THE FLOWER MOUND TOWN COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THE …

FLOWER MOUND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 8, 2011 PAGE 1

THE FLOWER MOUND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING ANDWORK SESSION HELD ON THE 8TH DAY OF NOVEMBER , 2011 IN THE FLOWERMOUND TOWN HALL, LOCATED AT 2121 CROSS TIMBERS ROAD, IN THE TOWN OFFLOWER MOUND, COUNTY OF DENTON, TEXAS AT 6:30 P.M.

The Transportation Commission met in regular session with the following members present:

Todd Schreiber Place 1Stephen Harris Place 2Kevin Stoelting Place 4Tony Mowles Place 5Mike Walker Place 6Thomas Walker Place 7Frederick Ehler Alternate Place 8Martin McIntire Alternate Place 9

With the following members absent:

Don McDaniel Place 3

constituting a quorum with the following members of the Town Staff participating:

Steve Lyda Town Council LiaisonKen Parr Director of Public WorksAnnette Pawlak Recording SecretaryMatthew Hotelling Traffic Engineer

A. CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER

Chairman Mike Walker called the meeting to order at 6:31 pm.

B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The Pledge of Allegiance led by Chairmen Mike Walker

C. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

None

D. COMMISSION MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS

Chairman Mike Walker asked the Commissioners to introduce themselves and give abackground.

Todd Schreiber – Place 1 – said he has lived 18 years as a resident of FlowerMound, served on a variety of different committees including the last Master PlanUpdate Committee. Spent most of his career in commercial finance and currentlyin Real Estate.

Stephen Harris – Place 2 – said he has lived 30 years as a resident of Flower


Mound, Civil Engineer by training with a Masters in Business Administration(MBA). Worked for Frito Lay, Steel Case and other companies in his career andlooking forward to serving again this year on the Transportation Commission.

Don McDaniel – Place 3 - Absent

Kevin Stoelting – Place 4 – said he has been in Flower Mound almost 4 years.Worked for United Parcel Services (UPS) for 23 years, started as a driver and isnow a Real Estate Manager.

Tony Mowles – Place 5 - said he has been a resident for 10 years in Flower Mound,prior to that 3 years in Lewisville. He said he owns his own flooring company,Lakeside Floor Company, prior to that he was in the county club world with ClubCorp for 15 years.

Mike Walker – Place 6 – said he moved to Flower Mound in 1995, has a backgroundin land use planning and commercial real estate investing in behalf of institutionalclients, served on different boards and commissions in the Town.

Thomas Walker – Place 7 – said he has been a resident in Flower Mound for 12years, professional background in IT and out sourcing. This is his 2nd term on theTransportation Commission.

Frederick Ehler – Alternate Place 8 – he said he has been in Flower Mound for 10years and is a civil engineer and working currently as a forensic engineer.

Martin McIntire – Alternate Place 9 – he said friends call him “Bill”, retired from theAir Force and retired from Boeing Space Program has lived in Flower Mound about10 years.

E. ELECTIONS

Election of a chair and vice-chair was conducted by the Public Works Director.

Chairman Mike Walker said the next item the election of Chairman and Vice Chairmanwould be conducted by Mr. Parr.

Mr. Parr said the first position to be filled is the Chairman. He asked if there wasanybody who would like to nominate for the position.

Commissioner Mike Walker said he would like to place his own name in for Chairman.

Mr. Parr asked if there was anyone else who would like to serve as Chairman. No onecame forward. He asked for a vote.

VOTE ON MIKE WALKER FOR CHAIRMAN

AYES: Commissioner EhlerCommissioner StoeltingCommissioner Harris


Commissioner Thomas WalkerCommissioner SchreiberCommissioner MowlesCommissioner Mike Walker

NAYES: None

ABSTAIN: None Mr. Parr asked Chairman Mike Walker to conduct the election for Vice Chairman.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there was anyone who would like to bring a nameforward for Vice Chairman.

Commissioner Thomas Walker said he would like to bring his name forward.

Chairman Mike Walker said the name of Thomas Walker has been brought forward. Heasked if there were any other names. No one came forward. He asked for a vote.

VOTE ON THOMAS WALKER FOR VICE CHAIRMAN

AYES: Commissioner MowlesCommissioner SchreiberCommissioner Thomas WalkerCommissioner HarrisCommissioner StoeltingCommissioner Ehler

NAYES: None

ABSTAIN: None

F. BOARD AND COMMISSION MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chairman Mike Walker asked if any Commissioner wanted to bring anything forward tothe commission.

No one came forward.

G. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS REPORT

Mr. Parr gave out updates on the Town’s Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) pavingproject, Town’s CIP signal projects and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)projects (on file in Public Works office).

Mr. Parr said that last night the Town Council approved repealing the Green Streetsstandards. He said the Assistant Town Manager, Kent Collins wanted him to let theCommissioners know that they may be reviewing a new Green Streets standard in thenext few weeks along with the Environmental Conservation Commission. They have notreceived final direction on how the Town Council wanted to proceed but Mr. Collinswanted to alert the Transportation Commission that they are going to revisit that and the


Transportation Commission may be involved with the Environmental ConservationCommission. Mr. Parr said they needed to get direction from the Town Council.

Mr. Parr said the first project updates he would like to go over are the TxDOT projects.The FM 407 has had ongoing issues with conflicts with existing utilities. He said hewanted to remind the Transportation Commission that all utilities in conflict were to bemoved prior to start of construction. But TxDOT has run into several conflicts withfranchise utilities and some problems with errors in the storm water plans that needed tobe resolved. If it is determined that there are additional conflicts TxDOT may allow thecontractor to stop work on the project site until the utilities companies resolve theconflicts. If this occurs the contractor will not move back onto the project until after thefirst of the year. He said previous utilities conflict has been the reason for previousdelays in that project.

Mr. Parr said on the FM 1171 section 2 and 3, design is at 95% and TxDOT is in the finalreview of the plans. Acquisition of ROW is at 98% and there are still 4 or 5 tracts of landthat are owned by one owner that are yet to be acquired. The issues with that acquiringthe tracts appear to be resolved and the tracts are in the process of acquiring that ROW.He said the other major item left to be addressed prior to start of construction id therelocations of the utilities that are in conflict. He said the Town has opened bids for theconstruction of the relocation of the Town’s water lines. Award of that contract isscheduled to go before Town Council November 21st and he anticipates start ofconstruction in January. Mr. Parr said he was not aware of any franchise utilities thathave finished design, much less given an anticipated schedule to start relocation of theirutilities. He said TxDOT is still anticipating going out for bids on the project in February,2012 and proposing to award the contract with a delayed start of six months to allow theexisting utilities in conflict to get moved out of the way. He said it is anticipated start ofconstruction to start in the fall of 2012.

Mr. Parr asked if there are any questions on the TxDOT projects.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked if for FM 1171 Sections 2 and 3 there was anestimated construction period.

Mr. Parr said he was not aware that TxDOT set an estimated time for how long it wouldtake, but he estimate that it would be a two year project.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked if that construction would be done in one phase allthe way out to I35W.

Mr. Parr said that was correct.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked if there was a design error on the storm waterplans on FM 407 and who is responsible for a design error. Also, does that in anywayallow the contractor leeway in terms of the start and completion dates?

Mr. Parr said there has not been any discussion about how that issue is going to behandled, but typically the contractor is not held responsible for any delays that are not hisfault. He should get a time extension for delays that are not his fault, whether or not hewill get additional compensation is yet to be determined. He said it had not beendiscussed in any meeting he has attended.


Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked if the Town had responsibility or accountability forthe delays.

Mr. Parr said no. It is a TxDOT project and they hired the consultant that did the plansand if there is any compensation or credit due to TxDOT it is between them and theconsultant.

Commissioner Stoelting said he had a question about FM 1171 Section One. The reportsaid there is currently liquidated damage being collected. Do they belong to TxDOT?

Mr. Parr answered that the liquidated damages goes back to TxDOT because it is theirproject. He said what liquidated damages collected would be reimbursed to TxDOT.

Mr. Parr said if there were no other questions he will move on to the Town roadwayprojects update. He said he wanted to highlight a few of them. The first one isMorriss/Gerault widening project. This weekend they are scheduling the installation ofthe beams for the fly over on November 12th and 13th. Saturday and Sunday there willonly be one lane of traffic in both directions at that intersection of FM 2499. TxDOT hasissued a permit for the lane closures and the Town for scheduled it for a weekend toavoid affecting commuter rush hour traffic.

Mr. Hotelling said that if there was anyone heading to the Marcus play off game atCowboy stadium they may want to avoid that intersection.

Mr. Parr said that on the Garden Ridge project it is basically complete except for trafficsignal installations at Spinks and Lakeside Parkway. Mr. Parr said he had not gotten anupdate as to when that might happen.

Mr. Hotelling said that the electric service should be there within the week or two for bothtraffic signal locations.

Mr. Parr said the Flower Mound Road project on the west side of Town has beencompleted.

He said work is still ongoing on the Dixon westbound lanes. There have been somedelays due to sections of bad concrete that the Engineering Department required thecontractor to rip out and replace. One bad section was due to damage to the surface ofthe concrete because they poured it and it rained before it was set up. The other was asection of the pavement that was laid below grade meaning it was lower than it wassuppose to be, so they had to rip it out and replace it. These issues have delayed thecompletion of the west bound lanes.

Mr. Parr said the Wichita Trail anticipated start has been pushed to March of next year.

The College Parkway reconstruction project is under construction. And the Sagebrushreconstruction project is also under construction. Those two were let together and theyshould be completed by February of this coming year.

Mr. Parr said he had added three reconstruction projects to the list. The first one isTimber Creek reconstruction Phase 1 which runs from FM 1171 to One Place. He isanticipating the design contract will go to Town Council for approval on December 5th.


The next two are the Colonial Dr. and Wood Creek reconstruction projects. At this time there is enough funding available to move forward with the award the design contract butthere is not enough funding available to move forward with the construction of both thoseprojects unless the Dedicated Street Sales Tax is renewed. There is enough funding todo the design for both of projects and maybe to complete construction of one of them but we will not move forward until we get the results of the election tonight. Hopefully atthe next meeting we will be able to give you an update.

Mr. Parr said the Gregory reconstruction project is already under construction and willnot be completed until spring of 2012. A waterline conflict had to be addressed first andthat is pretty well resolved. The contractor is ready to start on the construction of thepaving.

Mr. Parr said the Chinn Chapel project, which is located between FM 407 and Waketon,is under design and the anticipated start of construction has been pushed back to May2012. Acquisition of ROW has begun.

Mr. Parr said the West Windsor project had had one neighborhood meeting. Mr. Parrasked Mr. Hotelling if there was going to be one or two more meetings.

Mr. Hotelling said there was going to be two more public meetings and the next one wasgoing to be November 16th at the Central Fire Station at 6:00 pm.

Mr. Parr said the reason for the neighborhood meetings was to get input from theresidents that are affected by that project.

Mr. Parr said the final item was the Town’s signal installations. He said there were acouple of traffic signals that are part of the Morriss/Gerault project; one at the Sagebrushintersection and one at the Buckeye intersection. They are anticipating the completion ofthose signals in November of this year. He said there will be one new funding of trafficsignal at the intersection of Old Settlers and Sagebrush that was approved as part of thebudget for this fiscal year starting October 1st. We are starting the process of awardingthe design contract.

Mr. Hotelling said one thing on the signals on the Morriss/Gerault project; the signal atBuckeye and Morriss the contractor will not start on it until after the Christmas Paradethis December and the one at Sagebrush and Morriss will resume construction once thecontractor of Sagebrush reconstruction project reconstructs that intersection.

Mr. Parr asked if there were any questions on the Town’s paving or signal projects.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walked asked what drove the decision to install a traffic signal atOld Settlers and Sagebrush.

Mr. Hotelling said that he had anticipated that this location would probably qualify for atraffic signal at sometime after the traffic signal was installed at FM 2499 and Sagebrushsince the FM 2499 traffic signal would result in more school traffic using Sagebrush. Awarrant study at the Old Settlers and Sagebrush intersection confirmed a traffic signalwas warranted.

Mr. Parr said that completed his report.


Chairman Mike Walker asked Mr. Parr if he wanted to go through future date or wait onthat.

Mr. Parr said to wait.

H. CONSENT AGENDA - Consent Items

1. Consider approval of minutes from the regular meeting of the TransportationCommission held on September 13, 2010.

Commission Schreiber made a motion to approve the minutes from the regular meeting of theTransportation Commission held on September 13, 2010 and correct it to 2011 andCommissioner Harris seconded the motion.

VOTE ON THE MOTION

AYES: Commissioner EhlerCommission StoeltingCommissioner HarrisVice Chairman Thomas WalkerCommissioner SchreiberCommissioner Mowles

NAYES: None

ABSTAIN: None

I. REGULAR ITEMS

1. Presentation on the Town’s Communication Policies by Michael Ryan, Director ofCommunity Affairs and appointment of a Transportation CommissionCommunication Liaison.

Mr. Michael Ryan, Director of Community Affairs said they are responsible formanagement of the web site, FMTV, a majority of the media relations, electroniccorrespondence, and just about anything that goes out from the town in some sort ofmass communication. Mr. Ryan went over the handouts he passed out to theCommissioners (on file in the Public Works Office) consisting of an overview of the toolsthey use on a regular basis such as Utility News bulletins, web sites. Mr. Ryan said theyare in the process of launching in probably March or April a brand new web site, whichwill be a new design, easier to navigate and contain all the same information as itcurrently does. Mr. Ryan said another one of the primary communication tool availableis an electronic bulletin board which people subscribe to and which is distributed on amonthly basis and as needed through out the month, such as tonight giving the electionresults.

Mr. Ryan said FM television (FMTV) has a basic bulletin board, runs a majority of Boardand Commission meetings, a bi-monthly news show that covers a variety of topics fromParks and Rec to new items related to transportation, special events, and items like that.We have another monthly show called Adventures that is dedicated strictly to Recreationitems, Library, and Seniors in Motion. We also on occasions do dedicated PSA’s if thereis a specific topic, also an alert system we can run a banner on there if we have an


emergency situation in the town. He said social media is probably the newestcommunication tool we have, where we can ship information directly to people who wantit and it is not necessarily in the paper where they may or not read it, or FMTV wherethey would have to turn it on. We know these people are actively receiving it, whetherthey are sending it or not. He said throughout the year they publicize a couple of specialcommunications primarily the Annual Report which is produced in March the followingyear containing the previous year’s summary of all the major projects and a little lookforward as to what is going to happen the next year.

Mr. Ryan went over the number of things they use on a case by case basis, such asmedia relations program which they spend significant amount of time working with thelocal media communicating our issues with them, hopefully to distribute it to ourresidents and responding to inquiries from them answering issues.

Mr. Ryan went through their process to communicate any news item or issue; he saidthey treat them all the same whether it is election results, street opening or if say theTransportation Commission is going to launch an update. Community Affairs would askhow they could help and then set up some kind of schedule and identify which toolswould best serve the Transportation Commission needs and needs of the residents andmake it as universal as possible and then distribute it across all the communication toolsat the same time. He said that is the basic tools and process Community Affairs gothrough. They work through out the town with all the various departments; they toucheverybody at some point. They also provide services to other governmental agenciesand the boards and commissions.

Chairman Mike Walker said just for a background some of the Commissioners havebeen on the Transportation Commission for awhile, others are new, and some are verynew members, but from time to time they are asked about what is going on and how theycan find out about what is going on around town. He said he would try to direct them tothe web site but for someone not familiar with the web site it can be intimidating if youhave never used it before. There is a lot of information there. Projects such as theGerault fly-over where it would cause some traffic congestion for the weekend and theWest Windsor Extension, had no public notices.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there was some way we could improve first of all whatthe Transportation Commission is about, how we define our role as a commission,members, and projects related directly to transportation. How do we get it out a littleeasier to the general public?

Mr. Ryan said the complaint that they hear the most about the web site is that it has somuch information on it but if you are looking for information, it is there somewhere. Thecomplaint they hear about the web site is there is so much information on it and when webuilt it 5 or 6 years ago that was the directional web design. If you know where you aregoing and you go there with some frequency it is not hard to find what you are lookingfor. The new web site will reduce the number of entry points; reduce the number ofpages to where if there is something you are looking for are only one entry and one wayto get there. Right now there is different way to get there and people get lost. He saidthey judge projects based upon how timely they are, how many people they are going toimpact, how much interest they are receiving as far as communications, questions,email.

Chairman Mike Walker said one of the problems they have is that a lot of the agenda


items do not require public hearings per se, so the notices, the postings, mailings,publishing in newspapers, a lot of that is not applicable to the TransportationCommission. So we are not out there as much and he hears that the public would like tohear more about what the Transportation Commission does. One suggestion was to useFMTV more as an outlet. To use FMTV as a vehicle to introduce what theTransportation Commission is chartered to do, what it has done and it is suppose to do inthe future. It is just getting the word out better to the public.

Commissioner Schreiber said he thinks the one thing the web site has in its currentformat is a nice summary of the road construction tabbed on the front page. He said onesuggestion he would have is he get various electronic newsletter from the town andperhaps there is an opportunity from time to time to have a little article with a link to theroad construction tab and people who are interested in road construction would becomeaware that the tab exist. He said there maybe a lot of people who go to the web site donot realize that tab exists.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said he would like to build on that point a bit. He said byusing e-bulletin or e-town capabilities he thinks the Transportation Commission could beproactive and use it as a vehicle to get the message out. Secondly he asked if we knewwhat the adoption rate is on the e-bulletin; is it 5% penetration, 10% penetration in town,do you have some sense of that at all?

Mr. Ryan answered there are different ones and they have a varying degree ofsubscribers. He said with the general news has the most subscribers and the last timehe looked it was about 8,000. He said that for something like tonight’s election resultsthey also have the ability to send it to everybody. The general news is one we try not toput information that fits in the other ones to try to keep it a little newsier. He said thatwould be the best location for Transportation Commission information.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said he thought one of the things the TransportationCommission should be looking at is how to drive the adoption rate up if it is only 8,000 forgeneral news, what can we do to drive the adoption rate up and get more people?

Mr. Ryan said the new web site comes with stuff that integrates with social media andcomes with its own newsletter system; it will come with a testing system. He said hethinks it will be able to integrate a lot of our current communication tools that we useseparately now and help us drive the adoption rate up. He said they promote e-news acouple of time a year in a target effort to drive those numbers up, they fluctuating aspeople come and go.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said there might be someway to look at people who areaccessing the web site, the main web site. If is an IP address we have not seen beforemaybe it could kick off a message asking if they want to subscribe to e-town orsomething like that. He said he did not want to get too technical but asked if thenew web site was going to use flash. He said the reason he asked that is that iPads donot accept flash and this community is rather wealthy and there are a lot of people usingiPads.

Mr. Ryan said we have a higher concentration and he would agree with him. He saidthey are looking at that. Right now the Town has a photo rotator on the front now that isbasically a header, every time you click on it, it brings a photo. He said they are lookingat other the technologies.


Chairman Mike Walker asked if there were any other questions or comments.

Mr. Ryan said the Transportation Commission was going down the right path byidentifying a liaison tonight. He said they are one division and serve all the differentdivisions/departments, non-profit agencies and other government agencies onoccasions. So on occasions the Transportation Commission will have an issue that isimportant to you, that his division is not aware of needing to communicate that. He saidthe Transportation Commission is taking the right step appointing one person where theycan have continuous communication with and they can say the TransportationCommission wants to do this or we are looking at this and need to get the word out aboutthis and bring it to their attention. Mr. Ryan suggested we look at the entire list of optionsand he said if it is good on TV then it is good on the web site and the e-town, and is goodsomewhere else.

Chairman Mike Walker said there is a lot of over estimating the number of peoplewatching FMTV, but it has come a long way since he joined the Town as a tax payer. Hesaid he knows when you go in there you go through various departments of the Townand services, but he finds it is interesting that we have the availability to monitor variousintersections and that a lot of people do not know that. He said you can get real time livefeed. He said many people do not realize that. You see a camera mounted on a lightbar and people think it is there to take pictures of license plates or that type of thing. Hesaid he thinks there are a lot of people who are not aware of things we do here that aretransportation related.

Mr. Ryan said that the challenge to work together is an easy once they find a point ofcontact for them. A person who is aware of the issues you would like to communicateneeds to be put in touch with us. They can bring topic to our attention and talk to usabout them.

Chairman Walker said he did a tour of the sign making facilities and was very impressed.The signs are made here in town and use material that is real effective and relativelyinexpensive. He said it would be nice to showcase this in the newspaper or some othermedian. He said that was sort of the message and the reason Mr. Ryan was asked tocome forward. Chairman Walker asked Mr. Ryan to tell the Transportation Commissiona little about the liaison. What he sees, a job description and frequency. How he wouldlike it to work.

Mr. Ryan said how it work is someone appointed by the Transportation Commissionwould set down with him and help him become familiar with their topics andcommunication needs. That person would represent the Transportation Commissionand sit down with him and say this is what we are going to talk about, what the role of theTransportation Commission is, what they do and how often they meet. They would talkabout major projects that have an effect on, specific projects, if there is something verytimely and they want to communicate right now. He said some type of monthlycommunication would be standard. He said there will be general information topicsmonthly and then items that will pop up that are more timely and urgently need to becommunicated. He said having some sort of consistent communication with the liaisonabout once a month would be great and then on as needed basis on other items-. Hesaid if the Transportation Commission drags them in they would be in contact with theTransportation Commission for interviews, information, working with the media if theTransportation Commission chooses to go at that level and certainly interviews on


FMTV. He said he would be there for more questions as they appoint the liaison.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there was anyone interested serving as a liaison person.

Commissioner Schreiber said he would be interested.

Commissioner McIntire asked if he could be considered since he is just an AlternateCommission member.

Chairman Mike Walker passed the question to Mr. Parr.

Mr. Parr said he did not see why not.

Commissioner Harris said he would be interested as liaison for communications andpublic relations.

Chairman Mike Walker said there are three Commissioners interested being a liaison.He asked each Commissioner to state why they were interested.

Commissioner Schreiber said he considers himself pretty knowledgeable not only abouttransportation but the community in general, he tries to attend the Precinct 3 meeting,Denton County Commissioner Bobby Mitchell holds, not every month necessarily,certainly every other month so he is not only knowledgeable about the road projects in orarea but in Denton County in general at least in Precinct 3. He said he also has abackground in marketing communications from his time in the finance industry.

Commissioner Harris said he has a general interest in communications and publicrelations. He said he has served a similar role on other groups, Summit Club and churchorganizations. He said he was familiar with the process.

Commissioner McIntire said he has general interest and lots of time.

Chairman Mike Walker said they would have a vote on each name.Mr. Hotelling suggested they have a motion and second and then vote.

Chairman Mike Walker asked for a motion.

Commissioner Stoelting made a motion for Commissioner Schreiber as Public Relations Liaisonand Commissioner Mowles seconded the motion.

VOTE ON THE MOTION

AYES: Commissioner MowlesVice Chairman Thomas WalkerCommissioner HarrisCommissioner Stoelting Commissioner Ehler

NAYES: None

ABSTAIN: Commissioner Schreiber


Mr. Parr asked that they adjourn from the Regular session and go to the Work Sessionand do both of the Work Session Agenda Items and then come back into RegularSession.

Chairman Mike Walker asked for a motion to adjourn the regular session and reopenlater this evening. He said there was a motion made by Vice Chairman Thomas Walkerand seconded by Commissioner Schreiber. All those in favor say aye. He said it wasunanimous. We are adjourned from the regular session and will come back to it later.

2. Exception request for the Saddle Oaks/Portion of Bridlewood subdivision to allowfor a permanent speed limit change to 25 mph for areas outside of the ¼ mileboundary of a school or major construction project to be changed to 25 mph. Asecond exception request to make those streets that are currently within a ¼ mileboundary of FM 1171 a permanent speed limit reduction. These exceptionscombined will account for all streets within the Saddle Oaks subdivision and aportion of the Bridlewood subdivision to be posted at 25 mph.

Mr. Hotelling made a power point presentation (presentation on file in the Public Worksoffice) showing the history of 25 mph speed limits, location of Bridlewood and SaddleOaks Subdivision, showed various pictures of Bridlewood and Saddle Oaks, exceptionrequest, engineering study, 85th percentile speed, road characteristics, shoulderconditions, etc, pace speed and roadside development, parking practices and pedestrianactivity, reported crash experience, and action requested from TransportationCommission. He then asked for questions.

Chairman Mike Walker said for public record he is a resident of Bridlewood but livesoutside of the boundaries for the recommendation.

Commissioner Mowles asked what are the qualifications for the reduction.

Mr. Hotelling said there is a large portion of these streets that qualify based on ourprevious policy if they fell in that ¼ mile boundary of a school or construction projectbased on those state laws and the December 2006 policy that was enough for thosewithin those boundaries. The additional ones are justification for two reasons; one iswith the pace speed. Everyone is driving within that range we are looking at but even agood portion of it even the 85th percentile speed would allow the 25 mph. You do notend up with people guessing when the come into the subdivision whether this street is 25mph, is this street 30 mph. It just keeps it more uniform in that area.

Commissioner Mowles asked how would the public be notified of the speed limitreduction. In the neighborhood as they are entering.

Mr. Hotelling answered there was going to be a number of way, one any speed limitchange that goes through Town Council need to be published in the newspaper; two wewill post signs at every street that comes into the subdivision, then the school zone onRemington will have speed limit; generally when we make that change we will flag thesigns for a period of time. Once it has been approved, published and they are ready toinstall the signs he will call Bridlewood Management Company and Saddle Oaks HOA.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked of the four accidents reported in the past 12months only one was speed related. Is this correct?


Mr. Hotelling said yes.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said one other question he had asked before, on thestatics you have on the speeds do you have the mean and standard deviation on thenew analysis?

Mr. Hotelling said he did not bring it, but looked at it and cannot recall it off the top of hishead.

Commissioner Stoelting asked what the current speed in that area we are now looking tochange.

Mr. Hotelling answered it was 30 mph.

Commissioner Stoelting asked if that does not have impact on your pace speed and 85thpercentile because that is what people should be traveling now.

Mr. Hotelling said if we change it to 25 mph will it effect or change, lower those two. Itshould.

Commissioner Stoelting said because people are obeying the speed limit it should.

Mr. Hotelling said correct it should. He said now people drive out of habit; people willdrive the way they have been for a considerable amount of time.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked when you check on these endorsements, did youget a count of how many people in the neighborhood endorsed it verses how manypeople there are in the neighborhood?

Mr. Hotelling said he simply asked the HOA to provide him with information on how muchof the neighborhood is in favor of making this change. They never gave him a door todoor count on how many wanted it changed and how many wanted it left alone.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said he also lives in Bridlewood but does not live in thatsection and does not remember getting anything from the HOA asking about this topic.

Commissioner Harris asked Mr. Hotelling if he could give him a list of the streets that areactually 25 mph temporarily because of ongoing construction.

Mr. Hotelling said currently none of them are.

Commissioner Stoelting said but there is a school zone in this area, which is 20 mphduring certain times.

Mr. Hotelling said that was correct.

Commissioner Stoelting said going back to the question about accidents, there was fourin the last 12 months, one was speed related, were any of the pedestrian/vehiclerelated?

Mr. Hotelling answered no.


Commissioner Schreiber said the Transportation Commission struggled with this at thelast meeting with Villages of Northshore. Vice Chairman Walker brings up a good point.He said he struggles when he does not have an idea of how many residents are aware ofthis and requested this type of change. He said it was not something they are going tosolve tonight and he thinks as a Commission we need to consider how they are going toevaluate, or how much support there is in these areas for making these changes.

Mr. Hotelling said that is why they ask the HOA’s. He said he was not going to dictate tothe HOA how they find out if their residents are in favor or not in favor. He said he islooking for their endorsement, or does this community want this change. If this area hasa HOA, then the HOA is a representative.

Chairman Mike Walker said in effect the applicant is the two HOA’s; the Town is not theapplicant. In fact they are coming forward and requesting consideration the staffresponds and you supporting their request.

Mr. Hotelling said this was initiated within Bridlewood from a resident; looking at thewhole scheme, where the entry point in the neighborhood and where it crossesjurisdiction. He said from this he went to the Bridlewood HOA to get their support andalong those lines since it crosses over to Saddle Oaks he went and gave it to them forconsideration because of the whole continuity of the area. He said they came back andsaid what if they do not want it what happens. He said they would set a point where thetwo subdivision break and there will be 25 mph on one side and 30 mph on the other.They went out and came back and said yes. He said if the other subdivisions are okaywith it, we are okay with it. He said once he got the Bridlewood endorsement he put it alltogether and into a motion and came here tonight.

Commissioner Harris asked for help understanding the speed study; says RemingtonPark as an example, the vast majority is happy driving 30 mph plus or minus, that is whatthey are doing today and would probably drive faster if the speed limit was higher, theyjust do not get pulled over.

Mr. Hotelling said he could not say how fast they would drive. He thinks they would drivewhat they are driving today, on the south end if changed it to 25 mph; the speed willprobably change a little bit. It probably go down a bit but the 85th percentile speed willbe somewhere near 30 mph.

Commissioner Schreiber said with two Commissioners living in Bridlewood he is notconfident how much due diligence they did before they told you they were in favor of it.He said again if a homeowner brings this up and then you are required to go to thehomeowners association, he thinks they need to set some standards for what type ofdiligence the homeowner’s association does before they just automatically tell you thatwill be okay with us.

Chairman Mike Walker said he did not know what process was followed by Bridlewood.They have a board meeting, a vote, a motion and they will come forward and say theHOA board supports or does not support. They support it but what we do not know is didthey do an email or go door to door. He said you do not ask for that when they comeforward as Mr. Hotelling said he goes directly to the HOA and the HOA operates onbehalf of the resident verse how many people vote.

Mr. Hotelling said there is another area of town that was somewhat similar to Bridlewood


where a resident came in and wanted their street changed. She went to them and she reported back to him that they were making her go out and get 51% of the residentsbefore they will endorse it. He said, did they do that here? He does not know.

Chairman Mike Walker said they do not have the benefit of the process that was followedby Bridlewood. He said you just know the HOA Board is endorsing the speed change.

Mr. Hotelling said he did remind them about the meeting tonight. He said he had toldthem about it earlier and the reminder went out late so that is probably why they are nothere.

Commissioner Schreiber asked Mr. Hotelling what kind of documentation they sent himin supporting their endorsement of request.

Mr. Hotelling said he got an email back saying they were in favor.

Commissioner Mowles asked what were the other three accidents.

Mr. Hotelling said one was a DUI; one was evading police and one driving inattentively.

Commissioner Harris said he thinks it not good when there is not a representative herespeaking for this concerns him.

Mr. Hotelling said part of that is his fault for giving them a late reminder.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said he had a procedural question, is it possible for us totable this for a future meeting and hopefully representations from the HOA would behere at a future meeting so they could explain what the process was to get theendorsement from residents of Bridlewood.

Chairman Mike Walker said that could happen with the understanding that we get someform of head count on the level of support from the HOA.

Mr. Hotelling said what you are asking him to ask the HOA to do is go out and go door todoor and get everyone’s vote.

Chairman Mike Walker said we need them to make an effort attempt to obtain some typeof vote count.

Mr. Hotelling said but not to tell them how to do it.

Chairman Mike Walker said in Bridlewood they use email to contact the HOA members.He said that the method to be used was for them to decide but he said what he is hearingare we want to know how many individual residents are supporting this, to get somedegree of a census. It would be good to know if 51% of the people think it is a good idea.

Mr. Hotelling asked whether the vote count should be people, individual residents, andhomes.

Chairman Mike Walker said the HOA typically goes by lot. There are 1300 lots inBridlewood. It is usually on a per lot basis. That would give everybody a sense ofvolume of whose in favor or not favor. The fact that no one is here tonight is an


indication of support since Bridlewood tends to come out on issues.

Commissioner Stoelting asked in cases like this do the HOA have any expense, just arequest and town has all the expense.

Mr. Hotelling said correct.

Commission Stoelting said he just wanted to know if the HOA wanted to change this Butif you ask if they are willing to pay for it, that changed people’s decisions whether theyreally want it or not. If they actually have to do something about it oppose to sure ifsomebody else has to pay for it I am for it.

Mr. Hotelling said the cost will belong to the Town.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said the one thing he noticed, which is interestingbetween the pace speed and 85th percentile, it looks like the fast section is where people are driving fastest between Remington Park Court and Liberty. That is a veryshort stretch of road there.

Mr. Hotelling said but they are traveling down hill.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said coming down hill there might be a simple solutionsuch as some traffic calming device rather than speed limit reduction.

Mr. Hotelling said the 85th percentile speed is not high enough to get into the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker made a motion that they table this exception request to afuture meeting.

Commissioner Harris said he seconded.

Chairman Mike Walker said okay if you table, it needs to be to our next meeting date.He asked if we knew when that was going to be at this point.

Mr. Hotelling said he believed there is going to be a December meeting.

Chairman Mike Walker said okay let us table it to our December meeting, which istypically the 2nd Tuesday.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker made a motion to table the exception request for the SaddleOaks/Portion of Bridlewood subdivision to allow for a permanent speed limit change to 25 mphfor areas outside of the ¼ mile boundary of a school or major construction project to be changedto 25 mph. A second exception request to make those streets that are currently within a ¼ mileboundary of FM 1171 a permanent speed limit reduction. These exceptions combined willaccount for all streets within the Saddle Oaks subdivision and a portion of the Bridlewoodsubdivision to be posted at 25 mph to the December meeting and Commissioner Harrisseconded the motion.

VOTE ON THE MOTION

AYES: Commissioner Ehlers


Commissioner Stoelting Commissioner Harris Vice Chairman Thomas WalkerCommissioner Schreiber Commissioner Mowles

NAYES: None

ABSTAIN: None

Chairman Mike Walker said the only thing left is future calendar.

Mr. Parr said we will have a December meeting and at least one agenda item.

Commissioner Harris asked Chairman Walker if it was proper he would like to bring up afuture agenda item which is related to the 25 mph issue in terms of creating a higherhurdle for the request to come to the Town and do all the work they do to even bring it tothe Transportation Commission.

Chairman Mike Walker said so the existing criteria used, you would like to revisit thatcriteria.

Commission Harris said right now the criteria is someone makes a phone call or sendsemail to Mr. Hotelling. He said yes he believes it needs to be a higher hurdle than that.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there were any comments. He said again this would bea potential change to the existing policy that Town Council that is what he is hearing orat least the criteria. That the criteria here are too low.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said if there is a threshold per se other than sending anemail. He said he thought it was a good idea and should come to the next session onthe agenda with a draft for the new criteria for discussion rather than 9 people sittingaround discussing what they think it should be.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if the staff wanted to respond. He said what this requiresis to have it become an agenda item and it would be discussed. At that point theTransportation Commission would ask staff to give a history of how we got to the criteriaand they would visit as to whether they think it was still valid or portions there of. Heasked Mr. Parr if that was fair enough.

Mr. Parr answered that was fair enough and they would put something together for an agenda item. Basically revisit the policy and you might want to tweak the requirementsnecessary to bring it forward with a request.

Chairman Mike Walker said it was timely since we have new membership. He said let usrevisit and tweak.

Commissioner Harris asked if it would be fair to ask staff to provide a suggestion in thatregard rather than have the Transportation Commission brainstorm issue.

Chairman Mike Walker said yes, if there is anything in the criteria that we have in front of


us now you feel we need to revisit we welcome that.

Mr. Parr said it appears to him the main concern is how many of the resident affected isreally interested in favor of reducing the speed limit.

Chairman Mike Walker said that and we are also concern about the speed thresholds.

Commissioner Harris said his personal feeling is he does not see why the entire Town ofFlower Mound needs to go to 25 mph, there has to be a reason, safety or otherwise. Hesaid most of the time it is not justified in a way he can understand it.

Commissioner Stoelting said they need some kind of criteria so they are not spendingsignificant amount of money for requests from one or two people when it is really notmajority of the community making a request that requires Mr. Hotelling to spend his timeto complete the traffic counts and everything else. He said he understands there has tobe some criteria other than someone sending an email that says the speed limit needs tobe looked at.

Chairman Mike Walker said he did not think that has really happened. He said if he sentan email saying please lower the speed limit you would go out and start a study withouthaving seen how deep this request is.

Commissioner Stoelting said he guess he is new and needs to back up a step tounderstand. He said he lost a little bit about at ¼ mile in that section. He said this is anarea that can be reduced by law because it is that criteria, correct?

Mr. Hotelling said the state law allows municipalities to lower speed limits to 25 mph.Now part of the law you had to define what was unreasonable and unsafe, and a part ofthe law you had to declare it was unreasonable or unsafe. So back in December 2006,the Town of Flower Mound defined what was unreasonable and unsafe and they looked at where they found a lot of traffic problems which are near schools and a major streetconstruction project. So in order to come up with a definition for unreasonable andunsafe they came up with the ¼ mile boundary where you find a high density of activityaround the schools or construction projects. That was how they defined unreasonableand unsafe. He said until June 2010 there was not an exception process, if there wasone street that came into a subdivision and touched the ¼ mile and all the other streetswere outside that boundary, they were not eligible for the 25 mph. When it came back tothe Transportation Commission in 2010 to look at the policy there was a lot ofdiscussion, if you want to go back and look at that meeting there were four differentmotions on what they should do, but what was approved was a recommendation to havean exception process to see where these gaps were. Before, it was not implemented ona subdivision basis but a street by street basis. You would have people wondering whatspeed limits were within a subdivision and a lot of different speed limit signs. At thatpoint we started the exemption process and ever since we have tried to do it bysubdivision. In this case that ¼ mile boundary does not capture the whole area of thesubdivision so that is why we came through with this exception request. If the wholesubdivision was in that ¼ mile boundary, it would not have come before theTransportation Commission because they would not be a need for the exceptionprocess. He said if he goes back to the HOA and they truly want to push forward and notwait to December, they may request that we make all the streets in the ¼ mile boundaryand go ahead a change them and then the ones on the outside come back for theexception. This is kind of the history of it. Usually it is someone, one resident that has


talked to many people or one resident who lives on one of these streets that has thehigher volume of traffic that sees the issue and calls it in. He said if you call it in and havea location he would look at the map to see if it meets the boundary and you can make thesubdivision as a whole meet the criteria he would move forward and lower that speedlimit after he gets the endorsement of the HOA.

Chairman Mike Walker said while Mr. Hotelling was talking he went and pulled up theattachment to the staff report and it is generic and says neighborhood contacts staff.Then staff establishes a point of contact for request. Staff reviews request anddetermines eligibility. He said that is where some of the Commissioners feel it is anillegitimate request.

Mr. Hotelling said determines eligibility means whether or not it is within that ¼ mileboundary.

Mr. Parr said it appears the issue with the Commission is documentation to determinethe neighborhood is in favor of it, not really the whole issue with the policy. He said Mr.Hotelling did a great job giving the history there what drove the original ¼ mile issue,also being adjacent to a construction area, and what drives the exceptions. A lot of theexception is when the ¼ mile takes in all the streets in the neighborhood except one, itdoes not make sense for one street to be hanging out there and remain 30 mph while therest are 25 mph. Mr. Parr said to get direction would the agenda item be addressing therequirement of documentation of support for that request.

Commissioner Harris said he initiated the conversation and yes he would like to seedocumentation that gets the process started that threshold we talked about but it isbigger than that. He said you mentioned Mustang Drive and that could be true. Youmight want to do a traffic study, if that is the case it is probably not a speed limit issue, itis an enforcement issue. He said if they are driving 45 mph or 50 mph down that 100yard stretch of road, he is not sure the speed limit in the entire subdivision needs to bechanged to 25 mph. He needs to notify the Police Department, there is an enforcementissue. He asked if that was not a separate issue.

Mr. Parr answered it is but there was still a need that was brought up by a pastCommission to have a policy, an exception to the ¼ mile rule based upon the informationpresented. He said using Mustang as an example and if you think that the entiresubdivision being should not be reduced to 25 mph, then you deny the request if that iswhat you want to do. Mr. Parr said; going back to the main issue it appears that this wasbrought up previously and this time is the vast majority of the residents affected wantingit reduced. He said the other issue cannot be cut and dry and that is why it is going tocome before you and you are going to grant it or not by weighing all the informationpresented to you by staff and whoever made the request and make a decision. If you donot agree with it, do not approve it. He said it appears to him the issue they may want toaddress is just to expand on the type of documentation you want before you want to helpyou determine if it is a legitimate request.

Commissioner Schreiber that in the time he has been on the Commission that with all therequests that have come through he could only remember one time anyone from aneighborhood actually came and spoke to them at the hearing, telling them what theirthoughts were. He said part of the reason they are struggling with the request is that they do not have any documentation from the neighborhood or people on the streetmaking the request and then when the issue becomes before the Commission you would


think if the majority residents are passionate about the request, you would have somepeople speak up.

Mr. Parr said it appears to him the very least you want is some type of petition circulatedby the HOA requesting each resident to vote whether they want it or not. That way youcan see that each resident was approached, they voted and you would have a vote countwhether they show up for the public meeting or not. He said he is just throwing that outso when we have it as an agenda item you can give specific direction as the type ofdocumentation you want in lieu of the HOA showing up and saying we canvassedeverybody and the consensus is we want this. If that is not what you want you need tobe more specific.

Chairman Mike Walker said what he is hearing is that it is odd the applicant is not here.The applicant in this case being Saddle Oaks/Bridlewood. If someone was here youcould ask them whether the process was a petition, email, etc.

Mr. Hotelling asked what they would like to see if there is not HOA. A Town survey ofthe residents in the area to determine support.

Chairman Mike Walker said if they had a resident from Bridlewood and Saddle Oaks infront of them this evening to answered the Commission questions, we wouldprobablymove on this. The other issue is how we determine validation of the request.

Mr. Parr said the Transportation Commission has given them direction and they will puttogether an agenda item for the next meeting.

Chairman Mike Walker said that would be fine.

Commissioner Schreiber asked Mr. Parr if he could suggest one other thing. He knowsthe Town is in the process of doing a Town wide traffic count studies and if he could givean update on where that whole project stands and when they might be able to see someof the results from that.

Mr. Parr said he would let Mr. Hotelling answer that question.

Mr. Hotelling said the traffic counts are complete and the traffic counts map should be onthe web within the next week.

Commissioner Schreiber asked Mr. Hotelling if he could go through that for them at thenext meeting, familiarize them with the information and how it compares to the last studywhich would have been a couple of years ago.

Mr. Hotelling said the last count was in 2007.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there was anything else from the Commission side.

Councilmember Lyda said they have been watching the election results. He said earlyvoting totals that came in right at 7:00 showed 70% of the people were in favor ofrenewing the dedicated sales tax. He said we will wait to see what the final results are.

J. ADJOURNMENT – REGULAR SESSION


Chairman Mike adjourned the meeting at 8:56 PM.

K. CALL WORK SESSION TO ORDER

L. WORK SESSION ITEMS

1. Presentation on the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA by Jim Rob inson, the Town of Flower Mound DCTA Board Member.

Chairman Mike Walker introduced Jim Robinson, the Town of Flower Mound DCTAmember.

Mr. Robinson gave a presentation on the DCTA and the progress that has been madeover the past few years and recently the DCTA “A” train from Denton to North Carrollton.He introduced Jim Cline who joined DCTA March 1, 2010 to lead the DCTA.

Mr. Cline gave a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Public Works office) in the DCTAshowing an overview of where they are now, where they go from here, why they do whatthey do. He spoke about the A-train project, A-train ridership, annual bus ridership, A-train vehicle procurement, future capital and operating priorities, the service plan update,long-range planning priorities, future challenges, and why they must continue to do whatthey do. He asked if there were any questions.

Chairman Mike Walker said he had one question as to how the ridership has been actualverses planned.

Mr. Cline answered they planned 2,700 a day and they are at about 2,500 and got up to1,900 during the fair. He said they have been in service about 3 months and are trying toget the habit of people trying it and will continue to work on that.

Chairman Mike Walker asked what are the most active stations on the route.

Mr. Cline answered that the north and south stations are the most active followed by midpark.

Chairman Mike Walker said that we were out here on the TV, locally FMTV and just forgeneral information to the public, if you are a resident of Flower Mound and you want totake advantage of the train, is Lewisville the closest train stop for Flower Moundresidents.

Mr. Cline said yes. To get to the Station from Town Hall you would go east on FM 1171to Main Street and the Old Town Station in Lewisville.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there was parking down at the Station.

Mr. Cline said there is parking down at the station and there are bigger parking lots atHebron Station which is on FM 3040. He said that the resident on the south side wouldprobably find it easier to use the Hebron Station.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if the residents do not want to drive is bus service to thestation. He stated he was aware of a shuttle service for North Central Texas College


(NCTC) students.

Mr. Cline said that was a contract with NCTC for student shuttle service. But, he saidthere was not any complimentary system for citizens. He said they do not provide anyregular service in Flower Mound at this time and it has to do with the sales tax and how itfits together.

Chairman Mike Walker said that one of the items on the Transportation Commissionthings to do, we had a strategy session at the beginning of last term, the whole idea ofaccess and utilization of public transportation is on that list. He said they are verysensitive to it. We are lucky enough we can talk about it but do not have to pay for it.But times change and we would like to keep it on our list.

Mr. Cline said that with the new legislation this year there are opportunities to participatefor communities that do not have sales tax capacity. So those opportunities exist outthere. He said one of the things they have done in their organization is when an entitywants higher level of service or new service they are very business oriented in that way.They are open to testing the waters to see if that would make sense. That would be onething they would be happy to meet with you on and talk to you at your convenience,come back when you would like them to.

Chairman Mike Walker said he knew of a person who took advantage of it to go to thestate fair but did not think they realized until they had read something that you hadaccess to the state fair. They went up to Lewisville and integrated with Dallas AreaRapid Transit (DART) and it was a pleasant experience. They did not have to worryabout parking down there.

Mr. Cline said it was a good thing and we find when people give it a shot, they like it. Hesaid they encourage them to ride the A-train and they would be happy to help them withthat anytime they like.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if there were any comments or questions. He thenthanked Mr. Robinson and Mr. Cline for coming and bringing the TransportationCommission up to date on DCTA and wished them luck on future plans.

2. Discussion and feedback relating to guidance on the TransportationCommission’s role on regional transportation projects.

Chairman Mike Walker said Mr. Hotelling has taken the lead on this. He said again forsome of the newer members this was the result of the initial planning strategy sessionwe had last year, where we had to come up with suggested work topics to submit toTown Council. One of them was how we can expand the services of the TransportationCommission to assist Town Council with what we call regional transportation mattersoutside the actual physical body of Flower Mound.

Mr. Hotelling said that back in January we came up with our list of topics we wanted towork through this year and one was to get some guidance on TransportationCommission role on regional transportation projects. He said the Town Council gavetheir okay to go ahead and work on these projects. What we are doing here tonight isget feedback from the Transportation Commission on what they have in mind as to whattheir goal is on this topic. Once we get the Transportation Commission’s feedback wewill put together a Council Communication and go forward in December to get the formal


guidance from Town Council. Mr. Hotelling went over the potential items for regionalinvolvement and staff involvement. He asked for the Transportations Commission’sfeedback and ideas to move this forward and get it up to Town Council for theirguidance.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if any Commissioners had comments.

Commissioner Schreiber said he has attended a couple of different things Council ofGovernments (COG) has put on and those have been good meetings. He said one thingthat would be important and the Transportation Commission would have to decide ifthere was going to be a formal appointment for people to go to specific meetings. Hesaid he would be interested in knowing when a meeting is taking place for these differentorganizations Mr. Hotelling could identify them and the degree some or all of us areavailable to attend without running into any quorum issue. Perhaps we could justinformally attend. He said he knew the Precinct 3 are very interesting, not only do theycover what is going on in Flower Mound but also the sister cities, so you get an idea ofthe interactivity of the road projects in our town and the other towns. He said he wouldencourage the other Commissioners to attend those if they had a chance. He said hewould be interested when these other meetings are going on and if they were open for usto attend. If we could do that informally that would be fine.

Mr. Hotelling said he did not think that was a problem. He said they get fliers from theCouncil on Governments time to time that spell out dates and the topics are veryregional with a wide scope.

Chairman Mike Walker said he thinks if they are aware of the meetings that Mr. Hotellingfeels are relevant and could have a sign up process by email. He said CommissionerMcIntire mentioned he has time and would participate and these are ways we could helpthe staff. He said he does think if you could attend a meeting to show we do have aninterest. He said that if they do attend a meeting to come back and give an update,handouts and when we do our board announcements on our agenda give a quickoverview of whatever you did and how it went good and bad, lessons learned and thatsort of thing. He said it was a time commitment.

Mr. Hotelling said some of the meetings are in the middle of the afternoon.

Commissioner McIntire asked if feedback from those meetings was something thatneeded to be put on the agenda.

Chairman Mike Walker said if you just go and sit in the back of the room and take notes,there is no requirement now, but if you had a potential quorum problem, that is typically ifthere is something being discussed and asked for interpretation on that but if you areattending a general meeting and taking notes typically the quorum requirements are notas stringent on that.

Mr. Hotelling asked Commissioner McIntire if his question was did we need to have itformally posted on our agenda for you to talk about it.

Commissioner McIntire answers yes, like last time we met we went through the Robert’sRule of Order and everything had to be posted in advance.

Chairman Mike Walker said the Transportation Commission was a little hybrid in that


they do not have as many public hearings where you have more stringent controls onnotice and that type of thing. He said we have some of it but for you to attend likePrecinct 3 meetings, they are a monthly event and staff goes and representatives fromthe Transportation Commission can go and listen, you are not an active participant youare really in the audience.

Commissioner Harris said one thing that at the first part of the agenda, we have achance for board member announcements and you could use that if you are just fillingpeople in of what you learned somewhere else.

Mr. Hotelling said that if you are going to fill someone in on what you did or what youleaned that is one thing but if you have leaned something at a meeting you attended andcome back wanting some type of action taken on it, which is a different thing. That hasto be placed on the agenda and posted.

Chairman Mike Walker agreed with Mr. Hotelling as it requires an action verseinformation being provided.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked Mr. Hotelling in his opinion which of thesemeetings is the most valuable or beneficial to the Transportation Commission.

Mr. Hotelling answered you really do learn a lot from the COG public meetings. He saidthe Surface Transportation Technical Committee (STTC) and Regional TransportationCouncil (RTC) meetings a lot talked about are a briefing of what happened at the publicmeetings. He said they are not as beneficial, they are great knowledge and it is a greatmeeting. He asked Mr. Parr to explain the benefits of the Precinct 3 meetings.

Mr. Parr said he agreed with Commissions Schreiber and Chairman Mike Walker that itis a very beneficial meeting because they give us a summary of ongoing TxDOTprojects. But they also give a summary of on going Flower Mound, Lewisville, andHighland Village projects that have county money involved in the project. So you get afeeling of not only what TxDOT is up to but also what is going on in the adjacentcommunities. He said it is very informative for anyone who would like to attend. He saidyou are only there for the noon hour, they run through the information very quickly, thereis a handout to refer to and it has more summary to it than is covered in the meeting.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker said for the purpose of asking the question it sounds likeit would be a valuable meeting for every member of this Commission, rather than leavingit up to a sign up sheet he would like the Commission to rotate it through so everybodyhas an opportunity to participate and get something out of that meeting.

Mr. Parr said that Vice Chairman is making a very good point. He said that if you areinterested in going is to rotate through it. He said someone mentioned Flower Mounddominates the meeting.

We use to dominate it more than we do now. The number of Flower Mound peopleattending is now about a third of what it was when he got here in 2001 because we hadsuch huge presence in the meeting. So if you are interested in going to get a feel forwhat is discussed there he encouraged that maybe two of you at a time go so we do notoverwhelm the meeting with Flower Mound people.

Vice Chairman Thomas Walker asked what time of the day was it held, day or evening.


Mr. Parr answered it was a noon meeting. It is the fourth Tuesday of every month. Hesaid there would not be a meeting in December and January, so the next actual meetingwill occur in February. They rotate from Flower Mound to Lewisville to Highland Village.He said to give a little history Flower Mound initiated it to basically get the TxDOT FM3040 project off dead center. The Town coordinated putting the meetings together andgot the county involved. Originally the meetings were held here and they talked aboutTxDOT projects that affected Flower Mound only. Then Denton County Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell expanded the meeting into a more regional meeting because there weremore TxDOT projects coming up that affected other municipalities other than FlowerMound. So it grew to a true Precinct 3 meeting and that was when rotation from the threemain communities took place.

Commissioner Schreiber said he has not attended the Precinct 4, but as we start to domore work with Canyon Falls and some of the infrastructure projects we got coming online out on US 377 and FM 1171 we might want to attend. Again as a Commissionmember thinks about attending, he assumes that Denton County Commissioner AndyEads has a Precinct 4 meeting every month as well, is that true?

Mr. Parr said yes the meeting is monthly but he has not attended this meeting. He said itis a lot smaller meeting than the Precinct 3 meeting and he thinks Kent Collins andHarlan Jefferson attend and then on a selected, at different periods of time staff is askedto come but with that said he is sure that any member of the Transportation Commissionthat would like to attend would be welcome to attend. He said he would find out whenthey meet and email that information to everybody.

Chairman Mike Walker said for their next step is to endorse what Mr. Hotelling presentedto the Transportation and then draw up a list.

Mr. Hotelling said he did not need anything else other than the feedback from tonight.

Commissioner Harris said he was intrigued with the presentation from DCTA and thereare other options to participate in special use ways other than sales tax based onbusiness propositions they are willing to listen to. He said it was an intriguing concept;we already have them here for the college and how can Flower Mound residents takeadvantage of stations that are just a few miles away without physically driving. He saidhe was just intrigued with the concept of what we can participate in that is practical andmakes sense for Flower Mound residents, that we can afford without a sales taxreferendum. He said that was not specifically brought up by Mr. Hotelling. He askedhow do we bring that up and who would address it.

Chairman Mike Walker asked if he was talking about other alternative sources of fundingfor public transportation that would feed into DCTA.

Commissioner Harris said that was one part of the question, the first part of the questionwas what would Flower Mound residents benefit from and appreciate from tying intoDCTA. Do we even know that at the moment?

Chairman Mike Walker said first thing is there a demand for it and if there some level ofdemand how do we make it happen with financing to avoid a public taxation. Alternatesources of funding.


Commissioner Harris said what he heard mention earlier in the presentation that if ahuge employer came into town and needed a way to tie their employers into the trainstations, they would entertain that. He said it does not certainly mean Town funds butjust opens up a lot of opportunities.

Mr. Hotelling said another thing that goes along with that is one of our other policy topicsthat we had from last January was a Public Transportation Policy. He feels it all fitstogether. We need to get more information about these special provisions that Mr. Clinewas talking about earlier tonight and how all that melds into DCTA and what ever otheroptions we could look into.

Chairman Mike Walker said he is assuming we are going to go over that exercise again.Town Council is going to do a January session.

Councilmember Lyda said that they have mentioned once or twice how they want to proceed forward and come up with values. He said that there is a planning sessionscheduled for January.

Chairman Mike Walker said that Transportation Commission would take a look at theexisting list and get feedback from Town Council and that would be the appropriate timeto re-enter that, finalize it or at least trim it up. He asked if there was anybody else. Heasked Mr. Hotelling if that gave him enough.

Mr. Hotelling said yes.

M. ADJOURNMENT – WORK SESSION

Chairman Mike Walker adjourned the work session and moved back to the regularsession at 8:07 PM.

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