In May the City was awarded a $55,550 Safe Routes to School non-infrastructure grant for an engineering study to review the walking and biking routes to Billings public elementary schools. As part of the grant application process, the School District also committed an additional $10,000 to the study. In late August, the Engineering Division solicited proposals from six pre-qualified firms to perform the study. A total of five proposals were received. A selection committee composed of members of the Engineering Division, Planning Department, School District, Riverstone Health, PTA Council and Police Department reviewed the proposals and recommended that Public Works contract with Sanderson-Stewart to complete the Study. The purpose of the study is to identify major obstacles and conflict areas children may encounter walking to 11 of the area elementary schools and then develop a prioritized list of short-, medium- and long-term projects necessary to address the problems at those schools. The project listing will include planning level cost estimates so that future Safe Routes to School (SRTS) and CTEP grants can be applied for to address the issues. Under the terms of the SRTS grant, the study must be completed by June 30, 2010. An additional SRTS non-infrastructure grant will be applied for in the next grant cycle to study the remaining 11 elementary schools in the Billings Public School system.

The Council may:

• Approve the award of the contract to Sanderson Stewart; or

• Not approve the award of the contract to Sanderson Stewart. If the study is not completed by June 30, 2010, the City will lose the $50,000 in grant money already awarded.

The study will be paid for by a combination of a $55,550 SRTS grant approved by the State last May, and $10,000 in funding from School District 2. This leaves approximately $4,500 to cover City expenses in administering the grant and the study.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the $55,550 professional services contract with Sanderson-Stewart, contingent upon acceptance of the contract by the Montana Department of Transportation.