As we gear up for the 20th Annual Meeting/Strategic Session of SARPC we

have eleven (11) new Mayors in our three county region. 

To date we have  80 local elected officials and others registered for this important meeting.   "REGIONALISM- For a Better Future" is our conference theme and we look  forward to seeing many of you on December 8th and 9th.  

Thanks!

John F." Rickey" Rhodes

20th ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA

We have Six Members to the Mobile Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board

Mayor Thomas Williams; City Satsuma

Mayor Jimmie Gardner; City of Prichard

Mayor David Baker; City of Semmes

Mayor Terry Downey; City of Bayou La Batre

Mayor William Criswell; Town of Creola

Mr. Bryan Kegley, PE, (County Engineer's Office)

 

There will be an Mobile MPO Meeting on November 30th, 2016

Some of the items on the agenda for the MPO meeting on November 30th include the CMP (below), and the TAP (below). Also on the agenda are some minor amendments to the 2016-2019 Transportation Improvement Program:

 

National Highway Funds

100060153 SR-158 Extension from .5 mile east of Glenwood Road to west of Lott Road move out of TIP from 2019 to 2020; $18,077,373

100066178  Resurfacing of SR-42 (US-98) from the Mississippi State Line to Snow Road;  4/28/2017; $3,391,091.00

 

Bridge Funds

100064691 PE Replace Bridge on SR16 (US90) westbound over Tensaw -Spanish River; $707,000; 11/1/2016

 

Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting

The Mobile MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) met this past  Wednesday. Elections were held and Mr. Jeff DeQuattro was elected as the new chairperson and Mr. Hanlon Walsh was elected as the vice chairperson. We would like to thank these gentlemen for stepping up and taking on this responsibility. We would also like to thank Mr. John Blanton for his previous service as the BPAC chairperson. The changes to the Mobile MPO's Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grants were discussed. The meeting also included a discussion about several projects in the MPO area that have bike/ped components, including  the City of Mobile's Broad/Beauregard Street TIGER project, the Water St. project, the road diet on Springhill Ave. from Broad to Ann, and the proposed I10 Mobile River Bridge. Recent crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians were also discussed. The minutes of the meeting are being transcribed and will be posted on the BPAC webpage soon.

Congestion Management Process (CMP)

One of the items that was discussed at the TCC/CAC meeting to bring before the MPO Policy Board meeting, is a reinvention of the Mobile Urban Area CMP.  Prior to FY 2017, the Mobile CMP was a thorough process for monitoring congestion, developing improvements, and prioritizing improvements; however, it was inefficient, and ineffective.  The current federal transportation funding bill, the FAST ACT, has introduced requirements for performance measures for projects and processes.  As a performance measure, projects not being implemented through a Congestion Management Process, is an indicator that it is time to reinvent the process.

 

Our intention is create a new funding program out of the STP Attributable Funds of $500,000 (federal) annually for strictly intersection type improvements. These can be new adaptive signals, access management strategies, roundabouts, etc.  It has to be additional capacity, as that is what the STP Attributable Funds are for, but the new program would concentrate on intersections.  The projects would have to be justified, with performance measures.  These performance measures would be included in the project ranking process, and would include a travel time index (free flow / congested speed), a roadway congestion index (capacity index), and a rear-end collisions per mile factor.   We have developed this for some corridors and presented them to the TCC/CAC on November 9th with a lot of discussion. The Long Range Transportation Plan  Destination 2040  will have to be modified to account for this new program. The Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) has to be fiscally constrained, which means this $500,000 has to come from somewhere.  The LRTP identified a grade separated interchange at Azalea Rd and Airport Blvd.  Rather than spending $14 Million on such a large project that may not be well received with the business owners, we are proposing to use that money in the mean time for smaller intersection type improvements all over the Urban Area.

Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP)

 

The Senior Community Service Employment Program assigns eligible participants who match the income guidelines to Host Agencies to provide them the opportunity to gain on-the-job training/work experience.  Participants are paid a stipend of $7.25 per hour for the community service they provide to the host agency they are assigned to.  The experience they gain at the host agency will result in the participant becoming more marketable.  Becoming more marketable can result in them acquiring an unsubsidized job.  The goal of the program is to move participants off the program and into unsubsidized employment.

 

In another effort to assist the participants in becoming more marketable, November's quarterly meeting was held at Mobile's Main Public Library's computer lab.  The computer lab staff gave the participants basic computer instructions.  Additionally, the participants were made aware of job search tools housed in the library.

 

Mature Staffing Service (MSS)

If you have staffing needs, then Mature Staffing Service (MSS) would like the opportunity to assist you.

 

Whether you need a full-time employee or a part-time temporary worker Mature Staffing Service can help.  MSS provides services to government and non-profit organizations in which part-time temporary workers and full time permanent workers are placed. 

 

Is it getting hard for you to squeeze in the time to process your payroll because there are so many other issues requiring your attention?  Let us lighten your load by handling all payroll processing such as:  worker's compensation, all payroll taxes, and direct deposit. 

 

You owe it to yourself to find out how Mature Staffing Service can help.  Call (251) 652-0585 today.

 

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF)

The Revolving Loan Fund is a source of capital available to entrepreneurs for start-up businesses or existing businesses.

 

The Revolving Loan Fund can be used for the purchase of property and buildings, equipment, and working capital needs.  The loan limits are $10,000 to $125,000.  The purpose of the RLF funds is to assist small businesses in their capital needs and to create and sustain jobs in the communities it serves. 

 

Let us know about your loan request today by calling (251) 652-0585.  We want to stand in the gap for you.