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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works December 9 20141P1 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 20 Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee 30 40 December 9, 2014 5P1 60 CALL TO ORDER 7P] 8M Committee Chair Barbara Brenner called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the 91a Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. 10F?1 11M P1 120 ROLL CALL 13P] 14M (1:32:04 PM) 150 161a Present: Barbara Brenner, Ken Mann and Pete Kremen. 171N Absent: None. 180 Also Present: Barry Buchanan and Carl Weimer. 19r?] 20P] 210 COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 22P] 23M 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LUMMI 240 ISLAND FERRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO MODIFY SELECT FERRY RATES 25M (AB2014 -426) 261?1 270 Mike McKenzie, Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee Chair, referenced the 28M information in the Council packet and thanked the councilmembers for the communication 29M with the Council and the Public Works Department. 30P] 31M The Advisory Committee hopes the Public Works Committee will forward this 320 recommendation to the full Council. The Advisory Committee looked at fares with the 33M cooperation of the Public Works Department staff and Lummi Island residents. The intent 341N today is to determine that it's time to make fare changes. The Advisory Committee will 350 continue to address many long -term ferry questions and issues. 36F?1 37M Weimer asked to have a copy of the Excel model so he can see the assumptions. He 380 asked if they have feedback on the proposal from the Public Works Department. McKenzie 39M stated Public Works Department staff has been involved throughout the process. 401?1 410 Brenner stated she attended some of the Advisory Committee meetings. She's 42M pleased the Advisory Committee and staff have worked together. McKenzie stated the 43M Advisory Committee looked at changing three fares. They had a lot of public feedback 440 about leaving the needs fares alone. Now they are looking at six fares and one seventh 45M change to do away with the 25 -trip punch card because it costs $92, and sell instead a ten - 4617 trip punch card. 47(] 48M Rob Ney, Public Works Department, stated they hope to look at the proposal when 4917 they receive the fourth quarter budget numbers so they can look at the statistics for all of 50M 2014. They don't know yet the net effect. The Advisory Committee has done a lot of work 51M and taken care in its decision, but the staff needs to work through the proposal. The 521] administration doesn't have input right now, but they can start assessing the net effects in 53M mid - January. Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 12/9/2014, Page 1 p 1P1 20 Mann asked when staff will finish its review. Ney stated it will take a couple of weeks 30 to review the proposal. The Public Works Department should be able to have a 4M recommendation from the administration in February. 5P1 60 Mann stated have this discussion in committee and schedule Council Introduction at 7M a meeting in February or the first meeting in March. 8P1 91a The Committee concurred. 10F?1 11m Chuck Antholt, Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee Member, stated the ferry 121a fund reached a certain level, and the surcharge has done its job. They looked at whether 13E they could offer some fare relief. They assumed the traffic numbers for 2014 would be the 140 same as in 2013. They will update the model when the numbers for 2014 come in. Given 15M the traffic and growth rate assumptions in the model, they could reduce revenue earning 16M from the fare by about $240,000. They chose to offer punch cards, since the Islanders buy 170 punch cards, and the Islanders are the most frequent users. 18P] 19M Weimer asked if increasing rates would decrease traffic by a certain amount. Antholt 200 stated traffic changes due to fare increases have already happened. Traffic is starting to 21M glow slowly. They left the traffic numbers basically the same. 22P1 230 Kremen stated island residents who initially reduced the number of their trips due to 24M the fare increases are no longer reducing their number of trips. The initial sticker shock 25M from the increase has declined. The increase will be static. There may be a small increase 260 due to growth, but it won't be significant. 27F?1 28E Chris Coburn, Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee Member, stated that when 290 fares represent a small amount of the actual cost of service, the price of the fare can really 30M affect ridership. This is a small scale system, and there wasn't an obvious case to be made 310 for making adjustments of any kind to scale. 32P] 33M Antholt stated he is also looking at population projections. The population is aging, 340 and growth will be slow. Pressure from development won't be what they had in 2004 35M through 2006. 361?1 370 Kremen stated an additional factor affecting population is the realization of the 38M constraints from living on an island. Prices were artificially low several years ago. Not 39M much consideration was given to the cost of commuting to and from the island, but that's 400 changed. 41l] 42M Coburn stated the basic question is how much room do they have to address the 430 highest -use fares and make some reductions, with some surplus of fare revenue above 55 44M percent. That's as far as the advisory committee can go. He recommends that the Council 451] and administration take a serious look at adjusting the fares, using their own trusted 460 methods. Explore the questions, problems, and issues as deeply as necessary. 47l] 481] Antholt stated they biased the recommendation toward islanders via the 25 -ride 490 punch cards. 50M 511] Jim Dickinson stated he supports the Advisory Committee's proposal. Families are 52M leaving Lummi Island. The quarry no longer operates. He doesn't go to town unless he Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 12/9/2014, Page 2 P1 1m 20 30 41M 5M 60 71] 8M 91a 10F?1 11F?l 121a 13F?1 140 15r?] 16F?1 170 18F?] 19M 200 21P] 22M 230 24F?] 25F?] 260 27F?1 28E 290 30F?] 31F?] 32F?1 33F?1 34M absolutely has to. If the Council adopts the rate structure, they will see an increase in ridership. Phil Lacefield Jr. stated young couples with children moving to the island are rare. The island residents are getting older. It's a concern. The main emphasis is the punch cards. This is strictly to help out the people on the island who have been paying the $3 surcharge all these years to build up the surplus. They're there. He supports the proposal. It's very simple and makes sense. He appreciates the needs -based card program for low - income residents and seniors on fixed incomes. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 2:03 p.m. ATTEST: Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk Jill Nixon, Minutes TranscriptionM p WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Barbara Brenner, Committee Chair Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 12/9/2014, Page 3