Staff recommends the City Council approve the amended 2021 Unified Planning and Work Program (UPWP) as submitted, authorizing Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) designee, Mayor Cole, to give a positive recommendation to the PCC. 

The City of Billings MET Transit Division is presenting the amended 2021 UPWP in conjunction with the Billings Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for City Council review and recommendation to the Billings PCC. 

The UPWP is primarily for the purpose of programming the Federal dollars that Billings receives from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for transportation planning and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for transit planning. These funds are passed through the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). MET Transit planning funding is typically received in accordance with 49 USC Section 5303, a funding source that is intended for urbanized area transit planning; however, MDT has opted to transfer a balance of unused Section 5304 funds (typically used for rural area transit planning) to the City of Billings to be expended in the current UPWP program. These transferred funds will be programmed into the existing 5303 grant via the proposed amendment to the UPWP; as with previously programmed funds, these are subject to a 20% local and 80% Federal match for eligible activities.  Using these funds, MET Transit will be expanding on previously programmed activities to create a comprehensive Transit Development Plan and a Marketing Strategy Plan. The total amount of additional Federal funding is $60,000, requiring $15,000 in local match for a total program change of $75,000.  

City Council may:

• Accept the document as submitted and authorize Mayor Cole to give a positive recommendation to PCC; or
• Reject the program and instruct Mayor Cole to give a negative recommendation to PCC.  Rejection of the amended UPWP would mean a reduction in funding to complete transit planning activities in Billings. 

Approval of the amended 2021 UPWP allows the City to access additional Federal funds for transit planning within the community. If the amended plan is not approved, the City would be ineligible to receive the additional $60,000 of Federal funding for transit planning, detrimentally effecting MET's ability to create a comprehensive Transit Development Plan and a Marketing Strategy Plan.

Federal transit planning funding for the 2021 UPWP is as follows:

• Previously approved transit funding:  $233,926 Federal, $58,481 local, total $292,407
• Additional transit funding for approval:  $60,000 Federal, $15,000 local, total $75,000
• Transit funding upon amendment approval:  $293,926 Federal, $73,481 local, total $367,407