Staff recommends the City Council review the UPWP at this Work Session and take formal action at its August 10th regular meeting to accept the 2021 UPWP and instruct PCC Designee Mayor Cole to give a positive recommendation to PCC.

The City-County Planning Division is presenting the 2021 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) for the Billings Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for City Council review and recommendation to the Billings Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC). Council will review the UPWP at this Work Session and at the August 10th meeting, staff is asking the Council to take action on the UPWP and forward that recommendation to the 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 (MET) planning. These funds are passed through the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). All transportation planning activities are included in the UPWP so that it represents a comprehensive document for 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. This UPWP corresponds directly with the Planning Division’s annual work plan. The significant changes in this year’s program include an update to the Community Transportation Safety Plan, an update to the Billings Safe Routes to School Plan, and initiation of the North Bypass Corridor Study. The Transit section is Chapter II of the UPWP. The document is consistent with past programs in its content and format.

This is a Work Session and the Council is not scheduled to take any formal action. The Council may provide comments or recommendations to staff on the content of the UPWP. Formal action is scheduled for the Council's regular meeting on August 10.

Approval of the 2021 UPWP allows the City to access Federal funds for transportation planning in the community. Federal and local funds are combined to provide most of the planning work done by the Planning Division for the City and the County. If the UPWP is not approved, there would be a significant loss of resources for community planning and the community's ability to manage transportation planning projects and programs would be severely limited. The City's FY21 budget estimates $960,000 in revenue to the Planning Division through the transportation planning program.

The breakdown of funding sources for the FY 2021 UPWP is estimated below:

• $250,000 Planning Dept. Fee Revenue (City of Billings)
• $75,000 Planning Dept. Fee Revenue (Yellowstone County)
• $503,000 Yellowstone County Planning Levy
• $1,828,800 Federal Planning (PL) Allocation

          $2,656,800 Total Program Funding (UPWP)