Minutes of a Public Meeting
MINUTES OF A
DEFINITION OF NEEDS, RESOURCES AND REVENUES
MEETING OF THE
GOVERNOR’S TRANSPORTATION VISION 21 TASK FORCE
1:30 p.m., Monday, February 26, 2001
Arizona State Capitol
Executive Tower, 2nd Floor State Reception Room
Phoenix, Arizona
The Definition of Needs, Resources and Revenues Committee of the Governor’s Transportation Vision 21 Task Force met in official session for a meeting at 1:30 p.m., Monday, February 26, 2001 with Co-Chairman John Mawhinney presiding. Other members in attendance were: Joe Herrick, Dennis Mitchem, Lela Steffey, Frank Thorwald and Steve Wheeler (left at 2:40 p.m.). Co-Chairperson Barbara Ralston was present via teleconference. Also present were Alan Maguire, Mary Lynn Tischer, John Carlson, Matt Carpenter and Lisa Pendrick.
Welcome, Opening Remarks, Pledge of Allegiance
Mr. Mawhinney called the meeting to order at 1:42 p.m. and led the pledge of allegiance.
Acceptance of Minutes for February 8, 2001
Action: A motion to accept the minutes, as written, was made, seconded and passed unanimously.
Discussion and Adoption of Transportation Needs and Revenue Draft Recommendations
Mr. Mawhinney led the discussion explaining that the committee would consider three sets of recommendations, and he would seek a consensus of opinion.
Mr. Maguire presented the draft recommendations dated February 20, 2001, which included all changes made at the last meeting of the committee. He briefly reviewed the changes made.
Mr. Thorwald stated that he would add comments to the paragraphs entitled Comprehensive Standardized Data Collection and Reporting and Expansion of State Toll Road Authority.
Mr. Carlson suggested that the document be clarified as it relates to the language in airport expenditures and maintaining Sky Harbor and Tucson International at their current funding levels. He confirmed for Ms. Steffey that the state’s current airport funding policy provides funding only to public airports.
Mr. Maguire said he would clarify that the $10 million corridor preservation is an annual investment. Mr. Carlson noted that this doubles the amount spent currently by ADOT.
The consensus of the committee was to recommend acceptance of the draft recommendations.
Mr. Mawhinney presented his recommendations. The committee stated unanimous support for recommendation numbers one and two. They directed that number one be incorporated into the committee’s draft recommendations as a guideline from the committee to the Task Force. Number two was already included in the draft recommendations. It was decided that number three would be included not as a recommendation but as verbiage in the "preamble" to the draft recommendations. It was decided that number four would be incorporated into the final draft recommendations. It was noted that the compliance requirement would be added to address operational efficiency and system preservation as well. Ms. Steffey stated that the phrase "maintenance of effort" needed to be incorporated into the recommendation. Mr. Carlson suggested that it might behoove the committee to recommend that ADOT be exempt from the biennial budget process.
With respect to number five, it was agreed that the intent was already included in the draft recommendations, but Mr. Maguire would make sure that the language was as strong as that of Mr. Mawhinney. The committee discussed number six, and Mr. Maguire noted that it was largely consistent with the Governance recommendations. It was decided that the first two sentences would be deleted, but the third sentence would be incorporated into the committee’s recommendations. Committee members decided to approve the inclusion of number seven with changes to the last sentence, as follows: "FREIGHT rail traffic needs to be scheduled to prevent dissecting cities and town at commute times, or overpasses OR UNDERPASSES need to be constructed."
Mr. Mawhinney presented his rationale for number eight, and after discussion the committee decided to look at Mr. Maguire’s recommendation at a later time. Mr. Mawhinney reviewed number nine, and the consensus of the committee was to skip over the recommendation for the time being. It was agreed by all that Mr. Mawhinney’s number ten recommendation would be dropped, and Mr. Maguire’s recommendation entitled "Dedicated Funding of Regional Capacity Utilization Enhancement Strategies" would be included, removing the words "per year" after the reference to $50 million funding. Mr. Maguire compared the cost associated with the recommendation to the cost of one freeway mile and stated that it is the least expensive transportation improvement that can be made.
Mr. Thorwald presented his list of recommendations dated February 25, 2001. He stated that he had gotten the support of Ingo Radicke on all of his recommendations. Additionally, he said he had spoken to Mary Peters and Kurt Davis about his first recommendation, which he then reviewed. Mr. Maguire explained that a recommendation on public toll authority had already been included. He explained why the state couldn’t allow a blended public/private authority without breaking down operational efficiencies. It was decided that number one would be tabled.
Mr. Thorwald reviewed his second recommendation. It was agreed to include the recommendation, expanded to also encourage ADOT.
Mr. Thorwald explained his intent with respect to his third recommendation. Mr. Maguire discussed the possible problems with this recommendation and suggested that ADOT keep construction-financing experts under contract like it does with design experts. Mr. Mawhinney felt that the first three items could be one recommendation and asked Mr. Maguire to work with Mr. Thorwald to draft language. Mr. Mitchem said he was opposed to Mr. Thorwald’s third recommendation but indicated he would support Mr. Maguire’s recommendation on number three.
With respect to the fourth recommendation, the consensus of the committee was one of support. Mr. Carlson stated that the provision in number five is already done by ADOT. Dr. Tischer said she would add Mr. Thorwald and Mr. Mitchem to the mailing list receiving reports.
The consensus of the committee was to include number six in the guidelines that would be recommended. It was noted that the provision is already in the Planning & Programming Committee recommendations.
The committee members agreed that the intent of number seven was already being addressed in the state. Mr. Maguire indicated that number nine was already a recommendation of another committee and had received broad support. He suggested that the committee simply voice its support for the recommendation of the other committee. With regard to number ten, it was agreed that this vision would be addressed by Planning and Programming’s recommendations, but it was decided that Mr. Maguire would write language that endorses the activity of the Arizona Transportation Research Center and gives direction to that group.
Mr. Thorwald stated his case for recommendation number eleven. He asked that the committee put the recommendation to the Task Force as a request for consideration. The committee members felt there was no practical way to implement the recommendation. After discussion, the consensus of the committee was not to support the recommendation.
Mr. Maguire stated that Mr. Thorwald’s 12th recommendation had already been included in other recommendations.
Mr. Thorwald provided justification for his 13th recommendation. After discussion, Mr. Mawhinney directed Mr. Maguire to include the words "and correction" in the recommendation regarding standardized data collection and reporting.
Upon concluding the review of recommendations, Mr. Mawhinney stated that the committee had not dealt with improving enforcement of traffic laws. Mr. Carlson stated that the issue is being dealt with in conjunction with highway safety and incident management. He recommended that the topic be highlighted as an issue that needs a lot more study. Mr. Herrick noted that the bottom line comes down to the lack of sufficient funding. Mr. Thorwald commented that this issue has an impact on all drivers in terms of private insurance rates.
Call to the Public
There were no requests to speak.
Mr. Mawhinney asked if another meeting was necessary, and it was suggested that a decision be made after the Task Force meeting on March 1.
Mr. Maguire said he would amend the recommendations to the Task Force based on today’s discussion and pass out copies at the Task Force meeting on March 1.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
JOHN MAWHINNEY, Co-Chairperson
