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TAMC Meeting Minutes January 4 2023

TAMC Meeting Minutes January 4 2023

TRANSPORTATION ASSET MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 

January 4, 2023, at 1:00 p.m.

MEETING MINUTES

Approved

 

  1. Welcome – Call-To-Order
    1. The meeting was called to order at 1:04 p.m. Everyone was welcomed to the meeting.
  2. Changes or Additions to the Agenda (Action Item as needed) Any items under the Consent Agenda may be moved to the regular agenda upon request of any Council member, member of the public, or staff member.
    1. None
  3. Public Comments on Non-Agenda Item
    1. M. Toth informed the Council that the MIRE Workshop is coming up and if anyone would like to attend, they can contact him or Heather Hoeve. 
  4. Presentation – P. Torola
    1. P. Torola gave a presentation on the Results of the 11th Annual Michigan Local Agency Transportation Asset Management Implementation Survey Report.  MTU does this survey during PASER training to find out where agencies are with asset management implementation.  They had a good amount of participation for 2022.  They had 325 unique surveys submitted. They ended up with 80 surveys for the Pavement portion and 20 surveys for the Bridge portion.  There are 10 pavement and 4 bridge questions.  They had 53 of the large 123 agencies (35 counties and 14 top cities were included). 
    2. This is good as this covers a large percentage of the Michigan road system.  It is not always the same people and agencies that take this survey each year.  Most of the participants for the bridge side are county agencies.  Over the past few years there has been steady improvement. The survey results shows that approximately 90 percent of the agencies have implemented.  P. Torola went through the survey and gave a brief overview of the results that were found from the survey.
  5. Michigan Infrastructure Council (MIC) Update – Ryan Laruwe, MIC Executive Director
    1. R. Laruwe thanked J. Tubbs for assisting him on getting on the April 2023 Michigan Township Association (MTA) Conference agenda to talk about the MIC.  Members from the MIC, Water Asset Management Council (WAMC), and TAMC will be attending.
    2. James Hurt will be chairing the May 23-25, 2023 American Public Work Association (APWA) Conference at the Grand Traverse Resort and invited R. Laruwe to participate in the conference.  R. Laruwe will reach out to J. Hurt and make the arrangements to participate.
    3. R. Laruwe and the MIC are working on establishing a standing meeting between MIC/TAMC/WAMC leadership to improve coordination and align of efforts in 2023 and beyond.   He would like to begin these meetings in January 2023.
    4. MIC 30-Year Strategy
      1. The MIC is currently planning regional workshops to discuss cross-asset integrated strategies with multiple asset classes. They plan to do outreach meetings with the regions and the first meeting will be with Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) in Detroit in April 2023.  SEMCOG has received a Coordination Grant.  They will also be discussing some coordination efforts between the MIC and SEMCOG.      
    5. Asset Management Champions
      1. The next Champions Program will begin January 10, 2023.  They currently have 80 participants and still have openings for anyone wishing to participate.  They are accepting applications until Friday and can contact R. Laruwe.  There are 25 spots still available for participants. 
    6. MIC Project Portal
      1. The MIC is currently exploring alternatives to the in-house developed MIC Dig Once Project Portal including off-the-shelf solutions. They need a dedicated team of developers, constant support, and training which is currently lacking.  The current portal is way behind the curve compared to commercially available products.  The development costs (in-house) are anticipated to exceed external software costs. They would like to take some of the projects that will be funded with the IIJA funds and promote them on a GIS basis, and they are looking for a spot to house that information.  The MIC will be working with MDOT, EGLE and the regions to make sure the needs of everyone are met.   
    7. MIC Staffing
      1. They went through interviews for a management position within the MIC and offered the position to Nathan Hamilton, but he has since been promoted and has accepted that promotion.  They now must go back and re-do interviews again to fill the position.    
  6. Consent Agenda (Action Items) – J. Johnson
    1. Approval of the December 7, 2022, Meeting Minutes (Attachment 2)
    2. Motion:  R. Slattery made a motion to approve the December 7, 2022 meeting minutes; J. Tubbs seconded the motion.  The motion was approved by all members present.
  7. Old Business
    1. 2023 Administration, Communications, and Education Committee (ACE) Meeting Schedule  
      1. At the last ACE Committee meeting the Committee decided to change their meetings to the third Wednesday of the month following Data Committee.  The meeting will begin at 3:00 p.m. via Microsoft Teams.  Changing the meetings to the new date and time will allow the Committee to make important decisions and forward them on to the Council in a timelier manner for their review and approval.     
      2. Motion:  R. Green made a motion to approve the new dates and times for the ACE Committee; James Hurt seconded the motion.  The motion was approved by all members present. 
    2. TAMC Financial/Budget Update from 12/07/2022 (Attachment 4) – R. Green
      1. Invoices continue to come in.  The highlighted agencies on the attachment provided to the Council have submitted all their invoices.  R. Green is still waiting on some agency invoices.  The last invoices coming in are finding ways to use their allotted funds.  Larger amount invoices seem to come in at the end of the fiscal year which reduces the remaining funds substantially.  Funds not used at the end of the fiscal year will go back into the Michigan Transportation Funds (MTF) and cannot be used for special projects per MDOT Finance Division.
      2. During FY 2021 agencies had two authorizations to bill against because they had special approval by MDOT Finance Division to use past funds due to the COVID.  However, they no longer have that approval so the FY 2022 funds would go back into the MTF funds.  Historically, the funds go back to MTF funds and R. Green will check with MDOT Finance Division to understand why.  TAMC will need to talk about this at the next Strategic Planning Session.  Currently, $525,000 remains on the table.  The Council would like to know when the final date is that funds go back into the MTF funds bank.  TAMC’s total appropriation is $1.8 million.
      3. TAMC would like to get regions back to doing the required work and providing all invoicing by September 30 of each year. Having a buffer is not possible with these funds.  At this time, TAMC and support staff are not sure how agency allocations were established in the past.  A recommendation on-line items for the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) and Regional Planning Agency’s (RPA) is being looked at by ACE Committee.  The FY 2023 budget mirrored the FY 2022 budget.  Just as a reminder, the budget update reports provided at each TAMC meeting are not considered action items.  
      4. Action Item:  R. Green will request MDOT Finance Division give a presentation to TAMC soon on budget amendments, requests for extensions, and budget requirements and processes. 
    3. TAMC Coordinator Update – J. Johnson
      1. During the first contract Request for Proposal (RFP) there were no bidders on the position.  The RFP was revised and reposted with a closing date of Monday, December 5, 2022.  Three bids were received on the current RFP.).  The proposal selection team will rate the proposals, select, and then hopes to get someone started by March 2023. 
      2. R. Green had previously asked that someone from the TAMC that does not represent MDOT, sit on the proposal review team however, many had a conflict of interest or not available.  J. Johnson mentioned that TAMC did try to share a position with the MIC, but it did not work as they could not figure out how to fund the position as the MIC must have someone, per legislation, from the Michigan Department of Treasury or contracted through the Michigan Department of Treasury.  It is a complicated process to get one staff person for both the MIC (who works with the Michigan Department of Treasury under legislation) and TAMC (who works with the Michigan Department of Transportation under legislation).   To do this, it would require a legislative change.
      3. Rob Surber (long term non-voting TAMC member and DTMB/CSS representative), Rob Green (TAMC member/MDOT representative), Gloria Strong, and Dave Jennett (both TAMC support staff), will be on the proposal selection team.  Brad Wagner from MDOT will be present at the meeting to assure that the integrity of the MDOT contracting process is kept.  K. Jones and J. Tubbs requested that other TAMC members help rate the proposals for the three bidders instead of just having MDOT staff choose the coordinator.  J. Tubbs suggested K. Jones participate.  R. Slattery and James Hurt agreed that other TAMC members should participate in the process.  However, James Hurt felt because he is a new member, he would not be the best judge of the candidates and was not familiar with the responsibilities of the TAMC coordinator.  K. Jones and R. Slattery both agreed to be on the team that will review the proposals and select the new TAMC Coordinator. The initial proposal review meeting will be held Wednesday, January 11, 2023, 1:00 p.m., at the MDOT Aeronautics Building, 2nd Floor Commission Conference Room, Lansing, MI.  R. Green will provide the results from this meeting to the TAMC at their February meeting. 
      4. Motion:  J. Tubbs made a motion to add two additional TAMC members (non-MDOT representatives) to the RFP proposal review team; James Hurt seconded the motion.  The motion was approved by all members present.    
      5. Action Item:  R. Green will forward the proposal review team meeting date and completed RFP packets that were received from the three contract applicants () to K. Jones and R. Slattery for their review.
    4. Michigan Department of Transportation TAMC Terms Status – R. Green
      1. R. Green requested the Michigan Department of Attorney General’s office’ opinion regarding whether MDOT TAMC members are required to have a term end date since they are always required to have an MDOT representative on the Council.  Per the AG’s opinion, it is their opinion that MDOT must have a begin and end term date same as other TAMC members. 
      2. Action Item:  R. Green will research past MDOT TAMC memberships and present to the Council his suggested term dates for MDOT TAMC members at the next meeting.
    5. Request for TAMC Representation at Investment Reporting Tool (IRT) Trainings – C. Granger
      1. C. Granger again requested Council member volunteers to sign up to provide TAMC representation and do a brief presentation at the IRT trainings.  J. Johnson has reviewed the current PowerPoint presentation and has shortened it substantially and made it easier.  The Council members are requested to sign up and volunteer for at least one IRT training or MTU PASER training to represent TAMC and provide the brief presentation. T. Colling will provide the dates of the MTU PASER trainings to G. Strong and J. Johnson.  The Council member will participate in the trainings virtually. 
        1. All trainings are virtual:  9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
        2. Presentation is approximately 10 minutes.
        3. Slides will be provided to the Council member from TAMC support staff prior to the training.
      2. Action Item:  G. Strong will work with J. Johnson, C. Granger, and T. Colling with sending out via email the training dates requesting Council volunteers.
    6. MTU Training and Activities Reports – November 2022 (Attachments 5 & 6) – T. Colling
      1. MTU provided the November 2022 Training and Activities Reports for Council review.   Also see Agenda item #5 regarding MTU trainings.
  8. New Business
    1. 2023 Budget/Work Plan Session
      1. The Council will hold their Strategic Planning Session on May 3, 2023.  The Council agreed that is a good date for everyone to attend.  Suggestions on where to hold the session can be provided to J. Johnson or G. Strong.  MDOT Aeronautics Building was suggested. 
    2. 2022 Annual Report Timeline and Update – Due May 2, 2023 to STC
      1. Nothing new to report; no major updates currently.  D. Jennett continues to work on providing to the Council a timeline for major milestones for the annual report.  The Michigan Roads and Bridges Annual Report is due to the State Transportation Commission May 2, 2023. 
    3. Bridge Committee Member
      1. Additional member is needed per TAMC bylaws.  Three Council members must be on each TAMC Committee.  James Hurt volunteered to be on the Bridge Committee.   The TAMC Bridge Committee members are Art Green, Kelly Jones, and James Hurt. 
  9. Committee Review and Discussion Items
    1. Bridge Committee Update – K. Jones
      1. The December 2022 TAMC Bridge Committee meeting was cancelled.  The Bridge Committee will discuss a new chair and vice-chair at their next meeting.  Keith Cooper is the current Bridge Committee Vice Chairman.  A lot of information for the TAMC Annual Report comes out of the Bridge Committee.
    2.  MDOT New TAMC Bridge Committee Member
      1. Mike Halloran has been selected as the new MDOT Bridge Committee member.  Mr. Halloran introduced himself to the Council at today’s meeting.   
    3. ACE Committee Update – R. Buck
      1. Currently, the TAMC ACE Committee is discussing the MPO/RPA allocations in the TAMC budget.  The ACE Committee plans to do a thorough review at their next meeting of the TAMC budget to possibly open any funds left on the table to the local agencies to use on other tasks, such as non-federal aid roads, as long as they are following their approved Unified Work Program and/or the TAMC Strategic Work Program.   The ACE Committee would like to review and possibly re-allocate funds to the MPO/RPA’s so that funds are not left on the table at the end of the fiscal year.
    4. Data Committee Update – B. McEntee
      1. The Data Committee is still waiting on the ACE Committee to review B. McEntee’s Little 185 Proposal and provide comments.  The FY 2022 PASER data has been submitted.  E. Costa will be provided the PASER data to complete his analysis.  Many agencies have submitted over 90 percent of their entire road system.  The goal was 50 percent.  This is significant.  A write-up will be done and include this information in the annual report as this is a high level of effort made by the agencies.  The Traffic Signal Inventory Survey is completed in the IRT and is being tested and will go online later this month.  Training on how to complete the survey will be added to the IRT training. 
  10. Public Comments
    1. G. Strong thanked Eric Mullen and Rebecca Bramblett for assisting the Council at their December 2022 meeting while she was on vacation.
  11. Member Comments
    1. Happy New Year everyone!
    2. J. Johnson requested if any Council member knows of any conferences coming up to let TAMC know to possibly have TAMC give a presentation or have a booth at the conference.  Ryan Laruwe will be doing a presentation on the project portal at the CRA Conference in March.  The Council still needs to get a culvert letter out to the regions to remind them that culvert funds are still available to some of the regions to use to collect culvert data.  The third group of agencies required to submit TAMPs to TAMC per Public Act 325 of 2018, are done and the ACE Committee will work with J. Johnson and G. Strong to get the new Groups A, B, and C TAMP schedules completed and distributed.  Feedback or possible suggestions for changes on the TAMC TAMP process has been requested from agencies and TAMC has not heard much recently on any suggested changes.    
  12. Adjournment
    1. The meeting was adjourned at 2:58 p.m. 
    2. The next TAMC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 1:00 p.m., at the MDOT Aeronautics Building, 1st Floor Auditorium, 2700 Port Lansing Road, Lansing, Michigan.

 

Roll Call:

Members Present

  • Art Green, MDOT, Lansing, MI
  • Rob Green, MDOT, Lansing, MI
  • Jacob Hurt, MAR, Lansing, MI
  • James Hurt, MML, Lansing, MI
  • Joanna Johnson, CRA, Lansing, MI – Chair
  • Kelly Jones, MAC, Lansing, MI
  • Bill McEntee, CRA, Microsoft Teams – Vice-Chair
  • Robert Slattery, MML, Lansing, MI
  • Rob Surber, DTMB/CSS, Microsoft Teams, Lansing, MI
  • Jennifer Tubbs, MTA, Lansing, MI, New Jersey

Support Staff Present

  • Tim Colling, MTU/LTAP
  • Eric Costa, MDOT
  • Chris Gilbertson, MTU/LTAP
  • Cheryl Granger, DTMB/CSS
  • Eric Mullen, MDOT
  • Gloria Strong, MDOT
  • Pete Torola, MTU/LTAP
  • Mike Toth, MDOT

Public Present

  • Mike Halloran, MDOT
  • Heather Hoeve, MDOT
  • Ryan Laruwe, MIC/Treasury

Members Absent

  • Ryan Buck, MTPA