I. PROGRAM COORDINATION

TASK 1.51 Committee Activities

This task covers CDTC meetings and maintenance of committee membership and structure. Beginning in April 2006, CDTC moves to a new meeting schedule featuring Planning Committee meetings in eight months and Policy Board meetings on a true quarterly schedule in the remaining months.

TASK 1.68 Statewide MPO Association Support

Sarah Siwek and Associates was re-hired by CDTC in 2004 to serve as the NYS MPO Association’s staff on a contractual basis. The $175,000 annual budget is designed around an enhanced level of effort per year (professional and/or support staff), providing sufficient resources for travel to statewide meetings and national (AMPO, etc.) activities. The firm will continue to develop and organize statewide meetings and conferences, develop outlines for potential statewide initiatives, help administer statewide initiative contracts on behalf of the association, and represent the perspectives of NY’s MPOs at statewide and national meetings.

TASK 1.61 Certification Review

The formal certification review by USDOT was completed in 2004. A positive report cited a number of best practices for national consideration; a few comments and recommendations were cited. Self-certification will be performed in 2006 and 2007 in conjunction with the TIP or UPWP adoption actions. A new USDOT certification review is anticipated for FFY08, based on SAFETEA-LU’s new four-year certification cycle.

TASK 1.65 UPWP Development

This work program moves CDTC to a two-year UPWP cycle. The two-year cycle will reduce the administrative load of UPWP development and also put the two-year TIP cycle and two-year UPWP cycle on alternate years. Amendments will be necessary, including selection of specific Linkage studies. The 2008-10 UPWP will also be developed under this task.

TASK 1.66 DBE Plan/ Environmental Justice

Civil Rights and Environmental Justice explorations will continue to be primary areas of investigation for CDTC staff. Environmental Justice assessments were included in TIP evaluations for the first time in the 2003-08 TIP update and repeated in the 2005-10 TIP and 2005-06 and 2006-08 Linkage submission reviews. CDTC’s current Environmental Justice / Title VI report is available on its web site. In 2006-08, CDTC will explore ways of refining the geographic screening for areas of special interest.

TASK 1.67 Prospectus Update

The need for a formal document containing all organizational, operational and work program aspects of CDTC's program in one place continues to be modest. The "Guide to the Capital District Transportation Committee" is updated annually and has proven to be an accessible description of roles, responsibilities and policies for use with new members and the general public. A year ago, it was expected that NYSDOT Transformation would necessitate a modification to the CDTC’s Prospectus. At present, there do not appear to be any major changes in NYSDOT’s participation or roles in CDTC’s process on the horizon. A Prospectus update will finally take place with the effort more one of documenting all the existing roles, procedures, policies and practices in one place than one of defining new sets of responsibilities.