Staff recommends the Yellowstone County Planning Board hold a public hearing at its July 13 meeting, recommend approval of the 2021 Unified Planning Work Program Amendment, and instruct President Woods to deliver that recommendation to the Policy Coordinating Committee.

The UPWP is primarily for the purpose of programming the federal dollars the Billings urban area receives from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for transportation planning.  These funds are passed through the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT).  However, all planning activities are included in the UPWP so that it represents a comprehensive document of the urban transportation planning program.  This UPWP proposes planning activities for Federal Fiscal Year 2021, which runs from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. From time to time, amendments must be made if dollar amounts or projects change. In this case, the State of Montana MDT is transferring $60,000 in unused Section 5304 funding, typically used for planning in rural areas, to City of Billings MET Transit to be utilized as Section 5303 funding, resulting in a total additional expenditure of $75,000 including local match.   MET intends to utilize the funding as follows:

• Use consultation services via an RFP process to more fully develop the programmed Transit Development Plan
• Use consultation services in conjunction with the above RFP to more fully develop the programmed Master Marketing Plan
• Research feasibility of technology additions to increase staff scheduling efficiencies and run cutting abilities.

These changes result in:

• Additional expenditure of $65,000 and an additional 21.6 staff hours
• Additional expenditure of $10,000 and an additional 25.79 staff hours

The UPWP must be amended to address this added $60,000 funding allocation to MET Transit.
 

The Planning Board may:

• Accept the program amendment (recommended) and instruct PCC Designee Planning Board President Woods to give a positive recommendation to PCC; or
• Make amendments to the program amendment and instruct President Woods to give a positive recommendation with amendments to PCC; or
• Reject the program amendment and instruct President Woods to give a negative recommendation to PCC. Rejection of the UPWP amendment would mean a loss in opportunity for MET Transit to utilize these newly available funds.

MDT is transferring $60,000 to MET Transit. MET Transit is matching these funds with $15,000 of locally programmed funds. This is an opportunity to leverage additional federal transit funds at a 4:1 federal to local funding ratio.