BOARD MEETING Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 10:00 a.m. Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency Nashville, Tennessee MINUTES

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1 BOARD MEMBERSHIP PRESENT BOARD MEETING Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 10:00 a.m. Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency Nashville, Tennessee MINUTES Bill Orange Chairman Paul Ballard Secretary Rogers Anderson Ernest Burgess Angie Carrier Diane Davidson Roger Farley Scott Foster Don Fox Debbie Frank Bob Franklin Rick Gregory Jay Johnson Bob Nugent Bill Orange Shanon Polen Joe Reagan R.J. Hank Thompson Kenneth Wilber Don Wright ADDITIONAL ATTENDEES: Erin Collier W.T. Bill Farquhar Glenda Griggs Era Hogan Greg Langeliers Betty Laurs Teresa McKissick Allyson Shumate Kevin Walker Mayor, Cheatham County Mayor, Williamson County Mayor, Rutherford County Alternate, City of White House Alternate, TDOT Mayor, City of Hendersonville Mayor, City of Lebanon Alternate, City of Mt. Juliet Alternate, City of Goodlettsville Alternate, City of Franklin Alternate, City of Murfreesboro Mayor, Cheatham County Alternate, Robertson County Alternate, City of Brentwood County Executive, Sumner County Mayor, City of Portland Mayor, City of Gallatin RTS Staff Town of Thompson s Station Booz Allen Hamilton Neel-Schaffer, Inc.

2 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bill Orange called the Board meeting to order at approximately 10:00 a.m., on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, at Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency, Nashville, Tennessee. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Orange called for approval of the minutes of the August 16, 2006 Board meeting. Sumner County Executive Hank Thompson made a motion to approve the minutes. Lebanon Mayor Don Fox seconded and the motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairman Orange called for any comments from the public. There were no public comments. ACTION ITEMS Item 4a was presented by Allyson Shumate. The item was RTA/MPO Memorandum of Understanding. Mrs. Shumate stated that the purpose of this MOU is to establish a formal cooperative working arrangement between the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and RTA as part of the regional transportation planning process. This MOU specifies cooperative procedures for carrying out specific transit-related transportation planning activities in the Nashville planning area. The agreement allows the MPO to provide annual funding to the RTA for transportation planning purposes from the FTA 5303 and FHWA Section 112 programs. The amount received each year will vary based on federal funding to the two programs. Mayor Fox made a motion to approve the MOU for planning and cooperation between the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the RTA. County Executive Thompson seconded. The motion was unanimously approved. Item 4b was presented by Bobby Franklin. The item was Mt. Juliet joint Development Lease. Mr. Franklin stated that the City of Mt. Juliet has been working to develop the parcel immediately adjacent to the Music City Star station. This parcel was created by the acquisition of property for the widening of Mt. Juliet Road, and for the MCS station. Developer Tim Polson has approached Mt. Juliet, acting as an agent for the RTA with a conceptual proposal for the property. He has offered a $5,000 non-refundable lease to secure the property for six months while he secures financing and project approvals. These funds will be used to expand the SIR fund. Mr. Franklin noted that the parcel was too small to develop anything without having a partnership. This was presented to the Board about two months ago. Tom Brashear made a motion to approve a six month lease with Tim Polston for development of the Mt. Juliet station site. Mayor Fox seconded. The motion passed unanimously. INFORMATION ITEMS Item 5a was presented by Allyson Shumate. The item was Ticketing Update. Mrs. Shumate stated that once the single trip tickets arrived last week they were distributed to Mt. Juliet and

3 Lebanon. RTA is offering the single trip tickets at the pre-purchase rate on the platform this first week of service. Customers are able to purchase the single trip tickets on the platform or at the ticket sales offices - which is the RTA office, City of Mt. Juliet, and City of Lebanon. RTA is investigating working with the Donelson Senior Center to establish a ticket outlet there. The station machines are stocked for the higher platform fares starting the second week of service. Staff and volunteer ambassadors, with tickets, have been on the platforms this week and the second week to assist patrons with the use of the machines and provide information on the use of the system. RTA has adopted a very simple approach to ticketing that will work with our existing equipment, eliminating the need for additional capital outlays at this time. Item 5b was presented by Bill Farquhar. The item was Music City Star Operations Update. Mr. Farquhar stated that for the first day of service the ridership was a little under 800. Day two ridership was approximately 500 and this morning there were 206 passengers. Right now, ridership is where staff expected it would be. So far, word of mouth seems to be the best advertising. Operations are running smooth except for a problem with signals yesterday morning. That issue is being worked through. During discussions, the Board and staff discussed a special event train. People are still hesitant to ride the train. Running a special event train sooner than later may help gain more daily commuters. Also during discussion, there were many great comments and much applause on the launch of the commuter rail service. Item 5c was presented by Kevin Walker. The item was Construction Update. Mr. Walker stated that the signals and stations are completed. The contracts are in the process of being closed out. The Baddour Parkway grade crossing will be replaced soon. Mayor Orange thanked Mr. Walker for all that he has done for the RTA and the commuter rail project. Item 5d was presented by Teresa McKissick. The item was Grand Opening Event and Station Ambassador Program. Ms. McKissick stated that Grand Opening Event at Riverfront Station on Friday, September 15 went very well. Some of the speakers included representatives from Congressman Jim Cooper s office, Congressman Bart Gordon s office, Congressman Bob Clement, TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely, and Paul Ballard. The Lebanon Station ceremony went very well also. The speakers included Representative Susan Lynn, Lebanon Mayor Fox, Mt. Juliet City Manager Rob Shearer, and Master of Ceremony was Roger Farley. The other stations ceremonies went just as well. Everything was well received and ran according to train schedule.

4 Opening day went very smooth. During the weeks before, staff had gathered volunteers to be ambassadors for the first two weeks of service. The ambassadors assist commuters with tickets, the ticket vending machines, proper boarding, answering questions, and much more. Ms. McKissick showed a PowerPoint slide show of pictures from the Grand Opening events and the first day of service. Afterwards, Board members gave positive comments. Betty Laurs, Booz Allen Hamilton, recognized all of the RTA for their hard work and for doing such a great job. Mayor Orange thanked the staff and all of the Board members for their support and hard work. Item 5e was presented by Sharon Simmons. The item was JARC Vehicle Contract. Mrs. Simmons stated that a portion of RTA s Job Access-Round VI grant was designated for capital purchase of passenger vans. A 12-passenger van was delivered to The Downtown Ministry, Inc., (TDM). This van has been provided for use by their staff in support of TDM s The Next Door program. This program is designed to assist women ex-offenders of Middle Tennessee with their transition back into the working community. TDM staff will use this van for their job-readiness training and work shuttle-van activities. RTA will enter into contract with TDM. The cost to RTA for this vehicle purchase was $19, Mrs. Simmons stated that The Next Door was chosen because of the number of clients they serve and the number of programs they offer. There are still around five agencies in need of a van. Diane Davidson stated that those agencies could check into 5310 funds. Mrs. Simmons responded that she would let them know of those funds. Item 5f was presented by Glenda Griggs. The item was Relax & Ride Service Expansion. Mrs. Griggs stated that staff met with Mr. James Fenton to discuss the possibility of introducing a Relax & Ride bus alternative to Ashland City and the surrounding areas. Ashland City is not in the MPO planning area, thus the requests for funding will be managed via the RPO. Staff is investigating with TDOT the potential for CMAQ funds available to use to support the new service as a demonstration project. There appears to be a strong market potential of the R&R. The 2000 census showed over 10, 000 commuters live in Cheatham County and travel outside of the county for employment, with a vast majority (7,000) work in the Nashville area. Currently there are three 15-passenger vanpools and 23 carpools that leave Ashland City, Monday through Friday and commute to the downtown area. This data shows that there are many commuters in their cars. We will be doing market research in the downtown area to get a census of how many commuters would be interested in using a Relax and Ride service. Item 5g was presented by Glenda Griggs. The item was Relax & Ride Ridership Report. Mrs. Griggs stated that the ridership on the two Relax & Ride services continues to show increases over the same month ridership a year ago. In August, the 96X Murfreesboro had increased from 146 riders per day to 156 riders, an increase of approximately 23%. The ridership on the #35X Rivergate Express to Hendersonville had increased from 30 riders per day to 49 riders daily, an increase of 63%. OTHER BUSINESS Mayor Fox requested that a funding update be on the Board agenda regularly.

5 Mayor Orange stated that there will be a Task Force meeting the first week of October. One issue on the agenda is permanent funding. A second issue to address is the tort liability. The process needs to begin to in order for that to go to the legislation. Mayor Fox made a motion to adjourn. Shanon Polen, Robertson County, seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:55 a.m. Respectfully, Paul J. Ballard Paul J. Ballard RTA Secretary