Calendar Details:
Monday, November 9
2:00pm - Governmental Affairs Committee, Room 280. AGENDA: Discussion, Review and Recommendation to City Council of the 2010 Federal Legislative Package; Hot Topics
3:30pm - Transportation Committee, Room 280, CANCELLED
5:00pm - Council Business Meeting
Tuesday, November 10
National League of Cities Congress of Cities Conference, San Antonio, Texas
Wednesday, November 11
National League of Cities Congress of Cities Conference, San Antonio, Texas
Thursday, November 12
National League of Cities Congress of Cities Conference, San Antonio, Texas
6:30pm - Energy Strategy Public Meeting, CMGC, Meeting Chamber
Friday, November 13
National League of Cities Congress of Cities Conference, San Antonio, Texas
Agenda Notes:
Agenda Item #11 – Public Hearing and Action on Rental Property Ordinance
Resource:
Mark Newbold, City Attorney's Office, 704-336-2406, mnewbold@cmpd.org
Please see the attached Appendix that lists the types of disorder activity that is referenced in the proposed rental property ordinance. The appendix to the ordinance should have been included in your agenda on Wednesday.
Agenda Item #38: Police Cellular Phone Service and Equipment
Resource:
Deputy Chief Ken Miller, CMPD, 704-432-0429, kmiller@cmpd.org
The Police Department has asked to pull the agenda item dealing with its cellular phone service contract. On November 5, AT&T requested a meeting with police officials to present a plan to address all of the service issues with CMPD's cell phones and Blackberries. Chief Monroe has agreed to meet with AT&T representatives early next week. He and the appropriate staff members will then decide whether to accept the AT&T proposal for a 60-day evaluation period or to proceed with the Verizon contract.
Information Items:
US National Whitewater Center Signage
Resource:
Ron Kimble, City Manager's Office, 704-336-4169, rkimble@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Attached please find a letter from the North Carolina Department of Transportation advising us the mounted signs have been installed on I-485 and overhead signs have been installed on I-85. Route signing is now complete for the US National Whitewater Center.
Amendment to FY10 User Fees, CATS Field Support Services
Resource:
John Muth, CATS, 704-336-3373, jmuth@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Rocco Paiano, CATS, 704-432-5020, rpaiano@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Pursuant to the City's User Fee Ordinance, the City Manager must notify City Council of any new or increased fees. Due to third party construction projects occurring adjacent to the LYNX right of way, CATS is occasionally required to provide field support. This field support may include flagging services (a temporary restriction established over a section of the operating track through which trains operate at reduced speeds) and other safety precautions such as temporarily de-energizing sections of the overhead catenary system to protect personnel or equipment. This field support is provided by deploying existing CATS personnel who have been properly trained. By providing this field support, the adjacent construction projects can proceed while negative impacts to both LYNX operations and transit customers are mitigated.
The non-regulatory user fee amount will be calculated to recover the direct personnel costs and will vary based on the extent of the service requested and the hours required. The average cost is estimated to be $5,000 to $7,500 per project. The effective date of this non-regulatory fee will be November 23, 2009.
Federal Earmarks for Gang of One
Resource:
Deputy Chief Ruth Story, CMPD, 704-432-2427, rstory@cmpd.org
Gang of One is the gang prevention and intervention initiative of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in partnership with local agencies and citizens and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The mission of Gang of One is to prevent youth from joining a gang, support youth being pressured to join a gang, and assist youth in getting out of a gang. Gang of One applied for and has received two federal earmarks for FY09. The first for $900,000 was obtained by Representatives Mel Watt and Robin Hayes through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The second for $50,000 was obtained by Senator Elizabeth Dole through the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Both earmarks are for a period of two years and were included in the City's FY10 budget ordinance.
These funds will be used to retain four current positions that serve as coordinators for Gang of One programs, intervention, education, and the Hotline; they will also allow Gang of One to add two new part-time positions for an Intervention Case Manager and a Fiscal Coordinator to manage all of Gang of One's federal, state, and private foundation grants. The funds will also retain a Reentry Case Manager at the Center for Community Transitions, formerly known as Energy Committed to Offenders (ECO), which is funded through a partnership with Gang of One. Funds will be used to support programs currently under Gang of One and to expand its base of partner programs, including "community impact projects" through the Gang Prevention Coalition. As a result, Gang of One programs will be active in more neighborhoods throughout the City. Funds will also be used for curriculum development and professional development, equipment, and supplies for staff and programs.
Application for Value Pricing Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Resources:
Norm Steinman, CDOT, 704-336-3939, nsteinman@charlottenc.gov
Tim Gibbs, CDOT, 704-336-3917, tgibbs@charlottenc.gov
On behalf of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO), staff submitted a grant application this week to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to study the public's perception for charging tolls on freeways. The grant request is $500,000.
If awarded, the grant will allow MUMPO to undertake various public involvement activities. The study will determine the public's understanding and support for charging tolls so that freeways can be widened sooner. The grant will not be used to study engineering, construction or design issues, but to gauge the support for toll facilities or managed lanes in helping to meet current and future revenue needs.
This study would support the recommendations of the regional Fast Lanes Study and the Committee of 21. In addition, the region's first Toll Road, the Monroe Connector-Bypass, is anticipated to open to traffic between eastern Union County and I-485 near US 74 in 2013.
The FHWA is expected to announce which cities will receive grants within the next two months.
SELC Questions South Carolina's Air Quality Plan for Ozone
Resource:
Eldewins Haynes, CDOT, 704-336-7621, ehaynes@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On October 26, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) sent a letter to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environment (SCDHEC), commenting on a proposed revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for ozone in York County, SC. The SELC's comments are directed at SCDHEC, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the metropolitan planning organization for York County (known as RFATS). The SELC is the advocacy group that won their lawsuit against the metropolitan planning organization for the Atlanta region and the US EPA almost ten years ago.
Neither the City of Charlotte nor the counties on the North Carolina side of the Metrolina nonattainment area are being asked to respond to the SELC letter. However, the comments are of interest because York County is in the same ozone nonattainment area as is Charlotte. Any decision on the York County ozone SIP would also impact the ozone SIP for the North Carolina side of the Metrolina nonattainment area.
Staff will continue to inform Council regarding air quality issues.
FY2009 Year-End Small Business Enterprise Utilization Report
Resource:
Nancy Rosado, Neighborhood & Business Services, 704-336-2116, nrosado@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Attached is the FY2009 Year-End Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Utilization Report. The report highlights performance measures for both the final six-month period of the fiscal year, as well as a comparison of full-year achievements between FY2008 and FY2009.
The report highlights the City's efforts in meeting targeted performance measures for FY2009. One of the measures includes a 10% SBE Utilization Goal on informal purchases (construction contracts less than $200,000 and all other contracts less than $100,000). While the City fell short of the 10% goal, achieving 8.33% (or $7.81 million) in informal spending, we did have other positive indicators for the reporting period, including:
- $15.3 million paid to SBEs on informal and formal contracts, a 4.4% increase from the same period a year ago;
- All five minority-ownership groups surpassed the goals established for construction-related subcontractor utilization, totaling more than $17.1 million; and
- More than $23 million paid to SBEs thus far on the City's public-private development projects.
