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Safe Routes to School Draft Minutes August 7, 2014 M I N U T E S Safe Routes to School Committee Meeting August 7, 2014 4:00 P.M. The Safe Routes to School Committee met during a regular meeting on August 7, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. at the MPO Office, 100 West Broadway, Farmington, New Mexico. Present: Coordinator: Anngela Wakan MPO & City of Farmington Staff Ofcr. Michele DeLese Fran Fillerup Gary Moore June Markle Duane Wakan Mrs. Wakan called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. Mr. Wakan moved to approve the minutes from the June 12, 2014 meeting. Mr. Moore seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. EDUCATION & ENCOURAGEMENT Mrs. Wakan reported on her radio interview on the Scott Michlin “Morning Program” on the San Juan College Radio station KSJE 90.9. This was a 15-minute spot for SRTS with the Community Health Improvement Council (CHIC). Mrs. Wakan will be making a presentation to the San Juan Safety Communities Initiative (SJSCI) on September 11 to see if they would be willing to partner with SRTS. No actual funding can be provided by SJSCI but Mrs. Wakan is hoping that they would be willing to act as the umbrella 501-3 organization for SRTS. Mrs. Wakan said she had not yet received any information on this year’s Turkey Trot. SCHOOL OPEN HOUSES Mrs. Wakan said most of the open houses at the schools were happening next week and three were even on the same day. MPO Staff and the School Resource Officers (SRO) will help staff SRTS tables during the open houses. There will be information and sign- up sheets for walking school buses, both for students and for those interested in being a walking school bus leader. After the start of school, Mrs. Wakan will be setting up the walking school bus trainings. UPCOMING EVENTS Walking Program Mrs. Wakan will be speaking to the schools about their interest in participating in the walking program for the new school year. McKinley Elementary has already said they were interested in participating again this year. ---PAGE BREAK--- Safe Routes to School Draft Minutes August 7, 2014 Road Apple Rally The Road Apple Rally is on Saturday, October 4 at Lions Wilderness Park and SRTS will host a bike rodeo during the event. Mr. Moore and Mrs. Wakan will set out and mark the course earlier in the week and volunteers from the Sycamore Center will help run the rodeo. International Walk to School Day The International Walk to School Day is October 8 this year. Mrs. Wakan said that due to staff reductions San Juan County would not be able to have McGruff available for the event. Mrs. Wakan still hopes to have Eddie Eagle, Juan Heart, and the Farmington High School Scorpion participate at one of the schools the morning of October 8. ENFORCEMENT: Officer DeLese reported that the SROs were getting ready to be back in the schools for the new school year. Mr. Moore said he had alerted Sgt. Karst that Traffic Engineering had done some repainting on that would change the traffic pattern along that section between Butler and Monterey and would not allow any parking on the south side of the street. Mr. Moore said a letter explaining the changes would be sent out to McKinley Elementary parents and recommended information be provided at their open house. Mr. Moore also thought that having a police presence during the first few days of school would help reinforce the traffic changes on Ofcr. DeLese said the Police Department at one time had used cones at Hermosa Middle School to identify no parking areas and that these had worked well. She recommended the use of cones to designate changes along in front of McKinley Elementary. ENGINEERING: Mr. Moore reported that two Traffic Engineering employees have been working since March on school pavement markings and are just now finishing up. Mr. Moore said the raised crosswalk on Monterey has been completed and said some additional markings would be installed soon to more clearly define the crosswalk. The group discussed the City of Farmington’s speed hump policy. Unless the need for a speed hump can be validated by heavy traffic volumes and high speeds, the City is not willing to install speed humps. The group discussed how the use of speed humps could be appropriate in school zones. Mr. Moore said most of the other scheduled school zone projects had been completed. The only project still in engineering review was the HAWK signal along College Boulevard. EVALUATION: Mr. Fillerup said that the MPO is working on developing their 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) and will be seeking public participation and feedback through upcoming meetings and the MPO website. He encouraged the SRTS group to spread the word about the survey. The survey will include sections on both biking/walking and schools. ---PAGE BREAK--- Safe Routes to School Draft Minutes August 7, 2014 The evening public meetings have been scheduled at various locations around the county on August 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28. Mr. Fillerup encouraged everyone to attend an upcoming meeting close to their home. Student arrival counts were scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, September 16, 17, 18 and 23, 24 and 25. MPO Staff will send out a schedule in the next few weeks for these counts. Additional funding streams were discussed and some remaining SRTS funding still available for August and September of this year. Mrs. Wakan also asked Mr. Moore to check on an additional $800 from last year’s Turkey Trot and some funding from San Juan Regional Medical Center that had been deposited into a separate account. There were no additional concerns or topics for discussion. The schedule for the next few meetings is as follows: - Thursday, September 11 at 3:30 p.m. at Mesa Verde Elementary - Thursday, October 9 at 3:30 p.m. at Animas Elementary - Thursday, November 13 at 3:30 p.m. at McKinley Elementary The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.