2014-1 MTSC Meeting Notes for 17Dec13

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6. Unfinished Business A) Attendees reviewed the 6 MTS Action Plan short-term objectives approved at the November meeting: 1. Research, draft, and publish a document that sets forth our specific needs, rationale and justification for requiring Hawaii County to complete an Island -wide Mass Transit Master Plan. 2. Work with the Mayor's Office to secure county funding for a Big Island Mass Transit Master Plan. 3. Attend County Transit Commission meetings and other meetings where Mass Transit developments are discussed. 4. Support and network personally with Puna District representatives and all "village center" groups. 5. Research and develop MAP -21 funding leads with key national, state and local elected representatives 6. Recommend actions and notify the PCDP Action Committee of important issues, policies, council bills and concerns. Based on these objectives, Marty's December report to the AC requested the AC to discuss the following specific activities at its January 2014 meeting: 1. Develop a specific protocol for communicating with the AC chair and members that subcommittee chairs can use for official PCDP business. 2. Update the PCDP website to more accurately reflect current subcommittees. 3. Ask the planning department to obtain and share the "official" administrative procedures for establishing new bus stops. 4. Reinsert a Mass Transit plank on the PCDP AC priority list. 5. Establish consistent communication with Puna /Ka'u State Senator Russell Ruderman and Rep. Faye Hanohano to develop a course of action for obtaining Federal Transit Administration grants that we are woefully missing out on because of lack of critical personnel at the state level. B: Subcommittee Operations: Marty described the process he will be using to guide MTS operations, including the Google site where relevant documents are now located. C: Tiffany Kai, Mass Transit Followup: June reported on the difficulties she has experienced when trying to address mass transit issues. D: MAP -21 report: Rusty and Marty provided information on their efforts to identify possible funding sources, and brought up e -Civis information on Marty's computer. Rusty was able to give Senator Russell Ruderman a copy of the information about MAP -21 funds. The Senator did not appear to be aware of the $150,000,000 that counties can apply for. Jon again emphasized that we will not see progress in this or other MT areas unless one employee is hired specifically to identify and allocate existing funds that could be redirected to mass transit, who can identify and apply for other relevant grants, etc. 7. Agenda for Next Meeting A. Report on and discussion of the actions of the AC in response to Marty's request (see 6A above) at the December 10 AC meeting, including any relevant CIPS B. MTS members report on their research, communications, etc, related to MAP -21 8. Adjournment