Mercer County
Transportation Planning
Mercer County Metropolitan
Planning Organization (MPO)
2003 Meeting
Minutes
SHENANGO VALLEY METROPOLITAN
PLANNING ORGANIZATION COORDINATING/TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Thursday, November 13, 2003
10:30 A.M. - MCRPC Offices, Hermitage,
PA
PERSONS PRESENT
REPRESENTING
Marcia Hirschmann Hermitage
City
Daniel Gracenin MCRPC
Dave Ryan Mayor - Sharon City
Mike Wilson Sharpsville Borough
Kevin McCullough PennDOT, Harrisburg
Dave Bollebacher PennDOT, Mercer
Laura R. Zambruno PennDOT
Karl Ishman PennDOT, Oil City
Bill Jones Mercer County Regional COG
James A. DeCapua Mercer County Regional COG
Mark Miller Mercer County
Mirta Reyes-Chapman Eastgate Regional COG
Kathy M. Zook Eastgate Regional COG
Kathleen Rodi Eastgate Regional COG
Tom Paxton Pine Township
Ron Faull Liberty Township
Chuck Gilliland Shenango Township
Barb Brown Springfield Township
Terry Farren Grove City Borough
Jack Thompson Grove City Borough
Bill Morocco Mayor - Farrell City
Denny Puko MCRPC
Albert J. Jones West Middlesex Area Schools
Stephen Theiss Mercer County Trails Association
Margaret Tetuan U.S. Senator Rick Santorum
Denise Anthony Senator Robbins
CALL TO ORDER
Ms. Hirschmann called the
meeting to order at 10:30 A.M.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MEETING
AUGUST 12, 2003
Ms. Hirschmann asked for any
additions, deletions, or corrections to the Minutes of the August 12, 2003
meeting. There being none, Ms. Hirschmann asked for a motion to approve. Mr.
Paxton so moved, Mr. Ishman seconded, and the motion passed.
APPROVAL OF TIP
AMENDMENTS/MODIFICATIONS
Mr. Jones, of the S.V. COG
reviewed the transit amendments/modifications, which included a couple capital
replacement needs such as replacing a couple of mini vans. He noted that he
would need to purchase some office furniture because of redoing the office and
moving the community transit operations out to the garage. He noted that in
order to do this, the line item for construction of passenger comfort stations
was deleted. The amount under interior/exterior garage improvements was
increased significantly because of all of the changes that will need to be
made to accommodate community transit. Also, the amount was reduced under the
line item for vehicle storage building, although a vehicle storage building is
desperately needed.
Mr. McCullough explained the
TIP modifications (administrative actions) from August/September 2003 sheet
and October/November 2003 sheet, (which the sheets are attached to and will
become a permanent set of the Minutes). He noted that the August/September
sheet finishes out the 2003 Federal Fiscal Year, which included all of the
changes that were made in 2003. The October/November sheet shows all the
changes that have occurred in the first month and a half for Federal Fiscal
Year 2004. Mr. McCullough asked if there were any questions on the changes.
There being none, Ms. Hirschmann asked for a motion to approve. Ms. Brown so
moved, Mr. Thompson seconded, and the motion passed.
2005-2008 TIP UPDATE
Mr. Gracenin explained that
sometime in late January we would need to adopt our draft TIP and submit to
PennDOT Central office. Mr. Puko reviewed with the Committee some of the
existing transportation priorities. He also explained the potential earmarking
of projects when the next Federal authorization legislation is done, such as
the I-79/208 project, because it is such a high cost project and it serves
such a large regional interest. He noted that if they would earmark the
I-79/208 project, then we could pull it from our draft TIP.
It was noted that
Congresswoman Melissa Hart would be holding a meeting on November 24th
to reintroducing the legislation to change PA 60 to I-376.
DISCUSSION ON POSSIBLE
POSITION STATEMENTS FROM MPO CONCERNING NEW FEDERAL LEGISLATION
Mr. Gracenin stated that we
currently do not have a new Federal legislation for transportation, they
extended the existing one. The next one will be called SAFETEA. Also, there
will be a number of issues regarding the long-range plan, like extending it
from 3 years to a 5-year plan, plus other changes they are proposing.
Mr. McCullough explained that
approximately 2 weeks ago the Senate emerged with a Bill (roughly $255
Billion) that should be marked up this week and it has a lower funding level.
He stated that if the Senate marked up Bill, it would increase the core
Federal highway programs by 19% during the first 3-years, and then holds
steady the last 3-years. There was a lot of discussion on environmental
streamlining and the need for an Obligation Authority.
Mr. Puko asked the MPO
Committee if they would like to comment on the new federal legislation. They
stated yes. Mr. McCullough stated that there are some key positions related to
these items that the Department has put forward, which MCRPC could possibly
piggyback with. Mr. Puko thought that the Bill should address the Obligation
Authority. It was suggested that the MPO do this immediately. Ms. Brown made a
motion to draft a letter immediately. Mr. Ryan seconded. The motion passed.
UPDATE ON TRANSIT COORDINATION
EFFORTS BETWEEN MERCER MPO AND YOUNGSTOWN MPO
Mr. Gracenin noted that since
the Census changed our urbanized area, we have merged with the Youngstown MPO.
Many discussions were held between the Shenango Valley Shuttle Service and the
Western Reserve Transit Authority regarding the split of transit dollars.
After many months of work and talking they came to an agreement that the S. V.
Shuttle Service would get $410,000 for the fiscal 2003 year and WRTA would get
$2,354,410. He explained that the S.V. Shuttle Service and the WRTA need to
sit down and discuss the current fiscal year, determine what each needs are,
and how they will split the transit dollars, which is formula based and is a
local decision between the two MPO’s.
OTHER BUSINESS
---MPO Meeting schedule for
2004 – Mr. Gracenin stated that the meeting schedule for 2004 would be
on the following Tuesdays: January 27th; April 6th; July
13th and October 12th.
---GIS – Mr. Gracenin
noted that last year we received some STP dollars ($356,666) because we were
combined with the urbanized area over in Youngstown. The money was to be used
for a flight in the Spring, but things did not work out. He explained that we
currently have a needs study ongoing and in order to spend the Federal
dollars, we would need to come up with a 20% match. A meeting will be set up
in the next couple of weeks to discuss match. He noted that if we want to get
a flight in by Spring, that there is a lot or work to be done.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further
business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 11:50 A.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Daniel M. Gracenin,
MPO Secretary
Mercer
County Regional Planning Commission
2491 Highland Road, Hermitage, PA 16148
mail@mcrpc.com www.mcrpc.com
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