factors outside of the City's control. Also mentioned was that budgeting occurred in the middle
of construction season. Consequently, projects were cancelled or delayed and significant effort
by the Public Works and Finance staff were spent estimating expenses repeatedly through the
construction season. This also caused frequent budget adjustments.
Interim Finance Director William Clingman explained the dedicated Capital Program Account. It
was recommended that the City establish a dedicated Capital Program Account. This account
would be funded with the budget each year with the funds to remain in the account until spent on
an approved project. The amount transferred for the Capital Program would be approved by
Council each year. All projects would be approved on a contract by contract basis.
Discussion was held on where the funding would come from to be put into this account. Mr.
Clingman stated this would be decided during the budget process. Some of the funds would be
Page 3,City Council Study Session,March 17,2015
— from the State with the bulk of the money coming from gas tax. City Administrator Marlan
Ferguson stated he wanted to tie this in to the MPO as it would bring in more federal dollars.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 p.m.
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RaNae Edwards
City Clerk