Draft Memorandum for the Record

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Update Committee
Meeting Summary

May 3, 2024, Meeting

1:00 PM–1:30 PM, Zoom Video Conferencing Platform

Tom Bent, representing the Inner Core Committee (City of Somerville) and Mayor Katjana Ballantyne

Decisions

The MOU Update Committee agreed to the following:

• Approve the minutes of the meeting of February 7, 2024

Meeting Agenda

1.    Introductions

See attendance on page 4.

2.    Public Comments

Jim Nee, MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA), stated appreciation for granting MWRTA a seat on the MPO Board.

3.    Action Item: Approval of February 7, 2024, MOU Meeting Minutes

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

1.    MOU Meeting Minutes of February 7, 2024 (pdf) (html)

Vote

A motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of February 7, 2024, was made by the Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Lenard Diggins) and seconded by Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) (Derek Krevat). The motion carried.

4.    Regional Transportation Advisory Council (Advisory Council) Draft Language—Stella Jordan, MPO Staff

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

1.    Advisory Council Draft Advisory Council Language (pdf) (html)

S. Jordan, MPO Staff, stated that MPO Staff had drafted updated language for the Advisory Council role, available above and in the meeting calendar. The parameters that have been discussed by the committee are to clarify the roles and mission of the Advisory Council, to outline the relationship between the Advisory Council and the MPO, and to clearly define goals for the Advisory Council. It was noted the MOU was not the place to define specific mechanisms and logistics, just the language.

S. Jordan then shared feedback from the Advisory Council discussion in March 2024. Some key themes that emerged were membership, education, board seats, and relationships with staff. S. Jordan then shared the draft document, explaining how the color-coding related to the edits. S. Jordan described some of the edits and language changes.

Discussion

S. Jordan stated that Advisory Council committee members had responded positively to the changes made.

D. Krevat asked if the Advisory Council had members and if so, who those members were. S. Jordan stated that the council has a variety of stakeholders with memberships. These stakeholders include advocacy and professional organizations, and municipalities that do not have representation on the MPO Board.

Jen Rowe stated an appreciation for the educational aspect that was included in the updated language and the relationships and communication that it fostered across different entities.

L. Diggins stated that the end of the document needed to be fleshed out a little more, but that could be discussed during the next meeting. L. Diggins asked if there was any need to contact and check-in with the federal representative who had called for the more specific language to see what they thought before the finalized version. S. Jordan stated that could be possible, and asked if any MPO Staff had a better idea how that could happen. David Hong (MPO Staff) stated that for other modules, updated draft language had not been presented to the federal representatives. D. Hong said MPO could investigate doing that for this document. Tegin Teich stated that the recommendation from the federal review was open-ended, but that it could be possible to get more specific information. Annette Demchur, MPO Staff, stated that updates are provided to federal representatives every quarter, but it is not a requirement, so there is flexibility. L. Diggins stated that he was open to critique by the representatives. T. Bent stated that federal representatives want to ensure that the committee is engaged with the Advisory Council to understand the Advisory Council’s input on defining their role within the MOU.

5.    Looking Ahead—Work Planning— Dave Hong, MPO Staff 

D. Hong shared the Draft MOU Work Plan. D. Hong stated that a committee chair report, with an update on the council language, could be made as soon as L. Diggins felt it was in a good place. D. Hong stated that there was a potential Agency Collaboration Module to see how practices around readiness updates could be better synthesized, specifically around the MOU operations plan, but that this was still in the early stages. 

D. Hong then shared a calendar with committee tasks and their respective timelines. D. Hong stated that once the consolidated MOU Draft was finished, it could be distributed for public comment in the fall. D. Hong also shared progress updates for some of the other tasks, noting everything was in good shape.

L. Diggins asked for clarification on one of the committee tasks, which was Board Education, and its timeline in reference to distributing the Draft for public comment, and specifically why this seemed to be pushing the public comment period so far out. D. Hong stated that this was specifically about discovering and providing resources, both online and in person, for training and educating the Board. T. Teich stated that this project had little impact on the beginning of the public comment period and the timeline did need a little adjusting, and that the public comment period should be moved a little earlier.

6.    Members’ Items

Dan advocated for community outreach and stated that smaller constituents often felt unheard and underrepresented on the Board.

7.    Adjourn

A motion to adjourn was made by the City of Boston (J. Rowe) and seconded by the Regional Transportation Advisory Council (L. Diggins). The motion carried.

 

Attendance

Members	Representatives and Alternates
City of Boston	Jennifer Rowe
Inner Core Committee (City of Somerville)	Tom Bent
Massachusetts Department of Transportation	Derek Krevat
Massachusetts Department of Transportation	John Romano
Metropolitan Area Planning Council	Eric Bourassa
Regional Transportation Advisory Council	Lenard Diggins
Town of Brookline	Mike Sandman

 

Other Attendees	Affiliation
Marjie Weinberger	Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Cam Sullivan	MetroWest Regional Transit Authority
Jim Nee	MetroWest Regional Transit Authority
Tyler Terrasi	MetroWest Regional Transit Authority
Paul Molta	Town of Needham
Dan
Paula Doucette
Zach Day

 

MPO Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff
Tegin Teich, Executive Director
Annette Demchur
Dave Hong
Stella Jordan
Erin Maguire