Consider Tinklenberg Group Proposal for Professional Services Contract Extension

Purpose:
Consider a proposal from the Tinklenberg Group for an extension to an existing professional services contract.  The purpose of this contract is to advance and promote the construction of improvements within the Trunk Highway 10 corridor within the City, more specifically, to seek funding for the upgrading of BNSF impacted interchanges that occur along Highway 10.

Background:
The City has worked with the Tinklenberg Group for most of the past decade, with the most recent contract with the Tinklenberg Group a thirty-day contract being approved in January 2014.  The contract was awarded for a short-term in order to allow attempts to form a broader coalition of jurisdictions in the north metro area to pursue legislative efforts.  Also, the Council's strategic planning session had not yet been scheduled.

The City's past efforts in working with Mr. Tinklenberg have yielded a successful conclusion to the $35M Armstrong Project, which has been awarded several grant awards, including a $10M federal (TIGER) grant, a $10M state (CIMS) grant, a $8M bonding allocation from the state, and a $10.2M award from the Counties Transit Investment Board (CTIB), which fully funded the project.  Previously, the North Star Rail Station in Ramsey was also a successful effort.

NA

Attached is a proposal from The Tinklenberg Group entitled BNSF Railroad Initiative, dated January, 2015.  The proposal is intended to address the City's desire to be active during this time of re-organization at the federal, state, and local level.  New elected officials are now taking office and we want to be certain to keep the Ramsey projects in the forefront.  The County has formed a Highway 10 working group and is still organizing the regional approach to the Highway 10 effort, and also the new City Council needs to confirm the strategic direction of the City in the next 30-60 days.  The City has a new legislator (Representative Whalen), and legislative leaders and the Governor have both emphasized transportation as a key issue.  In short, this is a good time to continue to build on the success of the Armstrong Interchange, and to let people know that that was just the start of a much larger project.  The Highway 10 Council Subcommittee is meeting with Mr. Tinklenberg prior to the next Council meeting and will discuss alternatives for moving forward.

The Tinklenberg proposal outlines a number of work plan elements to be performed over the next five months of the legislative session.  However, due to the need to re-group with the parties mentioned above, staff has requested a monthly retainer proposal to continue the legislative efforts on behalf of Ramsey.  It is recommended that the ongoing continuation, or termination of, this contract be based upon the City's strategic planning discussions.  Also, the discussion with the coalition of Highway 10 communities working with Anoka County may also lead to a different approach in the future.

Also attached is a Trunk Highway 10/Ramsey Boulevard Interchange Improvement Strategy 2015 as well as the High Priority Crude by Rail Grade Crossing List.

 

Funds would come from the City's Public Improvement Revolving Fund.

Staff recommends consideration of the proposed contract extension with the Tinklenberg Group (Amendment #5), based upon the Highway 10 Council Subcommittee discussion and upon agreement of the Council on the strategy in regard to Highway 10.  The Tinklenberg Group has played an instrumental role in this process thus far; and has provided exceptional service and results to-date.

The alternative direction the Council may take is NOT to approve the proposed contract, and to continue to work with the High 10 Working Group utilizing existing resources.
 

Discuss the consulting services proposal  with the The Tinklenberg Group, for an additional five-month work phase through the 2015 legislative session.  This item will be added to the Council agenda if there is consensus agreement at work session.