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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/19/2001, C3 - APPROVING TERMS OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO AND CAL POLY FOR THE CONTINUATION councit M.tim 6-19-01 j ac,Enaa REpont "°mN C3 C I T Y OF SAN LUIS OBISPO FROM: Mike McCluskey,Director of Public Works Prepared By: Austin O'Dell,Transit Manager SUBJECT: APPROVING TERMS OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO AND CAL POLY FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE CAL POLY SUBSIDY PROGRAM. CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Approve the Cal Poly contribution schedules and scope of services for the Cal Poly Subsidy Program as outlined in this report and as outlined in Attachment 2. 2. Adopt the attached resolution authorizing the CAO to finalize and execute an agreement, and other related tasks, between the City and Cal Poly so as to continue the Cal Poly Subsidy Program. DISCUSSION Background Currently, Cal Poly contributes the annual sum of$187,600 to the City and SLO Transit towards the Zero Fare Program. This contribution serves as a prepaid fare for Cal Poly students, employees and faculty. The current agreement expires on June 30, 2001. Cal Poly riders represent approximately six hundred thousand (600,000) annual trips on SLO Transit. This represents approximately sixty five percent (65%) of the total annual ridership on our SLO Transit system. The existing subsidy program has been a tremendous success in getting students into the bus and out of their vehicle. However, a stable funding source for the program, particularly the annual shortfall that started to occur in 1997, has been difficult to obtain. City and Cal Poly staffs have worked closely to rectify this issue and also deliver a program and agreement that will continue the subsidy program in a stable and equitable manner. Program Development and Partnership Staff anticipated that an increase in the transit service contract costs would occur due to current market conditions, energy prices and service levels. Prior to releasing the request for proposals for the bus operation and maintenance service contract, the Transit Manager and Cal Poly representatives met in order to provide an overview-of the goals and objectives of the future transit services contract and work together to address issues of service and cost. Obviously, if the SLO Transit service costs increased, the Cal Poly subsidy program cost would C 3- 1 Council Agenda Report—Continuation of the Cal Poly Subsidy Program Page 2 likewise increase. Because of existing difficulties in Cal Poly funding their portion of the program, both staffs agreed that working closely on these issues was essential in delivering a new agreement for the subsidy program. Based upon the newly approved annual costs for the First Transit contract, and revised service levels, the City and Cal Poly have worked closely to establish a method that fairly determines the Cal Poly contribution rate. This new rate is based upon actual ridership, route cost, capital recovery rates and farebox recovery issues. The proposed agreement and associated subsidy contribution is based upon this revised funding equation. As shown in Table 1, Cal Poly will contribute $239,536 for the first year of the Table 1-Cal Poly Contributions agreement, which represents a 28% increase Year Cal Poly over current contribution levels. The total FY 2001-02 $239,536 FY 2002-03 $246,742 Cal Poly contribution over the next five FY 2003-04 $254,124 years will be $1.27 million dollars. Because FY 2004-05 $261,748 the First Transit contract for transit service FY 2005-06 $269,600 is only a three year contract, the agreement addresses long-term issues by factoring in a 3% per year increase for years four and five. In addition, staff is proposing that the City agree to replace bus shelters on the Cal Poly campus if money becomes available. This new benefit may be doable based upon the City's receipt of additional TDA revenues for the Cal Poly population apportionment area and our ability to leverage capital improvement grant sources not available to Cal Poly. Program Financing Cal Poly was faced with a major challenge to finance the current program as well as future programs. Cal Poly announced last summer that funding was not available for the current Academic Year of 2000/01 to totally cover the program costs. As a result, Cal Poly was initially proposing to establish a user fee based finance strategy to finance the subsidy program and implement this fee in the second quarter of the school year. However, after an in-depth review, Cal Poly opted not to pursue this strategy based upon City input and a lackluster response from the student body. A second option considered was to create a student body fee that all students would pay to support the program. Staff met with the President of Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) in Fall 2000 to discuss the possibility of a student referendum. Initially the ASI President expressed interest of this possibility however, it soon became clear that this option lacked support from the student body and therefore was not pursued. Instead, in early 2001, Cal Poly Administration determined to fund the program through the remainder of the school year and focus on finding a long-term solution to the funding shortfall. That solved funding of the current program but still did not resolve a long-term solution to future transit programs. Realizing the importance of continuing the program and not being able to pursue the above two strategies, Cal Poly was faced with finding a third option to fiend the program permanently. The C3-2 Council Agenda Report=Continuation of the Cal Poly Subsidy.Program Page 3 third and ultimately final option available to Cal Poly was to increase their parking fee to finance several programs, including the subsidy program. On April 17, 2001, President Baker approved the increase to the parking fee and approved its use to fund the Cal Poly Subsidy program. Thus, it appears that the funding shortfall issues have been solved, at least for the duration of this agreement. Benefits of the Cal Poly Subsidy Program The City and Cal Poly both approached the continuation of the Zero Fare program as a partnership on the basis that both parties would greatly benefit from the program. The Zero Fare program was also renamed to better clarify that the program is subsidized and is not free. The new official name will now be the Cal Poly Subsidy Program. In terms of the benefits to the City, the City will enjoy the combination of reductions in traffic congestion and parking on city streets. In terms of the benefits to Cal Poly, Cal Poly will be able to better maximize their parking for the growing student population with their current parking capacity. Final Agreement Based upon the Council's approval of the subsidy rates and schedule outlined in this report, Cal Poly Administration will prepare the final agreement and associated purchase order for execution. by City staff. The attached resolution authorizes the CAO to finalize and execute the agreement and other related tasks to continue the highly successful service. FISCAL IMPACTS Cal Poly will contribute approximately$1,271,730 dollars in pre-paid fares toward the SLO Transit Subsidy Program over the next five-year period. There will be no impact to the General Fund by approving the CAO recommendation however; there may be nominal capital improvement expenditures required to replace the existing Cal Poly bus shelters. These improvements will be funded by the Transit Enterprise fund. The costs are unknown at this time but will be identified as part of the City Short Range Transit plan update scheduled to be completed in FY 2001-02. ALTERNATIVES None. ATTACHMENTS 1. Resolution with Exhibit A 2. Letter from Mr. Frank Lebens, Cal Poly Vice President for Administration and Finance l:\Council Agenda Reports\CAR Cal Poly Subsidy Program Agreement.doc 0, 3-3 attach m Ent i RESOLUTION NO. (2001 Series) RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY AND CAL POLY FOR THE CAL POLY SUBSIDY PROGRAM WHEREAS, the City of San Luis Obispo (referred hereinafter as the City) operates SLO Transit; WHEREAS,the public transit service receives a subsidy from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (referred hereinafter as Cal Poly) in accordance to the Subsidy agreement executed on July 1, 1997; WHEREAS, the City allows Cal Poly students with valid student identification board any bus operated by SLO Transit without paying a fare; WHEREAS, the current Zero Fare agreement expires on June 30, 2001; and WHEREAS, the City and Cal Poly desire to continue Subsidy program and have jointly developed a mutually acceptable program. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Administrative Officer be authorized to execute the Agreement between the City and Cal Poly for the Cal Poly Subsidy Program for Fiscal Years 2001-02 through FY 2005-06. On motion of seconded by , and on the following roll call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: The foregoing resolution was passed and adopted this day of , 2001. Allen Settle, Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Qity or y ATTACHMENT 2 CSL POLY Cnlii,,niia nitytechnic Slaw Univenit% San Luis 011islxw.CA` 1)40 i Administration&Finance Division (ti0i) iib-21i1 • Fax (,ti05) iib-iib( May 31, 2001 Austin O'Dell Transit Manager San Luis Obispo Transit 955 Monro Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Dear Mr. O'Dell: This is to confirm that Cal Poly has agreed upon the conditions under which the University will contribute to the San Luis Obispo transit operation. The provisions of the contract are provided in Exhibit A. Cal Poly will be preparing a purchase order prior to each year of the contract. A purchase order for FY 2001/2002 will be forwarded to the City of San Luis Obispo prior to July 1, 2001. The University looks forward to our continued partnership in this endeavor. Sincerely, Frank Le ens Vice President for Administration& Finance cc: Matt Roberts .I'h.Calilm.ia?..�c l'ni,rniw 14..Ac..iirl,l•Cl..unol 61.in.l.•v'him•I>..minpuvc I fill.•I ......•full.•"..•IL.,,onl•11,..u1,4J,•Lnr,;It-ll•1- le,•M"66....A'A.im I...........•s...ran.n....\m IL m..r.lin..•1:m IN,, I.ran.ice..•san J.... •1..n Lui.l Ndyw.•?:m M."—•?.nn nna•Siuni.lau. EXHIBIT A CONTRACT PROVISIONS FOR CAL POLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO SLO TRANSIT OPERATIONS Cal Poly, SLO ("Cal Poly") and the City of San Luis Obispo ("the City") have agreed to a five year contract for Cal Poly contributions to the operations of the SLO Transit, the City's transit operation. This contract includes the following provisions: 1. The term of the contract will run for five fiscal years, from 2001/2002 through 2005/2006. 2. Cal Poly's contributions to SLO Transit will be as follows, assuming there are no changes to the existing levels of service: Fiscal Year 2001/2002 $239,536 Fiscal Year 2002/2003 $246,722 Fiscal Year 2003/2004 $254,124 Fiscal Year 2004/2005 $261,748' Fiscal Year 2005/2006 $269,600' ' Adjustments based on increase in City's contract costs due to new contractor or negotiated cost in option years. 3. Cal Poly's contributions are based on a combination of revenue vehicle miles (RVM) and a percentage share of the unsubsidized operating cost for the various SLO Transit routes. The City understands that there shall .be no Cal Poly contribution for SLO Transit's downtown trolley, City indirect costs, or the fare box recovery system. Cal Poly understands that the City will be receiving Cal Poly's portion of Local Transportation Funds (=) which is based on our residential population. 4. In the event of a significant change in the City's transit service, the City will include the Cal Poly Commuter and Access Services Coordinator in the.planning and service development process. 5. In theevent of a significant service reduction, in accordance to the City's Transit Service Public Participation Policy, the City and Cal Poly will review and evaluate the proposed service change and amend the agreement for the Cal Poly Subsidy Program to a contribution level that is mutually acceptable. 6. The City will provide the following services: a. No fare for individuals with Cal Poly ID b. Assume the responsibility to replace Cal Poly bus shelters with City approved bus shelters, as funding is available. c. Promote the Cal Poly Subsidy Program, which may include financial and/or non-financial contributions that is mutually acceptable. d. In the event that the City conducts an origin and destination survey as part of their Short Range.Transit Plan (SRTP) updates, the City will include question in the survey instrument designed to collect the number of individuals from Cal Poly that are riding the bus. e. Strive for the electronic registering farebox system to be compatible with PolyCard to determine the number of students that participate in the Cal Poly Subsidy Program. 6. Payment Quarterly invoices accompanied with monthly ridership summary reports by route.