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24 MAY 2 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING - CITY HALL - #1 MUNICIPAL DRIVE The City Council of the City of Jacksonville, Arkansas met in a regular session on May 2, 2024 at their regular meeting place. Council Member Ray delivered the invocation and Mayor Elmore led a standing audience for The Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: City Council Members: Dietz, Bolden, McCleary, Sansing, Ray, Moss, Twitty, Kinman, and Rains answered ROLL CALL. Mayor Elmore also answered ROLL CALL declaring a quorum. PRESENT NINE (9) ABSENT ONE (1). Council Member Mashburn was absent. Others present for the meeting were: City Attorney Stephanie Friedman, Fire Chief Alan Laughy, Police Chief Brett Hibbs, Police Captain Ryan Wright, Finance Director Cheryl Erkel, Parks and Recreation Director Kevin House, Director of Engineering and Public Works Adam Whitlow, Assistant City Clerk Emilia Vazquez, Communications Director Emily Sundermeier, Jim Moore, Addie Gibson, Reginald Ford, Tanner Ruple, and Jeff Twitty. PRESENTATION OF MINUTES: Mayor Elmore presented the minutes of the regularly scheduled City Council meeting of April 18, 2024 for approval and/or correction at the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting. APPROVAL AND/OR CORRECTION OF MINUTES: Council Member Bolden moved, seconded by Council Member Ray that the minutes of the regularly scheduled City Council meeting of April 4, 2024 be APPROVED. MOTION CARRIED. CONSENT AGENDA: REGULAR MONTHLY REPORT: FIRE DEPARTMENT Council Member Bolden moved, seconded by Council Member Twitty to approve the regular monthly report for March 2024, reflecting a fire loss of $6,000.00 and a savings total of $394,000.00. ROLL CALL: Council Member: Dietz, Bolden, McCleary, Sansing, Ray, Moss, Twitty, Kinman, and Rains voted AYE. MOTION CARRIED. WATER DEPARTMENT: WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT: FIRE DEPARTMENT: POLICE DEPARTMENT: STREET DEPARTMENT: SANITATION DEPARTMENT: PARKS & RECREATION: PLANNING COMMISSION: COMMITTEE(S): GENERAL: Renegotiation with Rock Region Metro Rock Region Metro Chief Planning and Communications Officer Becca Green recalled being before Council, but since there are new members, she will go through a quick refresher of the services. 1 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. Council Member Bolden requested it be based on the original agreement, before their new proposal. Mrs. Green concurred, sharing Rock Region Metro’s mission to provide safe, reliable, convenient, and cost-effective transit service. She stated their Board of Directors is appointed by the funding jurisdictions that pay into the system for service, with five seats for Little Rock, three for North Little Rock, two for Pulaski County, and one for Sherwood. She showed a slide of their Executive Leadership Team and then a map of the urbanized area for Little Rock. She pointed out the area in green, determined by the U.S. Census, including Benton, Bryant, Jacksonville, Sherwood, Maumelle, and Cabot. She mentioned if any of these communities want to use federal money to run public transit service, they must work through Rock Region because they are the designated recipient of federal public transit funds for that area. She noted Conway has surpassed a population of 50,000, so they are their own urbanized area and get their own federal funding. She confirmed they operate their microtransit service that launched October 2022. She share that originally in 1986, Jacksonville was one of the local funding members that made them a transit authority. She detailed the service was Route 36 Jacksonville/Sherwood Express that was suspended in March 2020 after the pandemic hit. She recalled it having declining ridership over a period of 10+ years because it was very limited service. She listed the benefits of this partnership are to launch a service that uses somewhat familiar technology, uses smaller vehicles, and being a ride-hailing, ride-sharing service, similar to Uber Pool. She said it uses their experience as the largest public transit agency in the State that is highly familiar with FTA regulation. She mentioned being asked about how many people inquire to them about Jacksonville service, but could not give a number because they are rebuilding their database systems as a 12-18 month project. She confirmed they get calls from residents, or the occasional email, asking them to reinstate service in Jacksonville and Sherwood. She recalled before the pandemic, they went to Jacksonville’s top three senior citizen residential campuses and all were highly in favor of the service to get to the grocery store, pharmacy, or to run errands. She related in 2021 they entered into an agreement with Jacksonville to operate this service with one-time CARES Act funding to get started. She explained that microtransit is a shared ride, point-to-point, and accessible ride-hailing service, using smaller transit vehicles, that is tech-driven operating off of an app, or they have a phone number available to call. She pointed out that it offers more coverage than a traditional, mass transit bus that usually cannot go down small neighborhood streets, but these smaller vehicles can pick people up from their driveway. She mentioned it being geographically constrained within the city limits and time constrained with operating hours being Monday-Saturday 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. She explained they have dedicated purpose-specific fleet that are wheelchair or walker accessible with a ramp that, unlike Uber/Lyft, have predictable fares with no surge pricing. She added it is more responsive than traditional dial-a-ride service and easy to use. She told how riders put in their pickup and drop-off locations within the app that uses real-time vehicle information to see how far away they are. She reiterated it offers affordable fares and reasonable wait and travel times when there are enough vehicles for the demand. She 2 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. shared that the fare is $2.00 per person, per trip, based on a study done a couple of years ago, and this was one of the cheapest. She stated that microtransit can support a variety of trip purposes, unlike some services that are Medicaid or Medicare-based only for medical appointments. She confirmed this is public transit that can be used for any reason for local circulation. She confirmed that microtransit can, in bigger markets with regional level service, offer connections to park-and-rides, and in certain communities, be used to fill in gap service. She related it can also be used to gauge demand, so it is great to use in areas of low or emerging transit demand because you get a lot of data to know where people want to go. Council Member Bolden brought up concerns about being limited to city limits and the current contract not being fulfilled when it was supposed to start January 1, 2022. Mrs. Green noted the wait and travel times for microtransit are a function of the vehicles in service and the service area. She explained they cannot go onto the Little Rock Air Force Base, due to security, but can be right outside the gate. She brought up they have budgeted, in today’s presentation, for two vehicles for 12 hours of service per day, Monday-Saturday. Council Member Bolden recalled being offered two vans previously, but they agreed to one. He suggested seeing one before they talk about having two. Mrs. Green mentioned a supply chain issue with vehicles since the pandemic, noting they are under federal requirements to buy American. She acknowledged there being holdups, but they have been delivered and they now have an extra to put toward this. Council Member Bolden showed his disinterest in discussing an additional van when they have not met the original contract and the citizens’ needs. Mrs. Green stated the contract was not fulfilled because they did not have the vehicles. She recalled mentioning it was not going to be good service with one vehicle, which their previous CEO promised. She shared that the contract in 2021 was signed by their former CEO and the former Mayor for one vehicle for this entire, huge zone. Council Member Moss noted Sherwood has a seat on their Board and questioned why Jacksonville did not. Rock Region Metro Chief Executive Officer Justin Avery replied they do not decide who is appointed to the Board, adding historically, Jacksonville has not had a seat. He explained after Route 36 was suspended, they negotiated a contract for microtransit service with the caveat that Sherwood would maintain their seat. He brought up if Jacksonville is going to agree, it is valid to ask if they should have a seat. He confirmed he cannot make that decision, but thinks his Board would be open and speak to their legal team. 3 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. Council Member Moss related that he would like some assurance Jacksonville would have a seat on the Board if they are going to enter into an agreement. Mr. Avery reiterated that he cannot agree to it right now, but can follow up with it immediately if Council agrees to this contract. Mrs. Green recalled being told the reason Jacksonville did not have a Board seat was because they did not pay the same rate for Route 36 as Sherwood, who was paying historically a lot more. She stated even combined, neither entity was covering the operational cost of the route that was really expensive to operate as it was declining in popularity. City Attorney Friedman mentioned issues in the contract and requested it be revised to include a Board seat. She highly suggested Council not agree to this contract as it is written tonight. When Mayor Elmore inquired, Mrs. Green replied she can get the information regarding how much Sherwood was paying for Route 36 service. She recalled the former CEO had possibly started an agreement with Jacksonville to bring them up over a course of a few years to pay what Sherwood was at the very end. She confirmed that for years before that, Jacksonville paid less. Council Member Rains requested Mrs. Green to send Council the amounts that Jacksonville and Sherwood paid between 2010 to when the route was suspended. Mrs. Green stated they started out this service using TransLoc, who was owned by Ford Mobility, but they got sold out to a different company that did not have as great of service as they liked. She told how they switched over to Via, who is the global leader for microtransit service. Council Member Bolden brought up the City getting their own transit service instead of depending on someone else, noting this contract was signed November 29, 2021 and they are not meeting the needs of constituents. Via Director Luba Guzei virtually gave a presentation containing three main components: existing condition analysis, demand estimation and simulation set-up, and results and recommendations. For existing conditions, she showed slides with different maps of Jacksonville containing population density, job density, senior population, youth population, poverty, car-free and one-car households, and trip generators. For demand estimation she explained supply, demand, and service quality, noting the approach to service design includes data discovery, generating smart demand scenarios, service design and simulations, and iteration and optimization. For results and recommendations, she presented a table of data simulations showing demand, quality, and efficiency, along with low, medium, and high demand scenarios. She related Conway as a comparable city, applying their ridership rate to Jacksonville. The table showed, on average, demand expected of 75 trips per day, with 95% demand met with two vehicles, would have a wait time of 20-24 minutes, travel time of 11-15 minutes, trip time of 31-39 minutes, and utilization would be 2.7. She noted with one vehicle at 75 trips per day, it would be 57% demand 4 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. met, wait time of 28-32 minutes, travel time of 13-17 minutes, trip time of 41-49 minutes, and utilization at 3.3. She confirmed the model is based on the actual algorithm that underlies Rock Region Metro services. Council Member Rains requested the numbers for low demand of 40 trips with one vehicle, since the table did not include that scenario. Mrs. Green confirmed they can follow up on it if Ms. Guzei is unable to provide that information tonight. She listed two ways of managing microtransit demand are to increase fleet or raise fares. She detailed that the service vehicles are 2023 Ford Transits that are accessible with a wheelchair lift, can accommodate up to six passengers, and are owned, maintained, fueled, and insured by Rock Region Metro. She stated the fare structure is $2.00 per person, per trip, which is easy to remember, and is paid with cash or a mobile fare app, currently being Token Transit since 2018. She told how they are able to take physical passes at the bus station in Little Rock, but it becomes a lot more complicated with the aging fare box structure further away from there, so they do not have a way to do it now. She related part of the data infrastructure project they are doing involves new fare box structures with more options in the future, possibly physical passes. She brought up the service launch and outreach timeline, saying they have to hire and train drivers, do public outreach meetings, and rider app training sessions. She mentioned post launch, they would do a rider survey, provide regular service performance monitoring with a monthly report, and a financial report. Mr. Avery shared the revised contract includes three changes: one vehicle to two, removal of the early termination fee, and increased cost, since it would be two vehicles instead of one. He noted it is not double the original cost since they have learned a lot about running microtransit due to Conway having it ran for over a year. He surmised it went from $223,000.00 to $330,000.00 for two vehicles, but they are committed to maintaining that original agreed upon cost for the first year with Rock Region absorbing the additional cost. He recalled it may have been around $87,000.00 in the original contract and will see the exact same number for the first year in the revised one. He confirmed after that, the share of the cost will increase for Jacksonville and will decreased for Rock Region. He believes in the original contract they contributed over a half of a million dollars using their CARES Act funding, but are now committing over three-quarters of a million dollars. He stressed it is extremely important that Council, faced with this independent data, consider moving from one vehicle to two, reiterating that Rock Region has committed even more CARES Act money to ensure this service can be ran efficiently and effectively for the residents. He understands that Council is not voting on the contract tonight since City Attorney Friedman has issues, but he will be happy to get her in contact with their legal team. Council Member Moss questioned why they are asking to come to Jacksonville if they are only receiving the occasional email or phone call regarding service here. 5 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. Mr. Avery shared that he gets emails from someone with the Central Arkansas Library System, who works with constituents here, and she consistently asks him when the service will run. He acknowledged they do not know what the demand is, so he thinks it is important to get rid of the termination fee, but it will allow some flexibility to reduce the number of vehicles and cost to make it more reasonable to residents and the actual demand. Council Member Sansing stated one reason they wanted one van was to find out what the need was. He asked why they did not immediately start the service when they received the vans to find out demand. He would like to see what one van does before they spend money for two, since it is easier to add one than to have two and take one away. Mr. Avery noted the first year will still be $87,000.00, adding that they have learned a lot from the Conway service, which was their first microtransit service outside of their core area. He confirmed they are experiencing significant issues with two vehicles right now and unmet demand. He pointed out that they get calls almost every week from residents there and are told constantly about how many council members get regarding poor service. He assured they do not want that to happen here, because it is not good service in Conway right now, which is why they immediately committed to increasing it to four vehicles. He said they did not start service because they received the six vehicles a month and a half ago, but it takes about two months to outfit them with all of their technologies and wrap them. He brought up that he has not hired for Jacksonville operators because he was not going to pay for them without service, but now they are ramping up their recruitment efforts. Council Member Bolden agreed if they have the vans in, let us try one to see how it works. Mayor Elmore mentioned the original contract ending this December, leaving 6- 7 months, and would require pro-rating fees, which would be difficult. When City Attorney Friedman asked if it is feasible to have them for the duration of the first contract, Mr. Avery concurred, but noted he thought it was important to show Council what one vehicle could potentially mean for service. He brought up the independently ran simulation table showing 57% would get a ride, meaning 43% would be rejected. When Mayor Elmore inquired about student riders in Conway, he replied they could provide ridership numbers in the future since they have not done a survey yet. Mrs. Green shared they are doing a rider survey, hoping they voluntarily offer demographic information, but by looking at ridership patterns, it is everyone in Conway; not solely, or even majority, students. When Council Member Kinman asked why they compared us to Conway, she replied they felt like Jacksonville is going to have a higher level of unmet demand that people may not realize, and that is what happened with Conway. She explained it is a similar setup being another big zone with one vehicle, so you will get people not able to get rides and will call Rock Region, then the City. 6 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. Council Member Rains related they do not have good data, as far as low, medium, and high demand for all situations. She noted even if they are hearing from an independent source, simulation is speculation. She mentioned what she is consistently hearing from her peers, is they would at least like to see what demand is before agreeing to several years of multiple units that may, or may not, be used. She brought up that Rock Region is here today because in 1986 our community helped to support them. When Council Member Rains inquired, Mr. Avery responded that Conway was not part of the establishment, but they were the first microtransit contract they had, which was in late 2020, early 2021. Mrs. Green added that Conway is an external partner and is unique since it gets its own federal public transit dollars in its own urbanized area, therefore, are able to bring more money to the table. She confirmed Rock Region is just using it for them, noting they cannot use any of their money anywhere else but Conway. Council Member Ray requested to table this item of business until City Attorney Friedman can work out the contract agreement with Rock Region. Mayor Elmore clarified there is nothing to actually table since there is no resolution; this is a presentation to decide whether to draft one. Council Member Twitty moved to continue discussions with Rock Region Metro. Council Member Kinman was unsure how they would know the need unless they do something. She brought up the pro-rated fee for six months with one van. Mr. Avery confirmed the contract is still valid, but he would need to go to his Board to have a discussion as to whether they are willing to commit half a million dollars faced with the same simulation data. He stated both parties signed the original contract and there are outs for both parties as well. Council Member Ray seconded the motion and requested a roll call vote. ROLL CALL: Council Member Ray, Kinman, and Rains voted AYE. MOTION FAILED with Council Member Dietz, Bolden, McCleary, Sansing, Moss, and Twitty voting NAY. Mayor Elmore pointed out there are other options currently in town that do not get used enough, especially for senior citizens, which are CareLink and transportation services offered by the Senior Center. Council Member Moss noted his disappointment with the way the Rock Region representatives left the meeting right after the vote and before adjournment. Council Member Dietz supported the idea of the City providing its own public transportation. 7 CITY OF JACKSONVILLE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 2, 2024 6:00 P.M. – 7:20 P.M. Mayor Elmore was not opposed, sharing he is confident it would not be a money maker, but be a service provided. He related the cost with Rock Region’s new agreement would be up to $430,000.00 the first three years, not $333,000.00 or $200,000.00. He shared the current contract would have been $333,000.00, reiterating the new one would be around $420,000.00 over three years with year four and five options taking it to $980,000.00. APPOINTMENTS: UNFINISHED BUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS: ADJOURNMENT: Without objection, Mayor Elmore adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:20 p.m. MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully, ________________________ _________________________ Susan L. Davitt MAYOR JEFF ELMORE City Clerk-Treasurer 8