Board of Directors Meeting   5/25/2023

Thank you.

Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved.

Ms. Bulova?

Aye.

Mr. Cardwell?

Mr. Hall?

Aye.

Ms. Moses-Nedd?

Aye.

Mr. Payne?

Aye.

Mr. Spore?

Aye.

Thank you, Maristelle.

Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved.

Ms. Bulova?

Mr. Fisette?

Aye.

Mr. Hall?

Aye.

Mr. Spore.

Aye.

Ready for your report?

We'll be signing with them sometime between now and the end of June before our agreement expires.

So any questions on that?

The highways aren't getting any less congested, so we feel like we're in a real good place on ridership.

That's really good news.

Any questions for me?

what it sounds like.

So if you get to Richmond and you're on time, but only three people get off and you're late to Ashland and 100 people get off, it adequately tracks how many people get to the station.

I don't know where you're looking, but...

So 64% of the stations, if you added up all the trips, trips a day.

You know, we harp on this all the time and I get the freight, you know, that you're not in control of it all, which hopefully when we get more tracks and those numbers get to be really reliable, like in the 90s, you know, because 60%, meaning it's only 15 minutes late, it's just, it's just not very good.

Okay, I'm going to turn it to Mike on capital project updates.

It's not like a protest.

I mean... Something hits the bridge that's not supposed to hit the bridge.

Okay, I'm glad I asked.

So anytime a car or anything runs into either side of that bridge, you've got to stop traffic and run out and check.

So with that, hand over to Steve.

Maybe July.

Now there's a lot more rail programs, so they're trying to ramp up, and so their CRISI, as expected, their CRISI awards are expected in late summer, early fall.

We have some big deadlines coming up in August and that is, I think the last number was actually slightly over a billion dollar request that we're putting in there, but it's a very long process to get there.

Beyond Phase 1 and 2, we can do more in Phase 3 and 4 to get that dedicated third track to Spotsylvania for instance, so every dollar matters.

Unity's and special interest groups to write letters of support for our grant applications which are also very helpful.

We talk about grants as much as we talk about anything else because we know that's going to help us continue moving forward.

And all of these, is VPRA the sole applicant or are some of them partnering with another entity?

These, we are the leads.

And so we've seen support from the congressional delegations in North Carolina and Maryland advocating on behalf of what's a VPRA application, but it really is seen as a much broader project than just VPRA.

A corner pin of that is working with VRE because it's their capacity that we have to expand.

Without VRE, VPRA is not eligible for that grant.

Any of us would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Next slide on the agenda is an update on Western Rail Initiative in the New River Valley.

And then I'll turn it over to Mike and we'll probably tag team because I've run before.

Right now in our budget, I will feel a lot more comfortable about them when geotech is done when we get to 30% design, which we plan to do by the end of the year.

Sure, trains run through it, but you get coal stuck in a tunnel, it's very different than getting 300 people stuck in a tunnel, and we're just not going to take risks.

Safety is the utmost of our mind, and I think we'll all feel better if the improvements are made to the tunnels.

You've got a mile-long tunnel of ventilation, especially when you're present running.

That's a significant amount of rock cut.

We just, we've got to get all that information.

but that is a southwest curve to get down to the mall, the connecting track, if you will.

Mike, before you move off of that, I think the other thing that's important to mention is where that track is relative to housing and, you know, this is a very developed area and so that work's going to happen while the pictures that you had on the previous slide don't show it, just on the other side of that hill, people live there.

Yeah, so when you have 30, 35,000 dump trucks out there, those are loud.

I mean, I don't understand.

I mean, it's very sensitive work.

as DJ and I and a lot of us do, Jerry DeBruhl as well.

So they've done a real good job of working with Kevin Bird and the folks at the authority down there to make sure that there are no surprises.

And I think that's to the credit of Mike and, and the, uh, the whole team, Mike, DJ and the whole team here at VPRX.

Sorry.

Mr. President.

You're never going to get everybody happy, but it's really, I appreciate what you're saying because those meetings are really important for the long haul.

And we're going to take the time to make sure we do it right.

Those property owners there right now, the value goes up.

We're not going to make everyone happy, but we're working very hard not to surprise him.

Go ahead.

The layover facility, is it under a roof?

But this would not be a large site.

So there's just mainly ancillary structure?

between peoples and to a side.

But again, the benefits of this are it's still close to the mall facility and could possibly provide a temporary site if we so determined.

That's a risk as well that could hit us on the schedule.

Things like, places like tunnels.

In the woods right on the north corner of where that site is on both sides of the tunnel.

I have another question.

I don't always.

Quite frequently the trains just sit out and just... Are they locked?

Somebody could walk up to them.

There are some that do.

Is there a way to advance the concept of trains and commuting and enjoying trains by making it more accessible, putting it in a place where it actually attracts people to look at it or touch it?

So that awareness is important.

from everywhere, so I'll leave you with that.

to an area that is not monitored.

They would park the trains at those terminal stations and let folks tour the trains.

At all of our county fairs, we'd bring out the big trucks, you know, so kids can sit behind the steering wheel and wander around and touch it and that kind of thing.

I don't know, I spend a lot of time in Ashland and the trains are a very integral part of the community in Ashland.

So maybe a consideration.

And, you know, is there a point at which we would drop this project?

And that's exactly the right one.

So what percent have we accomplished or have we?

We're at five percent.

We're at five percent.

And we'll be at 30 by the end of the year.

Six months or so as we get to 30% and come back to this body to make some decisions about how we achieve that.

Or both tunnels?

It's the tunnel that you saw in the picture.

And then the Cinnabar site is just to the east of the Merrimack Tunnel.

Is there a bus service like there used to be Roanoke to Lynchburg?

It is public transportation provided by Valley Metro that does connect to the train.

It does.

But yes, we do have state supported intercity bus service out of Blacksburg and Christiansburg that goes to Washington Union Station.

So these two tunnels are where the bats are?

We know they're around Merrimack.

And I'll tell you, Morgan Griffith is an expert on these bats, so you might want to have a conversation with him.

Looks like we were there first.

They're like squatters once they come in and take over.

It's a great delegation, Morgan, represented Morgan Griffith's band to a multiple of much good actors.

Ask him about the bats when you got him.

I gotta say DJ and Director DeBruhl do a great job tag teaming and I'll reach out to that person to reach out to that person and they divvied that up earlier this week and we let some key folks know that this presentation was being given.

It is an issue that we're going to have to work our way through at some point in time.

It will be helpful for us to get that input from you.

FY24 Budgets.

We also started to implement a new project methodology that incorporated the idea of getting a 30% design before we adopt a full cost number into our capital budget.

And then the third item that we

I'm going to hand it over now to Shannon to take you through all the numbers.

We're going to complete 30% design, have that informed cost estimate, but pause for the time being.

But we'll keep, again, doing that 30% design in case opportunities arise.

But we don't think that we would be including it in our program.

So the financial landscape, if we got a lot of federal dollars, we could potentially bring it back in, and we could kind of pull that forward in the timeline, but it just really depends on what the total funding picture looks like, and we'll know a lot more in the near future, but it is, it's getting that important cost estimate, so if we get the funding and it's available, we can bring it in.

So we will add that to the project portfolio.

So we have to widen our view.

So it's getting that information and making more well-informed decisions is what we're trying to do.

It provides more clarity.

We need to stop, we need to get more consistent about getting good data before we do.

or it makes me think of the old six-year plans that were just a wish list that were so difficult because people thought something was going to happen that could never happen.

Is this remote reality?

And then the public understands that, that it's a wish list if we can make it happen.

Until we have good numbers, we're finding it's irresponsible to make those time.

That's why it's green.

Now we're not.

So if there are no questions, we'll ask the board to address the FY24 VPRA budget.

So questions for Mr. Pitter and Janet, go ahead.

Is there a definition of eligible uses or how this is processed?

Between now and December, working with the Finance Committee, we want to come back and put a lot more definition around it.

Absolutely, positively, money for this board to allocate.

That would probably, unless there's something wrong with the language.

So, you know, kudos to the staff for putting this together.

And I think you do have a motion and a second right now.

Yeah.

Thank you for keeping me on track.

Madam Chair, can you make a motion please?

Catch it as best you could, I'll fill in.

It was to target the amounts or consider the amounts that the management reserve would be.

Okay.

And then to bring it back here, do we want to add bring it back here at the next?

I appreciate that that was kind of what was intended anyway, but I think it's helpful to lay it out a little bit.

August or the December?

So we don't want to belabor this any longer.

So they go into a category that's

So I think that's sooner rather than later.

Edward, you always have to bring something up, don't you?

And the other thing I do want to say, too, to all the board members is all the finance committee meetings are open to all the board.

I would like to keep August.

OK.

Calendars are hard, but we will make sure it gets done.

You would want to prioritize before we...

Right.

Ms. Bulova?

Mr. Delandro?

Aye.

Mr. Hall?

Aye.

Mr. Payne?

Aye.

Mr. Spore?

Aye.

Thank you.

Why is it so volatile?

I say it as it's coming out of my mouth, but I have confidence from Roger Harris, who's the president, that this will get done and we'll work through it.

I guess it's just an example of, you know, will it take a year or two through a bureaucracy to get it done, or can we remove it from the high risk and make it a clear part of the budget, which just seems to me that this is a great example of if we want to move rail across the United States, Amtrak and VPRA need to be able to problem solve something as simple as, quote, simple as that pretty quickly.

We've been at it for about 18 months, so yes.

Understood.

A significant one and that is to approve the fiscal year 24 budget.

Second.

Mayor Snell, can you call the roll?

Does the statute require us to adopt, are we allowed to adopt a budget that has not been approved by the CTB?

The action taken by the CTB in March fulfills the legislative requirement.

That's a really, that was a key because these are modest and I have no problem with the changes, but I just wanted to make sure we were consistent with the statute.

So they're not approving the entire budget, but we've kind of batted that, we've had that conversation here quite a bit ourselves, but we have fulfilled the intent of the statute.

So we think we're consistent legally, okay, fine.

Any further discussion?

What is significant here is long-term, the very integrity, reputation, brand, whatever you want to call it, confidence in this agency, in this authority, are riding on these adjustments, and I totally support them.

Aye.

Mr. Cardwell?

Aye.

Mr. Delandro?

Aye.

Mr. Fisette?

Aye.

Mr. Hall?

Aye.

Mr. Payne?

Aye.

Mr. Spore?

You know, for somebody who was late and doesn't like to be late, recovered nicely today.

Back on track.

All right, so can I get a motion to go into closed session, please?

So second.

All right, Mary Stell.

Mr. Cardwell.

Aye.

Mr. Delandro.

Aye.

Mr. Hall.

Aye.

Mr. Payne.

Aye.

Mr. Spore.

1 o'clock and we will see everybody else.

as we know now.

We are looking for a short list in June of June 21st, and then we'll go on to the next phase, doing the RFP release, and then they'll do their proposals,

Jason.

As we look at this slide, this visualization that we have.

Now driving up... Chinese hackers and focusing on infrastructure...

and then we would just advertise it as like a design big bill.

Ten percent of what?

Ten percent, so say the contractor is up here and our ice is down here, if that's not ten percent, that difference.

Of the independent sort of assessor?

It's not like this contract structure where the designer works for the contractor.

When do you get a firm price?

You would have the same kind of off-ramp, where if you couldn't get within that 10%, you would do the off-ramp and just complete the design and do design-bid-build.

I did mention seeing what you've seen, talking about Franconia Bypass earlier, and I think that maybe the next board will be helpful.

That's how you get that price element involved in the selection.

I love that our engineers always call them challenges rather than... We can actually have it free for construction.

in the evening and night as it is during the day.

I'm sorry, Director Moses-Nedd.

And once again, I mean, I know everybody, nobody wants to risk it, but encouraging, re-encouraging that that work from home model, which works so well for traffic, among other things.

I think someone else could answer that.

I don't think we're going to prescribe solutions.

So in order to get the word out, it will be agencies, companies getting it out to their employees.

You'd be missing a whole lot of people that travel there every day.

I'm looking at that and I'm like, wow, that's going to be great, but going to be is a long haul in between.

You've got to do that all the time, right?

We are looking to see that.

Because, I mean, how is that going to impact your 30% on, I know we're going to do this project, we have to, but is it going to make you just have to hold back on committing to other projects?

To me, the 30% number is, it's not a perfect number, so it's a really good guidepost, and I think that's, stick with that, and then...

Okay, even on this one?

So can we expect that it will be the exact same?

This is going to be a huge moment.

Director Drake, you're getting at what I was saying earlier about when we talked about this reserve, it has to be a holistic view.

OK, the reserve.

OK, that you're right, I'd forgotten about the reserve.

Thank you.

And then hopefully we get to phase two with this contractor where they would complete the design and then do the construction for the price that was negotiated in this part of phase one.

They come in within 10% but you're not really crazy about them the way it's worked out?

No.

You have to take them.

By the contract?

I think our attorney should answer the question.

move into phase two if they're within 10%?

You know, the details aren't on the page just yet.

You'd get, the contractor would probably sue you, wouldn't he?

If you reach the agreement.

What options you retain.

A reason could be something other than price.

Any further questions?

All right, thank you so much.

and Barry.

So those are the top reasons for VRE's performance dipping.

on time on Friday, and other than getting kicked out of the quiet car for being a little too loud, it was, it should come as no surprise.

It's my mistake for getting in the wrong car.

Kudos to VRE, and I'm going out with Rich and the team next week to have a little more detailed tour, but.