Committee of the Whole Meeting

MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE City Hall, 220 Clay Street August 19th, 2024 The meeting of the Committee of the Whole met at City Hall at 6:10 p.m. on August 19, 2024, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Mayor Daniel Laudick, Councilmembers Gil Schultz, Chris Latta, Daryl Kruse, Aaron Hawbaker, Dustin Ganfield, Hannah Crisman, and Kelly Dunn. Absent: none. Staff members from various City Departments and members of the community attended in person. Committee of the Whole: Mayor Laudick called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Committee of the Whole Agenda, Public Transit. Mayor Laudick introduced the General Manager of Metropolitan Transit Authority, David Sturch. Sturch advised that MET is the designated authority in the area to offer transit services; funding is through the FTA, Iowa DOT, and local funds and fares. Sturch provided an overview of services offered, including fixed bus routes in Waterloo and Cedar Falls and paratransit door-to-door services running Monday- Saturday. Sturch provided data on number of riders from 2019-2023 and indicated although a significant decrease occurred during the pandemic, ridership has been slowly increasing. Sturch provided data on current rides per hour and spoke about a plan to revise Route 9 to better service the industrial park and possibly even the new high school. MET will work with the City to move forward on any route changes. Sturch indicated a goal to adjust Route 9 to an “out and back” route style rather than a loop. Sturch also went through elements of a Transit Study MET is working to conclude, which indicated positive impact for the community; recommended research into lower/zero emission vehicles and potential federal funding; identified location/need for bus stop amenities; current and potential tracking software; consideration of demand response ride systems, carpooling and ridesharing to route stops; college ride services to University of Northern Iowa and Hawkeye Community College and reduced student rates during the summer. Sturch indicated challenges for MET which include: increased cost for bus replacement; fixed route service requests for expanded route coverage and hours; charter regulations; and low driver workforce. Councilmembers and General Manager Sturch discussed: local, state, federal, and other funding sources; bus sizes for current fleet and future including lower emission vehicles; paratransit services and who can/how to qualify; future advertising plans; upcoming increased ridership; and interest to spend more to provide a better quality service. Meeting adjourned at 6:51 p.m. Minutes by Jennifer Coon, Administrative Assistant