SECTION 305 Administrative Task Force

Minutes

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March 16, 2012
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11:00 AM EST
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Conference Call
Facilitator / Al Ware, Chair of the Administrative Task Force
Attendees / Al Ware, Al Ware as proxy for Pat Simmons, Al Ware as proxy for Joe Kyle, Eric Curtit, Ken Uznanski, Kevin Kesler, Steve Hewitt, Leo Penne, Shayne Gill, Nico Lindenau, Ryan Swick
absentees / Johnson Bridgwater, Whitney Phend, Andy House, David Ewing, Zach O’Connor, Pat Simmons (see above- proxy designation), Joe Kyle (see above – proxy designation)

Discussions and Decisions made

Chairman Al Ware opened the meeting and asked Steve Hewitt to call the roll.
After calling the roll, it was determined that a quorum would be present once Ken Uznanski got on the call. Ken had alerted the chair that he would be a few minutes late. All votes were taken after Ken arrived.
Approval of Prior Minutes – Al Ware:
With the presence of a quorum confirmed, the task force, on a motion by Eric Curtit, and a second by Pat Simmons (Via Al Ware as proxy) approved the minutes of the March 2, 2012 Administrative Task Force call without objection
Review of Action Items – Steve Hewitt:
Steve Hewitt reviewed the action items, providing brief updates on those not listed on the agenda:
Specific use Recording form:
This remains open until verified as to whether or not the Technical subcommittee agrees with it.
Recruiting new state members for the Admn task force:
Nothing new to report, but, it is clear that we need to recruit one more state member to have an odd number (5) for voting purposes. Al Ware noted that he still has not heard back from the two states he contacted about joining the task force.
Open Records:
There was nothing new to report on this. The task force and the NGEC, as a whole, continue to be very open and transparent and takes pride in keeping open records.
Discussion: Revised External Contact Process Proposal – Al Ware:
The task force reviewed the revised External contact document prepared by Jeff Gordon, and all agreed it captured the original intent of the Executive Board when it asked the task force to develop such procedures.
It was agreed that the document also was consistent with the policy recommendations provided by Nancy Greene.
The task force agreed to have Steve Hewitt revise the three lines in the document that Jeff had provided a comment noting action required:
Page 2 will add that the appropriate support staff contact is Support Services Manager – Steve Hewitt
Page 3 will have Steve Hewitt’s PO Box inserted as the address for hard copy communications.
Page 5 line e. will be replaced with: All external inquiries and the responses to them will be posted to the website to remain consistent with the NGEC Open Records Policy.
Consider Administrative Task Force Approval: External Contact process – Al Ware:
After going through the proposed External Contact process proposal, dated March 15, 2012, and agreeing to the above revisions, a motion was offered by Eric Curtit, and seconded by Al Ware (as proxy for Joe Kyle) to approve the proposal as written with the inclusion of the minor edits described above. Upon approval, the document will be sent to the Executive Board for its consideration during its March 20, 2012 conference call.
Steve Hewitt polled the voting members of the task force:
Al Ware – Aye
Eric Curtit – Aye
Al Ware for Joe Kyle – Aye
Al Ware for Pat Simmons – Aye
Ken Uznanski, Amtrak – Aye
Kevin Kesler, FRA – Aye
With all voting members in agreement with the motion, Chairman Al Ware determined that consensus was achieved and the motion is approved.
Update: Railroading 101 Re-launch – Al Ware/ Leo Penne:
Leo Penne described recent discussions, and email exchanges, which recommended that the RR 101 program be added to the AASHTO Support Services contract rather than as a stand-alone sole source contract with AASHTO.
Leo suggested that the “course of action by the Administrative task force to get RR 101 under way is to ask that AASHTO be responsible for delivering RR101 consistent with the approved curriculum”. The funding for the RR101 project has been proposed at the level of $21,500 and that amount would be added to the Support Services budget for the purposes of delivering RR101. It will not be a separate contract, but will be treated by AASHTO as a separate project with its own budget and scope of work.
Leo further described that AASHTO would set up accounting, and the work plan for RR101 and that the Administrative task force would have oversight of the program.
Ken Uznanski asked for clarification on the requested budget amount of $21, 500 for RR101 noting that the Administrative task force budget had carried $15,000 for the webinars and $20,000 for related consultant services – for a total of $35,000.
It was agreed that the RR101 budget would be for $21, 500, and would be put in the AASHTO Support Services budget. The remaining $13,500 would be left in the NGEC budget for other Administrative task force programs and Al Ware will provide a brief description for inclusion in the Draft NGEC Budget and Scope that is to be voted on by the Executive Board next Tuesday (March 20, 2012).
It was also agreed that Ken Uznanski, in preparing the NGEC Scope and Budget, would use the proposed SOW that had been prepared by the task force for RR101, and develop the scope of work from that document. Eric Curtit and Al Ware will assist Ken if needed.
Finally, on a motion by Eric Curtit and a second by Al Ware, it was agreed to recommend to the Executive Board that the RR101 function, with its $21,500 budget and scope of work, be transferred to the AASHTO support services contract as a separate project with oversight by the administrative task force.
Steve Hewitt polled the voting members:
Al Ware – Aye
Eric Curtit – Aye
Al Ware as proxy for Joe Kyle – Aye
Al Ware as proxy for Pat Simmons – Aye
Ken Uznanski, Amtrak – Aye
Kevin Kesler, FRA – Aye
With all voting members in agreement with the motion, Chairman Al Ware determined that consensus was achieved and the motion is approved
Discussion: Revising Admn TF call schedule frequency – Al Ware:
The task force agreed, effective today, to change its conference call frequency to once every four weeks. The calls will remain on Friday’s at 11:00am Eastern with the same call in number; but will no longer take place every other week. If a pressing matter needs attention a special call of the task force can be scheduled.
Steve Hewitt was asked to send a reminder of open action items two weeks prior to the calls to keep members aware and keep actions moving forward.
Steve will send a new meeting appointment schedule to all members reflecting the new schedule.
Next call of the Task Force will be: April 13, 2012 at 11:00am Eastern
Decisions /Action Items
The “Reporting Requirements for NGEC PRIIA Section 305” will be held as an agenda item until the Technical subcommittee has had a chance to provide input or until it is determined that this has already occurred. (carryover item)
The External Contact proposal, as revised, was approved by the task force and will be submitted to the Executive Board for its consideration on its March 20, 2012 call.
The Administrative task force approved a motion to request that the RR101 program and budget be transferred to the AASHTO Support Services budget and scope as a separate project with a budget of $21, 500.
Al Ware will provide Ken Uznanski with language for the use of the remaining $13,500 in the Admn task force budget.
Ken Uaznanski will use the RR101 draft SOW to develop a scope of work for insertion in the AASHTO Support Services budget and scope.
The task force call schedule frequency will be reduced from bi-weekly to once every 4 weeks. Steve Hewitt will send an appointment notice reflecting this change. The next call will take place on April 13, 2012.
Steve Hewitt will notify task force members of action items two weeks prior to conference calls.
Next Meeting/Conference Call – April 13, 2012 – 11:00am EASTERN
Call in number: 866 299-7945 passcode: 1601544#
ATtachements

SECTION 305 ADMINISTRATIVE TASK FORCE

Conference Call March 16, 2012

11:00 a.m. Eastern Time

866 299 7945 pass code 1601544#

1.  Welcome Alan Ware

2.  Roll Call Steve Hewitt

3.  Approval of prior minutes Alan Ware

4.  Review of action items Steve Hewitt

5.  Discussion: revised External Contact Process proposal Al Ware/Jeff Gordon

6.  Consider Admn TF Approval: External Contact process Al Ware

7.  Update: Railroading 101 re-launch Leo Penne/Al Ware

8.  Decision: Revising Administrative Task Force conference call frequency Al Ware

9.  Other issues/questions? All

Next conference call is April 13, 2012

Call in # 866 299 7945 passcode 1601544#