Information Items
2004 Mayor and Council Customer Survey
Staff Resource: Arthdale Brown, 704-336-2180
Attached is the 2004 City Manager's Customer Service Survey for Mayor and City Council. Arthdale Brown will be contacting the Mayor and Council for follow-up on this survey by July 9, 2004. The survey is also available for completion online at the following web address:
Budget and Finance Council Policies
Staff Resource: Ruffin Hall, 704-336-3403Council member Susan Burgess requested information on three items related to Council policies:
1. What are key examples of budget and financial Council policies?
2. What policies has the current Council approved?
3. What are the fund balance reserve policies of the largest cities in North Carolina?
A response to each of these questions is attached.
Urban Street Design Guidelines - Visual Opinion Survey
Staff Resource: Norm Steinman, 704-336-3939
Staff is preparing new Urban Street Design Guidelines. The Urban Street Design Guidelines will change the way we build and design future streets in the city.
We are planning various community involvement efforts during the late summer and early fall to help us define what Charlotte's streets should look like and how they function.
In addition to community meetings, staff plans to utilize a Visual Opinion Survey (VOS) to gather input for the Urban Street Design Guidelines. The VOS is a series of photos that people will be asked to rate to determine what they like or dislike about streets and street design features. Staff will use the results of the VOS to verify or refine the community review draft of the Urban Street Design Guidelines.
The VOS will be available to residents via the internet from July 7 to August 4. In an effort to ensure that all city residents have an opportunity to participate, VOS can be completed from library computers. In addition, four (4) workshops will be held between July 7 to August 4 where residents can take the VOS.
The VOS web-site address and public meeting schedule will be advertised through a variety of media outlets at the beginning of July. The information gathered from the VOS will be used to develop recommendations in the Draft Urban Street Design Guidelines. Staff anticipates releasing the draft for public review and conducting community meetings beginning in September. We anticipate completing the community meetings in November and bringing the Urban Street Design Guidelines to City Council in December.
June 23, 2004 Metropolitan Transit Commission Summary
Staff Resource: Ron Tober, 704-336-7245
At its June 23rd meeting, the MTC unanimously approved a resolution addressing the EPA's air quality non-attainment designation. The resolution states that the MTC supports continued transit and rapid transit expansion, encourages continued commitment by its members to transit-supportive development, asks local governments and businesses to promote transit use, requests that the local legislative delegation continue to support public transportation, and urges the NCDOT to support public transportation.
The MTC heard an informational briefing on a proposal by the CATS staff to amend the CATS Financial Policies, primarily to include provisions regarding debt policy. When the Financial Policies were initially approved in 2000, development of the transit system was not yet sufficiently advanced to be able to determine what debt policies would be needed. With debt issuance now projected for FY05, such policies can be developed and adopted. The MTC is scheduled to vote on the amendment at its July meeting.
The MTC was also briefed on the status of the search for consolidated office space for the CATS staff. The CATS staff is projected to grow over the next years, and current space will be insufficient. Office space could be included in the new multimodal station planned for West Trade Street, but that facility will not be available soon enough to meet CATS' needs. As a
result, CATS was looking at acquiring space in a building to be constructed on an out-parcel of the new Arena, however, that option has been determined to be not the best option available.
With the assistance of Engineering and Property Management, CATS has identified an existing vacant building in downtown Charlotte that meets CATS projected space requirements. The building, the Home Federal Bank Building at 139 South Tryon, meets all MTC-approved criteria for location, and would provide CATS with over 50,000 square feet near the junction of four of the five transit corridors and within close proximity to the CMGC. The building also has 8-9,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, which could be rented out and provide a source of revenue for the transit program. The building is now an empty shell and has historic designation. The current owner of the property has agreed to a purchase price of $5.9 million, and the building will require approximately another $3 million in retrofitting to make it usable. Staff from Engineering and Property Management and CATS will be undertaking a due diligence process on the possible purchase of this building, and preparing a financial evaluation.
Further information will be provided at the July MTC meeting, and the Commission is expected to vote on the proposal in August. If the MTC approves the purchase of the Home Federal building, City acquisition of the property would come before the Council in September.
Finally, the MTC received the Final Report and Recommendations from the Governance Review required by the Transit Governance Interlocal Agreement. The Citizens Transit Advisory Group (CTAG) conducted the review over the course of FY04, with the assistance from UNCC. The recommendations call for an incremental process of changes leading to creation of an independent transit agency several years in the future. The recommendations presented by CTAG to the MTC were very similar to the ones presented to City Council in May by CTAG representatives. The MTC will review the recommendations at its upcoming meetings before making a decision on how to proceed henceforth.
FY04 and FY05 Street Resurfacing List
Staff Resource: Layton Lamb, 704-336-5128
Council member Burgess requested a listing of streets that would be improved with resurfacing funds. Attached is a listing of streets to be resurfaced with FY04 resurfacing funds. The spring contract is currently being performed, and a fall contract utilizing FY04 funds should begin in September.
Street Maintenance has not prepared a list of potential streets to be resurfaced with FY05 funding. We expect to get the results of a contractor-prepared street survey later this summer. Based upon this information and other review by Street Maintenance staff, the list should be finalized by January 2005.
Staff has committed to provide City Council a report on street conditions and options for additional maintenance funding within three months.
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