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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation FY2013-2014 DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 1 The departmental budget review reconvened at April 12, 2013 at 11:31 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Transportation: Honorable Tim Bynum (Present 11:34) Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro CELIA M. MAHIKOA, Executive on Transportation: Before I proceed, I would like to introduce our Operations Manager Kaleo Carvalho who has been with us for over twenty years now. DUANE KALEO CARVALHO: Twenty years, yes. Ms. Mahikoa: He is part of our foundational staffing that we have. Chair Furfaro: Celia, a little staffing commentary here on the presentation, this is a budget presentation and I want to make sure as we cover issues related to Transportation and the Transportation Budget, I do not necessarily want to take this meeting that goes into philosophy and things that you have to come and so forth. That can be done in the Transportation Committee. Ms. Mahikoa: Okay. Chair Furfaro: I want to hear the narrative that supports your operating budget. Ms. Mahikoa: Alright. Chair Furfaro: And you have the floor. Ms. Mahikoa: Thank you. Just to give you some background on our Agency and our mission. Our mission to provide the Kaua`i community accessible transportation services with professionalism and the Aloha spirit. We all commit to doing that to our best each day as we have the privilege of serving the public with the service that we provide. The Goals and Objectives that we have set up for our Fiscal Year 2014 are first of all to get the bus stops sheltered. That is one our major initiatives that we are taking on to accomplish by the year 2020 for the benefit of our passengers who need to wait at the stops each day. This upcoming year, we are going to look at achieving completing construction on eight bus stops shelters and initiating construction of at least one volunteer — built bus stop shelter. That is certainly something that we want to encourage. Another goal that we have is looking at our g g g g revenue structure and refining it as far as the regular fares versus the discount fares structure that we have set up right now with ways that we can better serve 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 2 the community. At the same time, remaining compliant with the Federal Regulations that apply to a public transit operation. The third goal that we have is in getting a short range transit plan set up for our operation and that will involved contracting with a consultant to initiate the plan development. Going into our successes and achievements for this past year as far as the bus stop passenger shelter project goes we are currently managing a design and engineering contract that is scheduled to provide plan and permitting for 49 bus stop passenger shelter locations. It was initially scheduled to be completed by the end of this month however they are going to need to ask for an extension of a few months. So, that is in the process right now. Once the contract is complete, the Agency can proceed with the construction of passenger shelters as funding become available and as I just mentioned, we are looking at eight bus stop shelters for this upcoming year. With this, I needed to acknowledge our CIP Manager Keith Suga, Lee Steinmetz, our new Transportation Planner, as well as the Public Works leadership for the guidance and industry knowledge that they have been sharing with us as we attempted to go through this project which has been outstanding. We appreciate it very much. Another success that we had this year was having bus pass sales at convenient locations for the public. In addition to Pono Market in Kapa'a being the first retail outlet to offer selling bus passes last year for which we are extremely grateful with Mr. Bob Kubota for allowing that to happen, really breaking the ice in that whole initiative. We also had the opportunity to meet up with Representative Kawakami who is instrumental in allowing us to be able to start selling passes at the Menehune Food Marts throughout the island. That allowed several more retail locations to become available in excellent locations — we have Kekaha, Lawa`i, Kapahi, and Kilauea now as locations that bus passes are being sold. An additional benefit that came from;,this was the fact that the sale of over three hundred and sixty passes are occurring at these retails outlets, they have additional customers coming in the store and the Treasury Division is not needing to sell three hundred and sixty of these passes each month. So, it has lightened the load on them as well. I also needed to acknowledge them for their contributions through these years and addressing that demand here in Lihu`e. Another success that we have had this year is the KCC bulk rate discount bus pass program, the Resolution allowing the County and KCC to proceed with a bulk rate discount bus pass program was accepted last fall and I thank you for your support in that. We have initiate an agreement with the University of Hawai`i after they have received an approval from their Board of Regents in February 2013. To proceed with an agreement that will take effect for the fall 2013 semester. So, that will be for August of this year. It will start up, I believe registration for that semester just started this past Monday, the 8th and therefore the fee that we had agreed upon is being collected currently and throughout the registration period. Another initiated that we took on this year was restructuring the Koloa Shuttle Transit Service. What we wanted to do was accomplish setting up a regular schedule so we set it up where it was once an hour now and that greatly helps to serve the visitor industry working population as well as the visitors staying down there and would like to use public transit to explore the island. Another great accomplishment we had was the Kaua`i Multimodal Land Transportation Plan that was completed. It is the first land transportation plan in the State that compressively addresses a multimodal approach to transportation planning. A future scenario analysis was used to guide development of programs and action items described in the plan. What we are trying to do in this plan, which we went through with all of you, is managing the growth and establishing the preferred scenario to identify interventions that would 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 3 be required to keep the vehicles mile traveled on island stable and try to address it in different ways instead of simply addressing through addressed roads and additional roadways. From that plan, we have the Transportation Coordinating Committee that was formed which meets monthly at this point and we will be working together to coordinate and integrate their activities for efficiency and cost savings, and we will be responsible for advising County Departments and Hawai`i DOT on transportation system development and project priorities. Another success we had was in having the small equipment repair and maintenance moved over to our Agency. That is the small equipment used by the Public Works and Parks and Recreation — it was transferred over on October 1st, formerly. The first five months result ed in a 139 pieces of equipment bein g submitted for repair of which a good 60% are from Parks and Recreation, another 0 40/o from Public Works. Thus far about half we were able to complete within a week and a fourth of them are completed within two days. The turnaround in this equipment — the users expressed a lot of appreciation for our mechanics ability to have a quick turnaround. Further success, we have been mapping out the service demand for public transit on the island. It has continued to increase steadily each year is what we have been observing. Even with no significant increases in additional public transit service implemented in this last fiscal year, ridership continued to increase to where 20% of day time routes have reached levels where several passengers are needing to stand for at least a portion of the trip. I have provided line graphs that illustrate the pattern of growth on ridership. Increases of fixed route transit service have also resulted in corresponding increases in paratransit service demand to ensure adequate levels of service for senior citizens, and those individuals who disabilities prevent them from being able to utilize the fixed route transit system. That has gone up about 15% since 2008 — is the other chart that I have provided for you there. Naturally, with an increase of ridership, there is also increase in revenues, the fares, and the monthly pass sales that go on. Right now we anticipate approximately $870,000 in revenue to be collect this year and possibly looking at collecting more than $900,000 for the upcoming fiscal year. Part of that, we see being generated by the implementation of the KCC bulk rate discount bus pass program, as well as anticipated continued increases in ridership will contribute to the additional projected increase in revenue. As far as our upcoming plans and initiatives for the bus stop passenger shelters, I went over with you, as far as our goal for this year's going for the 8 bus stop passenger locations and getting those sheltered. We are also looking for additional grant funding opportunities to carry out the construction of additional shelters as they are made available. We have also been periodically been provided opportunities to review developer plans being submitted for approval, in an effort to address the anticipated transit needs of different areas prior to construction. This allows for the inclusion of bus stops with passenger shelters and amenities in the planning stages of areas being proposed for development. One thing I wanted to share as far as the bus stops and how things are currently operating right now with maintaining them, I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the North Shore Lions who continue to do such an excellent job maintaining the facilities that they have provided out on the North Shore. Additionally, there are many unidentified people out there who go out and 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 4 through their goodness and taking care of certain areas in different locations at bus stops, whether it be picking up the trash, or some just completely do good work in maintaining the areas, and they unfortunately are unnamed individuals who do not do it for the recognition but just for... just doing it to take care of the land and we really appreciate that. Another upcoming initiative that we have is the bus pass price restricting that we are looking at accomplishing this year. We are seen the level of public transit service again increasing over the past several years which has prompted corresponding increases in the funds required to operate the service which you see by looking at the pattern of the Operating Budget and the funds that we are asking for each year. There has not been a correspondence increase and the cost to transit users since 2010 which is prior to several initiatives including service expansion which took place in 2011. In reviewing acceptable industry ratios of per trip bus fares as compared to bus pass prices, one of the short-term recommendations included in the Multimodal Land Transportation Plan's transit chapter was that the price of bus passes needs to be increased. Therefore, a bill proposing an increase in the price of bus passes has been submitted also to recover a larger portion of the additional funds required to sustain the existing levels of public transit service on Kaua`i. Even with the increase in price, bus passes will still represent a significant savings for regular riders. The Agency has also been researching the requirements and common practices within the transit industry to determine the best way to restructure the existing fare and bus pass policy. Once completed, a proposal for additional changes to the fare structure of fixes route and paratransit service will be submitted for consideration. The Short-Range Transit Plan is one other thing that we are wanting to accomplish in this upcoming year. The completion of the Kaua`i MLTP in September 2012 provided the short, mid, and long-term recommendations for implementation, which will contribute to achieving the County's shared goals of leveling off the number of vehicles miles travelled on Kaua`i. We are asking to proceed with the short-term range transit plan this upcoming year. The MLTP short-term action plan for public transit includes 18 transit program action items. Some of these items will require extensive research and consultation with the public and other agencies. To accomplish this, the Transportation Agency would like to proceed with a short-range transit plan, for which Federal Transit Administration grant funds are being requested from the State Department of Transportation. The local match required for these grant funds is being requested through the Highway Fund. At this point, I would like to give you an update on HoloHolo initiatives that we have for our Agency. The alternative fuel vehicles that are listed is one of them. We are currently researching industry pilot projects on B20, Honolulu has recently completed a research project on B20 and they are providing us their information. We are looking at exploring the potential of compress natural gas also as an option here and what it would take for that to be a viable option for our fleet. Another initiative that we have on our Agency is increase alternative transportation and we are one of the several players in getting this accomplished. We have been going through the ongoing work through our Transportation Coordinating Committee, the Built Environment Task Force and the diligence of Planning and Public Works in getting the rules changed so that we can operate to address things differently. Public Works with the living streets manual and Planning with the Subdivision 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 5 Ordinance. An additional one that we have is the passenger shelters which I have covered extensively already and another one that our Agency is tasked with is involved with Ke`e Beach shuttle service. With that, we have been in contact with OED and communicating with them. They have been taking the lead as far as communicating with the community and as different issues come up as well as staying in touch with the consultant who has been working with the State for the State Park Master Plan. Chair Furfaro: Excuse me; is the State involved potentially to the point that not only planning but sharing a financial portion of this? Ms. Mahikoa: I would think that ideally they would be but we have not gotten down into the weeds of the issue yet. Chair Furfaro: Okay, I will send that over. Ms. Mahikoa: Okay. Going into challenges that we have... ongoing challenges that we have is fleet replacement procurement delays due to a vendor protest. We have been unable to procure vehicles and it has been going on close to two years now but however just on this past Wednesday we were able to get a determination from the State Department of Transportation on the use of a certain restriction within HRS that will allow us to proceed. With that, I am extremely grateful for Purchasing stepping up and helping us to kick this in high gear so that we are able to get this done this fiscal year and get new buses on the road that will relieve our shop operation, our operations as far as whenever we need to fill in. If buses fail on the road and they are filled with passengers that is always an unfortunate situation, so we need to get that taken care of. As far as an additional challenge there is a demand for service. Ongoing demand for service and we are all talking about the greening of Kaua`i and trying to find better ways of moving people around and that means that there inherently be an additional need for transit. We receive several reports each week of incidents where buses are so full that the agency dispatcher on duty needs to attempt to locate another bus in the area that might be able to assist. This special effort is successful most of the time, but occasionally there are no other vehicles available in the area and passengers need to wait for the next scheduled bus. Our scheduling right now arrives about an hour later. Additionally, there are concerns about possible future increases in fuel prices due to the fact that in the past, these increases have prompted significant increases in ridership as well. Ongoing growth in demand for public transit, along with corresponding expansions in bus service has brought the Transportation Agency to a point where significant capital investments will need to be made in order to further expand bus service on Kaua`i. Additional transit service will required expanding the bus fleet, and the existing base yard facility is already at its maximum capacity. To address this, the recommended next step included in the Kaua`i MLTP is the establishment of two satellite base yards — one located on the Westside and the other on the North Shore. Establishment of the satellite base yards will allow additional space to accommodate expansion of the bus fleet, which will then allow for the expansion of future transit service. Satellite base yards would not only address the need for additional fleet parking space, but would reduce the number of out of service vehicle miles. Fewer 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 6 vehicles miles means less fuel and carbon emissions, fewer vehicles repairs, fewer manpower hours, and less frequent vehicle replacements. Another benefit to this investment would be that additional space would then become available for the expansion of the Agency's fleet repair shop that would be necessary as further increases in the number of vehicles will expand the ongoing attention required to maintain vehicles for reliable service. The short-range transit plan, scheduled to be initiated next Fiscal Year will provide a detailed strategy on achieving the transit-relat ed short-term implementation steps included in the Multimodal plan, including how to obtain and effectively implement transit system satellite base yards. From this point, we will go into our budget overview for which there is... our funding has been broken into two separate sources this year. In the past all County funds have come from General Fund and this year we have been funded through the General Fund as well as the Highway Fund. So, you will see one spreadsheet that covers... or charts that covers our General Fund. One on page eight that covers our impact to the Highway Fund and then page nine is the combined General Fund and Highway Fund impact. I would like to speak to the combination of the General Fund and the Highway Fund resources for our Agency operation of which if you look page nine up at the salary and wages line item, you will see an increase of 10% there. In explaining that, over the past year to address the increase in demand and some changes that we have had to implement over this past year, we covert five positions from on-call to full-time and anytime we do that, it is an additional twenty thousand dollars per position. Because of the fringe benefits and that come into play when we convert to a full-time position. Additionally to that is the fact that the small equipment operation was funded for a partial year — this current fiscal year and it is funded for the full FY for next. That has also contributed to that. If you look at the vehicle/equipment amounts, it appears to have increased significantly however if you take into account the fact that we needed to double up on our procurement this year because we were unable to procure last year, we actually have six hundred thousand dollars that we have asked for in match, this year total, now since we came in for that additional three hundred thousand dollars. This is strictly matching funds for the Federal funds that are required in order to keep our fleet replacement plan current. The operations you are looking at about four hundred thousand dollars difference there, the increase of 34% of which due to the age of the fleet, we have looked at an increase of repair and maintenance cost of over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in order to keep the vehicles in a safe operating condition and to continue to providing the reliable service. We have also projected in a fifty-one thousand dollar addition in fuel for the upcoming FY. We are asking for thirty-three thousand dollars for the matching funds for the short- range transit plan. That covers the significant items that prompted the increase from FY 2013 to FY 2014. Beyond that, we go to page ten just summarizing our fleet management plans for the next... including this fiscal year and the four upcoming fiscal years along with the local max that we are asking for and the total cost that is required to keep our fleet in good working order. Just concluding, we have our Agency position information of which shows that we have right now, we are recruiting for substitute bus drivers. We anticipate having that filled within the next month. That is the only vacancy we have in our Agency right now. Contractual positions that we have, in actuality, our entire Agency is considered appointed, however, all of the positions that you see listed on page eleven, in the center there, the positions are grant 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 7 funded. We needed to restructure the layout of our positions within the grant which I mentioned at a prior visit to you regarding the audit results this year. We need to ensure that each position is showing a correspondence match to General Fund so that is what was needed to be changed in the way we addressed it this year. As far as succession planning goes in our Agency, there is currently no pending employee retirements or departures that have been communicated to management. Our standard operating practice is to ensure that sufficient backups available for critical duty so that absences whether short-term or long-term will not hinder operations. So, we try to do our best to accomplish. That is about it. Any questions you might have? Chair Furfaro: I am going to do what we did with the Prosecutor's, we are going around the table with a question, each one and then we will take it from there. Mr. Kagawa: I was a little confused when I first looked at it. The General Fund — the Admin went down $281,000 but in the Highway Fund it went up $633,000 for Admin. So, basically our Admin costs went up about $350,000. Operations, we went down in the General Fund one point five million, however, in the Highway Fund, it went up one point nine million. So, our operations we increasing our operations by $400,000; small equipment, we somehow added that Department under your Department and that is an increase of $38,000; and I do not know what kind of small equipment we fix with a bus service but okay, it is there. In analyzing that, you are one of the few Departments that, I guess, Finance has not kept to last year's numbers or even lowered and that tells me that it is a priority of the Administration to increase our productivity in Transportation. Can you tell me what are the major differences that the public will see regarding bus service or is it; we are just basically increasing the cost and offer the same service? You mentioned newer... we are going to increase our buses, we went up in our auto from $310,000 to $600,000 so we are spending about $300,000 more in automobiles —that is buses? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes, 20% match that we are required. Mr. Kagawa: So, it is just a match... how much buses will $600,000 w ill get us? Ms. Mahikoa: We have grant funding for 20. Mr. Kagawa: 20 buses, that is terrific. Now, obviously your Repair & Maintenance (R&M) is going up $300,000 over last year. So, our R&M we go out to a private repair person to fix that? Ms. Mahikoa: We have our own repair shop on cite. Mr. Kagawa: No but it is under R&M vehicles. Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Mr. Kagawa: The R&M vehicles... it is not salaries right? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 8 Ms. Mahikoa: No, that is parts and supplies that we need in order to repair the vehicles, that is what that is. Payments to vendors for purchasing parts. Mr. Kagawa: So, we do not send our buses for tune up to any private vendor. We used to right? Ms. Mahikoa: Back in the late 90's. Mr. Kagawa: Okay. So, that is just for parts? Ms. Mahikoa: Parts and supplies. Mr. Kagawa: And we have how much mechanics? Ms. Mahikoa: We have 3 transit fleet mechanics. Mr. Kagawa: And they basically can do everything they need? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes, thankfully. We have a great team out there. Mr. Kagawa: Are we increasing our mechanics being that we have 20 more? Ms. Mahikoa: Actually, the 20 are fleet replacements. Mr. Kagawa: Oh, just replacements. Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Mr. Kagawa: So, we are not increasing our bus service, not this year? We are just replacing old vehicles? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Mr. Kagawa: Okay, I am good. Thank you. Mr. Rapozo: I will send this over in writing but I would like to see the breakdown of those R&M vehicles because $600,000 seems quite high. Ms. Mahikoa: Sure. Mr. Rapozo: And that is just parts? Ms. Mahikoa: Parts and supplies and if we have to do full engine change outs, yes. Mr. Rapozo: Oh, so the engine change outs would be done by a contractor? Do we do it in-house? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 9 Ms. Mahikoa: We do a cost assessment to determine what would be the wisest way to proceed first and then whatever the result is... Mr. Rapozo: Okay, thank you. And I have a question of the small equipment repair... Chair Furfaro: That came from Mr. Kagawa, go right ahead. Mr. Rapozo: I know it says that it was done last year, what was the rationale because you are dealing with Parks & Recreation and Public Works? Ms. Mahikoa: Because we have a repair shop operation and there were efficiencies that were observed that we thought the County could benefit from applying a similar practice. Mr. Rapozo: Do we bill back the Departments? Ms. Mahikoa: No, we have been given... you will see a line item for purchasing the parts needed to supply that. Mr. Rapozo: So, the Department does not absorb of the... Ms. Mahikoa: We have the staffing and we have been provided the line item to purchase the parts for the... Mr. Rapozo: Right, but they do no work on Transportation, right? Ms. Mahikoa: We have one mechanic who can, we have structured the operation to operate that way so that if ever transit needs a little bit more assistance, they can do that and vice versa. Mr. Rapozo: Alright, well it just seems like, if we look at direct services and how Departments should be accountable for their expenses, realizing even though it is your shop, it is still a cost that comes out of Parks and Public Works. Something that we can explore when going into Decision Making. Ms. Nakamura: Before the change in the Po`ipu Shuttle, what was the frequency? Ms. Mahikoa: We had a Koloa mainline which for the most part duplicated what our mainline service is from Kekaha to Lihu`e and back during commute hours and then we had... Mr. Carvaiho: The mainline that Celia said, we had about 3 coming in from Kalaheo into Lihu`e and roughly about 3 or 4 heading back in the afternoon. That was considered a mainline. Within the KOloa area, we had a shuttle going on and that was not quite... it was not on every hour. It is depending on the time of day. So, it is the bulk in the afternoon about 4 or 5 shuttles going on and in the morning, was not as many. 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 10 Ms. Nakamura: So, you had major gaps in your service? Mr. Carvalho: Yes. Ms. Nakamura: And so now it is down to an hour? Mr. Carvalho: Now it is every hour, yes. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you. Ms. Mahikoa: If you compare the General Fund and put it together with the Highway Fund, you will see that in actuality it was taken to, I believe, eight hundred and fifty. If you put them together then you will see the real picture. Mr. Bynum: Have you been able to gather any information on our Menehune bus stop guys. The people building these benches? Ms. Mahikoa: I am sorry; I have not been able to get any further information. Mr. Bynum: So, it is still a mystery? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you for an excellent report and also excellent work, huge accomplishments in a short year. My question is about the bus stop passenger shelters, you are doing engineering work on 47? Ms. Mahikoa: 49. Ms. Yukimura: And that is to be completed soon which will enable you to then start on construction? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: And your plan for the next year is to do at least 8? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: And 1 volunteer group constructed? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: Like the Lions and others who have been waiting but you could not really use their help until you got the engineering study done, right? So, you say in your success and achievements once the contract is completed, the engineering contract, the Agency can proceed with construction of passenger shelters as funding becomes available. My question is what is the average cost of 1 shelter? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 11 Ms. Mahikoa: Just for a shelter? Because it is vastly different than what will be required to prep the area. Ms. Yukimura: No, the whole thing. To go from the Engineering Study to completion of the shelter so that it will be complete and people can use it. Ms. Mahikoa: That is a challenge because you have these really nice areas like Kukui Grove where you can bulk up a shelter versus the more challenging areas. Ms. Yukimura: I understand that it will be a range... Ms. Mahikoa: For 8, we are looking at using funds that we have available right now, so you are looking at about $30,000 averaging out anything to the simplest to the most complex. Ms. Yukimura: Right. Ms. Mahikoa: You are probably looking at about $30,000 per location of which we have CIP funds available. What we are trying to do is allow the CIP funds as much... to go as far as possible by utilizing existing grant funds that we have available for bus shelter. Ms. Yukimura: Right, so you are putting a variety of sources to get your 8 done but on the average it would cost about $30,000? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: If you wanted to do another 10, we would look for $300,000? Ms. Mahikoa: That all depends on which 10. Ms. Yukimura: Right, so we might get instead of 10, we might get 6 or 8 depending on how difficult cites are to develop. Ms. Mahikoa: Right. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you. Chair Furfaro: A number of people walked into the room during the budget session we take the testimony in the beginning of the day, is there anyone here from the group who wanted to talk about Transportation? Just wanted to check, thank you. Mr. Hooser: I wanted to see how it might be improved because I agree I see lots of full buses and talk to people and there was some discussion about bus shelters. If the Department wanted to expand or improve services, are bus shelters your priority or is it adding fleet or is it personnel? What would be your priority if there were additional funds available? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 12 Ms. Mahikoa: Based on the point where we are at right now, I believe our priority needs to be to get additional space for additional fleet which could provide additional service. That as far as the service side goes the actual transit service side. If we look at the amenities available to the quality of the facilities that we are providing the public right now, our priority is to get those shelters done. I feel for them when I drive by them and it is raining or it is a hot day. Mr. Hooser: In terms of the next 12 months, the shelters will be your priority and as you are probably aware the way the budget process works the Administration sends us their priorities and then the Council has the prerogative of changing priorities. A thought of mind that comes to mine for me actually is there is a bridge in Kapahi that I am not particularly fond of that is a four hundred and some thousand dollars of Transportation funds in the CIP budget for that bridge. It is conceivable that it is a transportation fund that the Council if the majority agreed could reallocate those funds to bus shelters but I think we would have to know that those improvements would be ready to go. That we could actually spend the money and would you say that... 10 additional shelters and then on top of the 8 are ready to go? If the funds were available, are you ready to go? Ms. Mahikoa: That is our goal with this existing contract that we have, that we will have plans for 49 locations ready to go. When funds become available, we have the plans available and we can just contract with the construction company and go. That is our strategy. As far as the operational side, if provided additional funds for same addressing transit service and improving transit service, basically we need to go through the step of the short range plan to give us the good strategy on getting the additional satellite location setup and exactly which steps we need to take to do that wisely. These are big investments that I would not want to go into half heartily. Mr. Hooser: The satellite locations would take a longer process to plan out properly before you are ready for CIP funds for example but the bus stops would be ready now? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes, as soon as this contract is wrapped up within the next several months. Ms. Nakamura: In this current proposed budget, you are saying that you do not have any bus shelter funding in this current budget? Ms. Mahikoa: We have existing CIP funds remaining that we are going use that we are pairing up with existing grant funds through FTA and State DOT that we are using. Ms. Nakamura: How many bus shelters do you think you can build with those existing funds? Ms. Mahikoa: With the existing, we believe we can build 8. Ms. Nakamura: Oh, that is the 8. Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 13 Ms. Nakamura: So then you will have 41 additional bus shelters that would not be funded but you would have designs for? Ms. Mahikoa: Exactly. Ms. Nakamura: Okay, thank you. Ms. Mahikoa: Our goal is throughout the year is to also be looking for additional opportunities that come down through FTA. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Just a minute, let me give a little clarity here for everybody. The bus shelters are going to come up in the CIP discussion on the 16 and I am assuming that you will be returning for that. Ms. Mahikoa: I can. Chair Furfaro: No, Transportation is in that discussion. Am I right, Mr. Barreira? Okay. And on your equipment aging report, we have 20 new buses planned; could you give me an actual fiscal inventory of the buses and those inventories that are ADA compliant? Ms. Mahikoa: Actually, every bus is. Chair Furfaro: Every one? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. Chair Furfaro: Okay. Please indicate that in the report. Ms. Mahikoa: Okay. Chair Furfaro: The mileage on the bus, and which 20 are going to be retired for the 20 new ones that are coming, and then the last part of that is and maybe you need to talk with Finance, do we get any salvage credits for the buses the retire? Mr. Kagawa: Thank you for your presentation and a lot of good work that you do with the price of gas rising rapidly, I would be foolish not to support the bus at its current level or even increase level because more opportunities that we can give to the public, I am sure they are going to take advantage as prices of gas rise. I have a question and this focuses on the fact that we change our method of funding the bus by taking more out of the Highway Fund which I think it is the intent of the Highway Fund to provide for better public transportation however I think in the past we used the Highway Fund primarily for fixing roads, bridges, whatever... was that the recommendation of the Mayor that we start tapping into the Highway Fund? Obviously everything is a give and take, if you take out of something to benefit something; the other things are going to be lacking funding. Was that the recommendation of the Mayor? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 14 Ms. Mahikoa: Actually, I would need to hand that off to Finance as far as the strategy. We were asked for what our budget would need to gY g be this year and the strategy was employed by Finance as far as how to address those needs. Mr. Kagawa: That is a good answer. Ms. Mahikoa: I would be doing a disservice trying to answer that myself. Mr. Kagawa: I understand. Mr. Rapozo: Is Steve going to come up? Chair Furfaro: Do you have a question for Steve? Mr. Rapozo: Well the question was from Mr. Kagawa and she said that she would defer to Steve. I just wanted to finish that question. Mr. Hunt: Certainly when we went through the budget exercise in looking at each Department's budget and looking at their fiscal 2012 plus a 10% as sort of a target, when it became clear that we could not make those types of cuts with Transportation, we had to leverage all the sources we had and Highway Funds was a good way for us to leverage to keep the level of service where they are at. Ms. Yukimura: Steve, I think the concern is that usin g the Highway Fund will take away from the resurfacing of the roads and that is why I was questioning Mr. Renaud so carefully because I want to see what their plan is for road resurfacing and make sure we have enough moneys for both functions. The Mayor is proposing a $.02 increase to the fuel tax which goes into the Highway Fund and we are trying to see... the jury is out yet because I have not received the information from Roads, so I cannot even say that we are covering them adequately because I do not know what their plan is. On the other hand, Transportation has come forward with a very well founded plan and documentation of costs and intention, so we know how much money they need to achieve their goals for this year. Have you folks verified that with the proposed financial plan that we are not going to harm or take away from our Road Resurfacing Project is my question. Mr. Hunt: Well again like you, I do not have a long- term plan for what the roads requirements are going to be. I know we have discussed it with Public Works in terms of implementing that plan in two year increments to leverage and accumulate funds to get the most we can when we do go out for these bids. Again, I cannot speak as to what their overall needs and requirements are. Chair Furfaro: Excuse me; let us keep that question for the 16 for CIP. Ms. Yukimura: Right. Chair Furfaro: Does that work for you? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 15 Ms. Yukimura: Yes, it does and that is why I pushed to have that information so I just want a real clear message to the Administration that we need to see that information. I was hoping that it would be ready when Roads made their presentation but it was not, so we have this next date? Chair Furfaro: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you very much. Mr. Kagawa: So, we are taking a lot out of the Highway Fund if I add it up... it is about 2.54 million to use for the bus. Is that based on the assumption that the increase that you are proposing to the fuel taxes goes through? Mr. Hunt: Yes, that is included in that, correct. Mr. Kagawa: If we do not pass that rise in fuel tax, where will we get that extra moneys to... is that a question that ask... Mr. Hunt: It is somewhat rhetorical as well because collectively we have to decide where we either going to cut or raise the moneys to meet those needs. Mr. Kagawa: Like I said earlier, I am very hesitant to raise the prices of gas when it is already uncontrollable and I am just very worried about that fact. Thank you. Ms. Nakamura: On the short-term transit plan, I wanted to find out what is the anticipated cost of the plan that you are seeking grant funds for and what would be the County's share? Ms. Mahikoa: Actually State DOT has an existing amount, I believe, it is about a hundred and thirty thousand approximately and we are asking for $33,500 to service the 20% match required to accomplish that. Ms. Nakamura: And that is in this budget? Ms. Mahikoa: Yes. It is in the Highway Fund line item. Ms. Nakamura: Okay, thank you. Mr. Bynum: Funding coming from the proposal, funding coming from the Highway Fund that will help funds these buses, right? And his question was if you do not fund the fuel tax increase, what happens? Mr. Hunt: I do not recall off the top of my head what that exact contribution of the two cents is... if we do not fund that two cent increase than we will be short the five zero nine in the Highway Fund. Mr. Bynum: So we could decide which bus routes we wanted to eliminate? Would that be the option? 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 16 Mr. Hunt: Or other sources of revenue, if you want to rely more on the General Fund to subsidize Transportation than we would have to find either cuts or revenue resources from a General Fund. There are alternatives, it is just a matter what decisions that you would like to make. Mr. Bynum: Well, if we did not do the fuel tax and we wanted to fully fund the services, we would have to increase property taxes or some other fee, correct? Mr. Hunt: Correct. Or find cuts elsewhere within the General Fund to fund... Mr. Bynum: Or decide which one of the buses will not run, right, after July 1. Those are our options right? Chair Furfaro: Just a reminder to everyone before I go to Mr. Hooser, remember this is the statement I made in the very beginning be innin if we are planning to add or delete, we have to be thinking in terms of what and where we find that revenue. Mr. Hooser: Just a follow up, I think we should be clear of the options that we have. The options are not to raise... our options are not limited to raising other taxes or eliminating bus routes. Also included are options to restructure existing funds for example, I mentioned the Kapahi bridge is Highway Funds that is slated for a bridge for $400,000 $500,000. I believe there are other Highway Funds over a hundred thousand dollars toward a bypass plan for Lihu`e. So, there are funds that we can redirect and not raise gas taxes or not raise property taxes if we choose to redirect funds from projects that we may not feel collectively as valuable or as pressing in today's budget. Those are options also, am I correct? Mr. Hunt: To some degree. Some will remain Capitol projects if they are in CIP; they may not be used for certain things in the budget. Mr. Hooser: Right. But the Highway Funds that are in the CIP budget that those are not Bond Funds? Mr. Hunt: Correct. Mr. Hooser: Can be used for other Highway projects, is that correct? Operating or Capitol projects? Mr. Hunt: Yes and again depending on whether there is matching funds or those types of situations that you just have to be aware of all the intricacies of those funds and how they are being used. Mr. Hooser: Right but just to clarify if there are Highway operating funds, we can reallocate those funds as the majority of the Council deems important? Mr. Hunt: Yes. 04-12-2013 Transportation(dmc) Page 17 Mr. Hooser: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Mr. Hooser is rephrasing exactly what I said in the beginning, members, if we are going to find a need to add or cut, we also have to come up with a solution where to find it and Mr. Hooser just gave us the perfect example. Mr. Rapozo: It is a follow up to Mr. Hooser's comments, really, about what our function on the Council is and I think Steve, I do not think the... and maybe you will disagree and that will be the question. The matching fund issue is of some relevance but it could be of no relevance if this Council felt that... and I will use the bridge $400,000 an example, just because there is an opportunity to access a matching grant with the Federal government and that would require us to kick in $400,000 that in it of itself is not a prohibition for us to say that we cannot touch that money. At the end of the day and this is clear for everyone and I know Mr. Bynum kind of associated the fuel tax... if we do not support that, we are cutting bus routes. That is absolutely untrue. I am not advocating any reduction. In fact, Mr. Kagawa and myself were talking on the break, is there a way to expand the bus routes especially on the Westside where people are complaining that we are losing some routes. The fact of the matter is, I want the people to understand that at the end of the day, it is this body that is going to determine the funding for this County with the necessary votes, obviously, but it is not this or nothing... it is "we" collectively with the Administration are going to do it. I just wanted to expand on that because I think it is important for the public to understand that "we" this Council has the ability to take funds from projects even if it is a priority of the Administration and relocate it to Transportation. One more thing, we keep talking "two cents fuel tax" the Bill on the floor was amended, Councilmember Yukimura amended it to go up to six cents in 3 years of which four cents would go to Transportation. All of the fuel tax for the first year would go to Transportation and not to paving roads. That is what is on the table today, not a 2% fuel tax increase. Thank you. Chair Furfaro: I want to remind everybody that this is the operational portion of the meeting. Transportation is in discussion again with CIP and as pointed out, we have an amended Bill that talks about a $.03, $.02, and $.01 over a 3 year period. Operational questions should be focused now; expanded talks on CIP will come up again on the 16th. Mr. Bynum: I think what I said was if we do not have the fuel tax, what are our options? Find revenue elsewhere or make cuts in services. Of course Mr. Hooser is correct where we can reprogram some existing funds but then those services that are proposed are cut, right? A political person and I really highly admire said more than one time when you hear a politician say there is no money; they are really saying it is not my priority. Mr. Rapozo is correct as well that in the long run this Council will decide but if we do not except your revenue proposals and we do not have alternatives, something is going to get cut, correct? Mr. Hunt: Well, again the budget is predicated on the $.02 increase. Chair Furfaro: End of story. 04-12-2013 Transportation (dmc) Page 18 Mr. Bynum: So, if we chose to do something different, something has got to give somewhere? Either increase revenue somewhere or some other program that we do not value is high as the bus, right? That is the point I was trying to make. Chair Furfaro: Mr. Bynum, thank you for that. We were going around the table and I have no questions for right now. I was about to recognize Councilmember Yukimura and when we come back, we will have the Audit on our agenda but please remember that Transportation is coming back again on the 16th. You have the floor for 1 more question. Ms. Yukimura: I will not ask it since we are at 12:30. Chair Furfaro: Okay. When we come back, we are coming back to Audit after lunch. Celia, I am going to close by saying to you and Kaleo, I want to commend you for what a great job you do at our Transportation Agency. We have expanded pretty rapidly here to have more services out there but you folks have done a great job and I want to you know that the Council appreciates it. Please be available to us on the 16th. It sounds like we are going to have more discussion on CIP Transportation on the 16th. Thank you for your presentation. We are on recess. There being no objections, the Council recessed at 12:32 p.m.