MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ARIZONA TRANSIT ASSOCIATION

Monday, November 15, 2005

Parsons Brinckerhoff

Phoenix, AZ 10:00 a.m.

I.  CALL TO ORDER

President Rick Simonetta called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m.

II.  ATTENDANCE

Rick Simonetta

Mike Sabatini

Nate Peterson

Dave Boggs

Larry Miller

Roger Milroy

Jerry Fay

Steve Brown

Mack Luckie

Ken Driggs

Carlos de Leon

Steve Tyminski

Brad Bixler

Kurt Weinrich

Jean Ann Fisher

Jim Dickey

Becky Rutledge

David Schwartz - Goodman Schwartz Public Affairs

III.  LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

David Schwartz stated Mary Peters had agreed to be the keynote speaker at the Legislative Conference in December. The panel speakers will be Representative Biggs and Senator Verschoor.

IV.  ACTION ITEMS

A.  Meeting Minutes

Motion: David Boggs moved approval of the October 10, 2005 Board meeting minutes.

Second: Larry Miller

Action: Approved Unanimously

B.  Financial Report a/o October 31, 2005

The reconciled financial report as of October 31, 2005, shows $108,195 in total revenue and $52,777 in total expenses for the current fiscal year.

Motion: Kurt Weinrich moved approval of the financial report.

Second: Mack Luckie

Action: Approved Unanimously

C.  Investment Income Update

Nate Peterson reported $50,000 had been deposited into an interest bearing account with Wells Fargo earning approximately 2.7%. This money is available for immediate withdrawal at anytime. Nate Peterson also indicated possibly moving the checking account from BankOne to Wells Fargo at a future date.

A presentation was made by Wells Fargo representatives, Michael Dunn and Craig Hanson, regarding investment opportunities with Wells Fargo.

Action Required: The board directed Nate Peterson to get references for Craig Hanson, Wells Fargo, as well as a formal proposal from Wells Fargo for investing the $120,000 reserves.

Action Required: The board also directed John Anderson to show net reconciliation to the financial report to be distributed at each board meeting.

D.  Liability/Insurance Update

Becky Rutledge reported John Anderson had provided Karen Frey of Ashton & Tiffany with all necessary information to get quotes for insurance for the Board of Directors. Ms. Frey subsequently requested quotes from several insurance carriers but did not have any firm quotes as of the November board meeting.

E.  2006 Board Retreat Update

Becky Rutledge reported John Anderson had contacted Little America in Flagstaff for availability for the 2006 Board Retreat. Little America did not have availability on the original dates of June 22 and 23, 2006. Little America was only available on June 15 and 16, 2006, but too many board members had conflicts with those dates.

Motion: Mike Sabatini moved the board revert to the original dates of June 22 and 23, 2006, at the NAU location previously arranged by Jeff Meilbeck.

Second: Jerry Fay

Action: Approved Unanimously

Action Required: John Anderson will contact Jeff Meilbeck to see if those dates and location are still available.

F.  Sponsor for Friends of Transit Annual Conference

Becky Rutledge distributed a request for sponsorship by AzTA for the Friends of Transit Annual Conference.

Action Required: David Schwartz will check to see if we can swap Annual Conference sponsorship between our two organizations so checks do not have to change hands every year.

V.  UPDATES AND OTHER BUSINESS

A.  Phoenix Bond Campaign

David Schwartz reported Goodman Schwartz has been retained for the Phoenix Bond Campaign. The Phoenix Bond Campaign is good for light rail and all of transit for a viable downtown including ASU downtown.

He distributed Prop. No. 1 with ballot language which will be on the agenda for approval next week. The campaign is looking for organizations to sign on as supporters and help spread the word through newsletters and websites.

Motion: Larry Miller moved the board support the Phoenix Bond Campaign.

Second: Dave Boggs

Action: Approved Unanimously

Action Required: Stuart Goodman will draft a letter of support for the Phoenix Bond Campaign for Rick Simonetta’s signature.

B.  Golf Tournament Update

Roger Milroy reported the golf tournament netted $4300 less than last year due to less sponsors since the light rail consulting activity has dropped drastically. The number of golfers was 142 confirmed registrations with only 126 actually showing up.

Roger Milroy indicated we would be holding next year’s golf event at ASU. He also requested next year’s budget reflect a decrease in the golf revenue.

Jerry Fay praised Roger Milroy for an “outstanding event”.

C.  Strategic Planning Update

Larry Miller confirmed the next meeting for this committee is an all day meeting Tuesday, November 15, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

D.  ADOT Update

Jim Dickey reported ADOT is finishing the State Management Plan. It will be a more streamlined process in January or February for the 5310 and 5311 programs. There will be approximately forty percent more monies available for the 5310 program. This will equate to thirty or forty vans in addition to the ninety they normally are allocated. The 5311 program will also see additional funding.

E.  APTA Grant Update

David Schwartz reported AzTA did not receive the grant as anticipated.

F.  Annual Conference Update

Carlos de Leon, Committee Chair, was disappointed AzTA did not receive the APTA grant for the Rail Symposium.

The board indicated they would like to add the additional day to the Annual Conference for the Rail Symposium even though we did not receive the APTA grant. Jim Dickey stated ADOT may be able to fund the expenses for the Rail Symposium.

Action Required: Carlos de Leon will contact the Tempe Mission Palms to confirm adding a day for the Rail Symposium. The dates for the conference will now be April 25-28th.

G.  Rural Working Group Committee Update

Becky Rutledge indicated Paul Miller is attempting to get information from the committee members and collate it himself.

H.  Education and Training Committee Update

Becky Rutledge indicated Nick Promponas has volunteered to chair this committee. He has a strong background in this area. Nick had planned to attend the board meeting today but was unavoidably detained at the last minute.

Jim Dickey stated he had been contacted by Nick Promponas regarding a scholarship program instead of our own training program.

I.  New Website Update

Carlos de Leon indicated a soft launch of the Website is in progress. Carlos stated he had not found any problems on the Website to date. John Anderson will schedule training with Richard D. Stuart, Lunchbox Collective, for John Anderson and Becky Rutledge re: Website Administration.

J.  Any Other Business

The President and Vice-President had to leave the meeting and Secretary Sabatini assumed the Chair.

Kurt Weinrich stated RTA (PAG) concluded a very intense planning effort on October 26. There is now an RTA plan for $2.1 billion over 20 years. Twenty-five percent of this money is allocated for specific public transportation projects/programs.

A ½ cent sales tax still has to be approved by the voters. There have been well over 200 public meetings in the past four months. The polls show 54% in support but more awareness will be generated in the coming months.

Kurt Weinrich will have copies of the plan available at the next meeting. He also indicated all materials are available to the public on the RTA website: www.rtamobility.com.

Jim Dickey shared that John Anderson had been appointed a member of the Arizona Rides Council. The Arizona Rides Council is a 22 member council. Congratulations, John!!

VI.  NEXT MEETING

Thursday, December 15, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. following the Legislative Conference, Phoenix Civic Center.

VII.  ADJOURNMENT

Treasurer Mike Sabatini adjourned the meeting at 12:00 p.m.

Nov 05 min.doc