Information Items:
- Referrals to Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee
- Allegations against Contract Operator of CATS Bus Fleet Update
- Adjustment in Police Secondary Employment Rate
- NC Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Negotiations

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Information Items:
Referrals to Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee
Staff Resource: Stanley Watkins, 704-336-3796

The City Manager is referring two items to the Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee for review and recommendation to City Council. The referrals are the following:

Modifications to Neighborhood Matching Grants Program and HouseCharlotte Program:  Neighborhood eligibility for both programs is determined, in part, by data from the City's Quality of Life Reports. The Committee will consider the programs' eligibility guidelines, data from the 2004 Quality of Life Report, staff's recommendations for changes and the impact the proposed changes will have on neighborhoods.

Housing Trust Fund- Reserving Special Needs Funds for Emergency Winter Shelter: The Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board is recommending reserving $500,000 from the Housing Trust Fund - FY2005 Special Needs Housing Funding Allocation ($1,000,000) for the development of the Emergency Winter Shelter. The existing facility on West Fourth Street will be demolished for the Third Ward Park. This request is time sensitive because a new facility must be in place by November to serve approximately 200 men nightly. The Committee will consider this request and discuss plans for a permanent winter shelter.

The Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee will consider these items at their meeting on June 7. A Committee recommendation regarding the emergency winter shelter funds will be on the June 13 agenda for Council approval, followed by an action item on July 25 to approve the contract. Referral to Committee is needed due to Council's limited meeting schedule in June and July and the time sensitivity of the request.

Allegations against Contract Operator of CATS Bus Fleet Update
Staff Resource: Ron Tober, 704-336-7245

Last week, several Council members reported receiving an anonymous letter dated April 25, 2005, accompanied by a large packet of bus maintenance related documents. The letter provided additional detail regarding allegations against the current management company, McDonald Transit Associates, Inc., that this group had previously made in other anonymous letters to Council and the local media. The Charlotte Observer initially reported the allegations on March 18, 2005.

For the past two months, CATS staff, independent consultants, and the City's Internal Audit Department have been investigating these allegations to determine their validity. Additionally, McDonald Transit has provided detailed responses to each of the allegations, and responded to CATS' direction to revise and clarify a number of personnel, gift, and other management procedures at the Bus Operations Division. Surveys have been conducted of the entire maintenance workforce and numerous meetings and listening sessions have been conducted with the technicians, union leadership, foremen, and both local and corporate McDonald Transit management.

The two special independent audits launched by CATS to investigate the allegations of kickbacks and improper dealings with vendors, as well as to investigate the documentation of preventive maintenance practices, are still pending. However, the regularly scheduled independent maintenance audit that occurred April 23 through April 25, 2005 continued to report improvements in the overall quality of maintenance practices that have been made since McDonald Transit took over management of the Division. CATS has conducted these audits quarterly since 2002.

CATS staff does not believe the April 25, 2005 letter identifies any new allegations that are not already being addressed or otherwise being investigated. However, as we await the results of the independent audits underway, we will use the letter to help CATS and the McDonald management team focus its efforts further to improve the communication and documentation procedures within the Maintenance Department.

Adjustment in Police Secondary Employment Rates
Staff Resource: Major Marc DeLuca, 704-432-0377

This week, the Police Department has begun notifying employers who hire police officers in an off-duty capacity of an upcoming change in the hourly rate for secondary employment. The Police Department allows officers to work in an off duty capacity to provide a significant increase in police presence throughout the community while supplementing the on-duty work force. Officers that work secondary employment are guided by a department directive that was updated in February 2005.

Officers are paid directly by the secondary employer at a minimum hourly rate which is at or near the city's average hourly rate for the position. The current hourly off-duty rates were established in 1998 and have not been adjusted for the past seven years. CMPD administrators believe that the minimum rate must be adjusted in order to be fair to the officers who work secondary employment. At present, it is difficult to fill all of the requests for off-duty officers and many employers already pay a higher rate to make their jobs more attractive to officers. The following is a comparison of the current and new rates:

Position	1998 Average Hourly Rate	Current Off Duty Rate	2005 Average Hourly Rate	New Off Duty Rate
Police Officer (security)	$16.78/hr	$18.00/hr	$23.35/hr	$23.99/hr
Police Officer (traffic)	$16.78/hr	$20.00/hr	$23.35/hr	$25.00/hr
Sergeant	$23.78/hr	$25.00/hr	$32.65/hr	$30.00/hr
Event Coordinator (Cpt. or above)	$26.86/hr	$30.00/hr	$35.22/hr	$35.00/hr

The average annualized rate increase for the four positions ranges from 2.22% to 3.56%

The new rates will go into effect on September 1, 2005. CMPD will work with any employer that needs some additional time to make the change. CMPD will also establish the practice of annually reviewing and adjusting the rate to keep it close to the current average hourly rate of pay.

NC Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Negotiations
Staff Resource: Jim Humphrey, 704-336-3883

Listed below is the outcome of negotiations with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) regarding the Draft 2006-2012 TIP. Council member Mumford, as MUMPO chair, Board of Transportation members Helms and Cowell, and CDOT Director Jim Humphrey participated. Negotiations were conducted with NCDOT staff of the Programming Division and are expected to be approved by the Board of Transportation when a "final" TIP is adopted at the July 6 board meeting.

All MUMPO issues were substantially resolved; however, both the northeastern I-485 construction project and southern I-485 widening project are now shown for bid award in 2012. This is because of the need to return the Weddington Road/I-485 project to the TIP. The NCDOT staff did not agree with our argument for funding the Weddington project from loop funds in areas of the state not undergoing an Air Quality Conformity determination.

There were 3 primary areas of negotiation with NCDOT:

- MUMPO Request: Do all that is necessary to return the Weddington Road/I-485 interchange and Graham Street extension/Mallard Creek widening projects to the TIP. Failure to return the two projects would trigger another Air Quality Conformity determination if these projects are not shown as complete by 2010.

Negotiation Outcome: Weddington Road/ I-485 interchange will be returned to the TIP and shown for funding using loop funds in 2009. This will require the Northeastern I-485 Loop project to move to a 2012 construction date. The delay shown for the Graham Street extension/Mallard Creek widening project, which is funded through the Equity Formula, was due to project delivery reasons (environmental complications). The NCDOT will reexamine its schedule considering Air Quality Conformity needs and report to the MUMPO at a future time.

- MUMPO Request: Add the widening of the Southern Segment of I-485 by delaying the Northeastern Segment by no more than one year

Negotiation Outcome: The Northeastern Segment will be shown for construction award in 2012 due to the addition of the Weddington Road/I-485 interchange. The southern segment widening will be added and shown for construction in 2012. We expressed our desire that we work together to try and expedite construction of both segments in future TIPs.

- MUMPO Request: Utilize $17 M shown in 2011 and 2012 that was not programmed toward construction of 5 projects located across the MUMPO geography.

Negotiation Outcome: The 5 projects will be added to the TIP. After City Council/MUMPO actions, it was learned that NCDOT might require a 20% local match of funds. Board members later discussed the issue with the Secretary of Transportation and received a positive response to eliminate the requirement, but an official answer has not been rendered. If a local match is required for the one Charlotte project (I-277 at I-77S), the local cost would be $680,000.

Several smaller issues were also discussed with NCDOT during the meeting:

- A request that Wetland Mitigation costs for individual projects be limited to costs expected to be incurred for those projects alone. This is apparently a statewide issue that will require more study.

- A request for help identifying funding sources for a regional High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV/HOT, etc.) study. We will discuss further at a future date.

- Mint Hill's request that a bridge replacement on Lebanon Road be advanced. Benton Payne, NCDOT Division Engineer, will examine alternatives.