Gulf Coast Rail District Board of Directors met March 8

Gulf Coast Rail District Board of Directors met March 8.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A meeting of the Gulf Coast Rail District Board of Directors was held at Houston TranStar and via video conference. In attendance at the meeting were Directors Ronald A. Beeson, Trey Duhon, Abigail M. Gonzalez, Carol Abel Lewis, Bruce Mann, Richard L. Muller, Jr., Allen Owen, Tina Arias Peterman, and Jim Robinson. Absent were Directors Michael Dyll, Christopher Lane, Jeff E. Ross, and Dennis Winkler. Written notices of the meeting including the date, hour, place and agenda for the meeting were posted with Harris County, with the Secretary of State, and at the Gulf Coast Rail District office located at Houston TranStar in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. The inaudible portions of the recording were removed from these minutes.

Chairperson Lewis: Good afternoon, all. We want to call the Gulf Coast Rail District to order. It’s Tuesday, March 8th, 2022. It’s 2:00 p.m. We are at Houston TranStar. We’re going to conduct today’s Gulf Coast Rail District meeting with options to participate in person or by video conference due to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19. The meeting is open to the public but restrictions regarding masks, allowable room capacity, and seating arrangements are in place. The public meeting is located at TranStar again, 6922 Old Katy Road, Houston, Texas, Briefing Room 216. I am Dr. Carol Lewis, presiding officer of GCRD, and confirm the following board members are physically present: myself and Director Ron Beeson. Other members participating by video conference in accordance with the provisions of Texas Government Code Section 551.127, applicable to governmental bodies that extend into three or more counties including the following. And please be audible when we call your name. And so, I’m going to pass to… Is Judge Duhon on?

Director Duhon: I am.

Chairperson Lewis: Do you have the list to call? Or do you need me to ask Director Beeson to do that because we provided him a list? It’s in front of him.

Director Duhon: I do not have my list with me right now.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay. So, if you don’t mind, we’ll ask Director Beeson to do the roll call. Director Beeson: Okay.

Director Duhon: That’d be fine.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you.

Director Beeson: Okay. First, Director Dyll? Is he on? Don’t think so. Director Gonzalez? Director Gonzalez: I am on.

Director Beeson: Thank you. Director Ross? Director Peterman?

Director Peterman: Yes, I’m here.

Director Beeson: Thank you. Director Winkler is a no. Director Mann?

Director Owen: He’s mic is on mute. Oh, there he is.

Director Mann: I’m here. Sorry for the delay there.

Director Beeson: Thank you.

Director Mann: In two years, I’ve not figured it out.

Director Beeson: Thanks, Bruce. Alright. Director Muller?

Director Muller: Here.

Director Beeson: Thank you. Director Owen?

Director Owen: Here.

Director Beeson: Alright. Director Duhon’s confirmed. Director Lane? No. And Director Robinson?

Director Robinson: Here.

Director Beeson: Thank you. Okay, that’s it.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you. So, our video conference…

Director Beeson: And we do have a quorum.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you. We do have a quorum. Our video conference is being conducted with software, Microsoft Teams. Individual panelist links were sent to our board members to participate. Other attendees or public can join by clicking on the link provided in the agenda which is posted on our GCRD web page. If your computer has both audio and video, we can see you and hear you clearly. So, the room is well-equipped for that. So, based on our Open Meetings Act requirements, GCRD board members participating on the Microsoft Teams tool will need to be seen and heard throughout the meeting for attendance and for voting. I don’t think we have any members calling in by telephone today, do we?

Ms. Lisa Patke: Just Abby.

Chairperson Lewis: Oh, okay, so we do. So, Abby, unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to count as a quorum because according to the Open Meetings Act, we have to see you in order to be able to count but we’re delighted that you’re here so that you can participate audibly because we are going to want to hear from you shortly. Alright.

Director Gonzalez: Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: With that, we want to move on to the action for the minutes. Director Duhon, if you could lead us in that, please?

Director Duhon: Okay. I’m trying to pull up all the documents at the same time.

Chairperson Lewis: We’re working on February 8th, 2022, and you were in person last time, as I recall.

Director Duhon: I was.

Chairperson Lewis: Ms. Parker’s reminding me to confirm that the meeting was posted in compliance with our Open Meetings Act. Ms. Patke?

Ms. Lisa Patke: Yes, it was.

Chairperson Lewis: By Friday afternoon at 2:00. Alright, thank you.

Director Muller: Do you just need a motion to approve the minutes?

Director Owen: Yes, Judge, we’ll help you out there.

Chairperson Lewis: Basically.

Director Muller: This is Director Muller. I move approval of the minutes.

Chairperson Lewis: Director Owen, approval of the minutes.

Director Beeson: Director Beeson will second.

Chairperson Lewis: Beeson, second. All in favor?

Board: Aye.

Chairperson Lewis: Any opposed? Alright, great. Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Director Owen, you’re ready to give your report, I know.

Director Owen: Yes, ma’am. Chairman, I asked Cory Book... Cory Burton to bring us up to... I almost said it... Cory, I almost said it, Burton to bring us up on our Treasurer’s Report.

Chairperson Lewis: The thing is he’s got news for us today so we’re going to really lament our lack of opportunity to confuse his name going forward, but Mr. Burton.

Mr. Cory Burton: Sure. Board, I just want to introduce to you all Chris Palis from our office. He’s been involved with the District in the past, so he’s going to be attending your board meetings going forward. He’s familiar with your District, and we’ll continue to transition that knowledge base to him going forward, but I’m not leaving entirely. So, I’m around and I’m easy to find. I wanted to introduce him.

Director Owen: So, there’s no more Cory Booker?

Mr. Cory Burton: That’s correct. You’re welcome to call him that if you really want to. Mr. Chris Palis: I’m totally fine with that.

Mr. Cory Burton: Alright. With that introduction, I’ll turn you over to your bookkeeping report there. If you flip past the cover page, you see your operating fund checking account. You did receive the Fort Bend County annual contribution for $35,000 there. Expenses totaled just over $4,300 this month. Nothing really out of the ordinary there. Moving on to your investments on Page 3, we did purchase one new CD in your operating fund since you all last met. And I’ve been working with Director Peterman and Ms. Parker on this as well to kind of give us some direction on how much of that balance in the money market that you want us to invest, because it is a large balance. What you see there in CDs now is what you all allowed me to do when we first started doing the CD purchase program years ago, but Director Peterman rightfully pointed out that you don’t have a lot of projects going on right now and that money would be better served invested in CDs. Granted, CD rates are also terrible but they’re better than what you can otherwise get in a money market or a checking account. So, we’ll continue to work with Ms. Peterman on that as far as how much money market balance we want to leave in there for you all, but we’ll continue to work in that regard. Other than that, your budget shows the detail for February as well as your fiscal year to date. You’re only a couple months into your fiscal year so you’re looking good there. No changes in your grant status report and then the last couple pages cover your quarterly investment report for the quarter ending December 31st. And that’s all we have for you all today. Be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Director Owen: If there are no questions, Madam Chairman, I would ask that Resolution 22-02 ratifying payments be approved.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you.

Director Mann: So moved, Bruce Mann.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay. I think we’ve got Owen and Mann on that.

Director Owen: Yes.

Director Mann: Yes.

Chairperson Lewis: All in favor?

Board: Aye.

Chairperson Lewis: Any opposed? Okay, great. Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright, that takes us to number 7, public comments. Anyone in the public have any points they’d like to make? Mr. Dominic?

Mr. Dominic Mazoch: Yes. My name is, for the record, Dominic Mazoch, and my time starts now. Not last Saturday but a week ago Saturday, I actually drove to an amateur radio meeting in Orange. It was a meet. Now, that has nothing to do with Rail District but coming back, I came down US 90 from Beaumont to the brewery. And that means basically I was following more or less the old Southern Pacific Lockheed subdivision or Lockheed Division which is now Union Pacific. And I was really impressed with how much infrastructure improvements Union Pacific is putting into that corridor. And I think that’s one advantage to a rail corridor is that if the railroad wants to, they can get a lot of money really quick versus going through a government agency. So, I’m very, very pleased with what I saw. Now that still may not be enough though considering the Canadian Pacific/KCS situation, but that’s something that you all really can’t say anything about. Also, too Englewood Yard is being rebuilt which was already out of date when Southern Pacific built it in the 50s, so I’m very pleased with that. But Union Pacific, the City of Houston, and with the University Line, METRO, are going to have to be very, very careful and work together to rebuild the Lockwood Overpass. That bridge is at the point it needs to be replaced. This is the time to do it with METRO. I got a question though, two questions. This group’s been talking about shuttle trains in the area. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m ignorant of it, maybe a description of what you’re trying to do with shuttle train. Yes, I would be very interested in that. Second of all, has there been any consideration of building a railroad drawbridge along or in the HCTRA right of way of the Beltway 8 Jesse Jones Bridge overpass? Now that’s a track overpass. There’s no room to build a bridge like a Huey P. Long Bridge. Has there been any discussion, especially using HCTRA property, for a toll railway? And we have one in the country, that’s the Omni, the trains in Los Angeles. That is a toll road for the railroads. Has there been any thought of, again, railroads on private property? I don’t know what HCTRA can do. I’m ignorant of these things, okay? But has there been any thought of a toll bridge on HCTRA property and per car, per train, per ton, they would pay off the bond on such a bridge? End of comments. Back to you, Chairman.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright, thank you. We are not working on anything like that at the time, I’ll tell you that. And I guess your question was about the freight shuttle?

Mr. Dominic Mazoch: Yes.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay. So, just very quickly, the freight shuttle is a concept that’s under discussion and it basically is sort of an automated way of getting containers moved. So, it’s conversation right now. There’s no right of way, there’s no route, but it’s under discussion. We’re discussing it with the folks who do the freight shuttle, so right now that’s where it is.

Mr. Dominic Mazoch: Okay. Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright. You’re welcome. Okay. So, I understand we also have Lindsay Williams.

Ms. Lindsay Williams: Hey. Can you hear me?

Chairperson Lewis: Yes, we can.

Ms. Lindsay Williams: Great, thank you. My name is Lindsay Williams for the record, and I am the chairman of the Train Committee in the Eastwood Civic Association. And we’re working with residents and businesses that are struggling with the excessive train horns and multi-hour blockages, which I’m sure everybody is very aware of. It doesn’t help anybody that’s involved— residents, businesses, and also train companies as they’re trying to move their trains through. We know that there’s a transportation bill for $3 billion, which was just passed, and we want to see multiple grade separated crossings and quiet zones implemented with some of that money. As of the last joint committee meeting with the City of Houston, Union Pacific noted all of their projects are on the west side of town, while the east end has most of the train lines and sees the lion’s share of issues. Even while including federal officials, we’re seeing little to no relief. Union Pacific states they are in the business of keeping trains moving but we’re seeing an upwards of 40% of trains blocked for more than an hour, impeding even first responders who have seen almost 1,400 train blockages in 2021 preventing people from getting the care that they need from first responders. We also have reports of children crawling underneath and through parked trains to get to school which should never be acceptable. And so, I just really want to see if we can get some support and work with you all, collaboration effort, so that we can get relief for the east end residents so that we can get relief and the trains can keep moving.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you, Ms. Williams, and I will assure you that there are grade separations on the east side that we are actively working toward. The two in specific are Commerce/Navigation that are first on our list. We had a list of… it wasn’t all grade separations; it was some quiet zones as well. We just sort of picked those two to start with and we are working on it and working with the City and HCTRA, quite frankly, trying to get those two started. Ms. Parker is on several committees that will help us to put in priority order the grade separations so she may want to say a little bit more about the process going forward. As you mentioned, there is some money in the new infrastructure bill that is specifically targeted toward grade separations. It looks like a lot of money until you realize that it’s for the whole United States of America. Then all of a sudden...

Ms. Lindsay Williams: I understand.

Chairperson Lewis: ...it’s not quite as much. But we know that we have just incredible need in this region and want to really play a role in helping to mediate as much as we can. Ms. Parker?

Ms. Lindsay Williams: Sorry, go ahead. I have a question when you’re done. It should be super quick.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Okay. No worries. Yes, I’ve been in a number of meetings and the east end is on the radar. It’s a discussion each time that we meet. We understand concerns from the residents and also some of the businesses that are affected in the area as well as any emergency response, as they are at the table as well. Please know that this is something we’re working on, and we are hoping that we can come to some type of resolution, relief. There are some things that are long term and there are the things that we’re trying to work on short term. And we also have input from your group as well has been on some of those committee meetings and conversations.

Ms. Lindsay Williams: Sure. I guess my only question is… is there anything that we can help with in the efforts? Anything that we can help be involved in? Whether that’s helping with reporting, helping with providing information that can help you all along the way?

Chairperson Lewis: I think that the answer is probably yes and give us some time to think about that. One of the areas...

Director Mann: I’m sorry. Can I really quick, Dr. Lewis?

Chairperson Lewis: Just a second, let me finish this thought, Mr. Mann, then absolutely. One of the areas that as I kind of look at what is input into the rankings of the grade separations and their assessments is that they look at the number of vehicles and autos that cross. And a void is the number of travelers for whom that would be the straightest and most direct route, but they choose another route because they don’t want to risk getting stopped by a train. And I think that’s a big void in our assessments as we look at grade separations to try to determine how much of our traffic is being rerouted because people who know better just go the other way. And so, I do think that there are some things that you can help with in that regard, some of the sort of nontraditional metrics in the decision-making process, so we will look forward to maybe talking with you a little bit about that.

Ms. Lindsay Williams: Yes, I would love to help. I have a lot of people that want to help, so I’m happy to leave my information with anybody who would find this helpful. I can see one train right outside my window so I can see the traffic on my street alone of people who are actively avoiding it and it gets pretty messy out there. So, I would love to help and be involved and if there’s anything I can do, please let me know what I need to do to do that.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright, thank you. If you put your information maybe in the chat then we can pull it for you.

Ms. Lindsay Williams: Do that right now, thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you. Mr. Mann?

Director Mann: This is a procedural thing. I’m not sure in a public comment period that we’re actually supposed to engage in dialogue. Someone might want to check the rule about that but I’m pretty sure it’s just supposed to be a public comment and not a dialogue back and forth.

Chairperson Lewis: We will check. I’m not sure that it’s a rule. I think that a lot of agencies institute practices because of their own time perspectives and the like. We don’t quite have that yet, but we will check and see. I think if you do so, if it were a formal environmental process under DEIS and FEIS, your point is 100% correct in that formalized process. This is not that, so we will check for sure though.

Director Duhon: Ms. Chairman?

Chairperson Lewis: Yes.

Director Duhon: This is Director Duhon, I can tell you this. In our Commissioners Court, we have the same rule but the reason we have the rule is because if somebody makes public comment regarding an item that’s not on the agenda, you are now discussing an item that was not posted on the agenda and it would put you in violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Chairperson Lewis: I see.

Director Duhon: Because anything to be discussed in a public meeting needs to be put on an agenda and be publicly noted so I think that’s the problem.

Chairperson Lewis: I get you.

Director Duhon: In Commissioners Court, we have people that make public comments all the time and we just have to tell them we cannot respond to your comment if it’s not an item that’s on our agenda.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you. That’s clarifying, so I appreciate that. So, I guess, Mr. Tyson, we’re going to have to hold you too. But the thing is, in our particular case, we’ve been pretty lenient about conversation I think in large measure because we’re small and we actually haven’t had public comment until Mr. Mazoch showed up three meetings ago. I think that was about the first that we’ve had, at least in some time, maybe way back, long years ago, I remember. But I think since Ms. Parker’s been here, this is the first public we’ve had.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Right, he’s the first.

Chairperson Lewis: So, this will give us an opportunity to buff up on our rules. Honestly, I’m quite excited if the public starts coming and being interested in what we’re doing at Gulf Coast Rail District. I think that’s a wonderful sign, so this will give us something we’ll have to check on and thank you for that. So, Tyson, we’re going to have to put you on hold since you’re not really on our agenda.

Mr. Tyson Moeller: That’s okay.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright. Do we have any other public that have signed to speak? So, I guess, Tyson, you could raise your hand and make a public comment. Okay, Mr. Moeller?

Mr. Tyson Moeller: I think just to add on for what Katherine was giving for the update for what Gulf Coast Rail District’s been working on is that UP has been actively in that process with the city and the Rail District and other public agencies. And we’ve been engaged in those conversations for about a year now, ever since once COVID was kind of behind us there. So, that’s all I’ll add but if you want to add something to the next month’s agenda for additional discussions, we’re more than happy to give a little bit more insight.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright. Thank you. Alright. If there’s no one else, let’s go on to item number 8, discussion and possible action on Resolution 22-03 ratifying committees for Gulf Coast Rail District. That’s an item for me. And so, I think what we’re wanting to do is in order to make sure that all of our board members are active on our committees, we want to add Director Christopher Lane from Galveston to Railroad/Roadway Project Committee. And that also caused us to ask Judge Duhon if he would mind sort of yielding a spot because we wanted to keep our numbers on each of them so that we didn’t bump up into quorum matters and he graciously consented to that. And he does serve on two other committees. Judge Duhon is on Bylaws as well as Passenger Rail.

Chairperson Lewis: So, with that adjustment, could I have a motion? And then we’ll see if anyone has any questions or comments.

Director Peterman: So, moved. This is Director Peterman.

Director Duhon: Second, Director Duhon.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright, thank you. Okay, Peterman and Duhon. Any discussion? Director Muller: Yes, this is Director Muller. Just to say again we’re sure that we don’t have any committees where the committee is more than a quorum.

Chairperson Lewis: We’re absolutely sure we don’t have any that the committee is more. Our quorum is seven. The most we have is six.

Director Muller: Right. Yes, they’re all six, you’re right. I see it now. Thank you. Chairperson Lewis: Alright. Thank you. No other questions? All in favor?

Board: Aye.

Chairperson Lewis: Any opposed? Alright. Motion passes. Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: The next thing we have on our agenda is a presentation on the 2023 Regional Goods Movement Plan by Veronica Green from H-GAC. So, we’re looking forward, Ms. Veronica, to what you’re going to say to us today about goods movement in our region. We can’t hear you yet. Yes, there you are. Try it again, let’s see.

Ms. Veronica Green: Can you hear me now?

Chairperson Lewis: Yes, we can.

Ms. Veronica Green: Okay, great. Let me share my screen. Try to get this going. Can everyone see my screen?

Chairperson Lewis: Yes, we can.

Ms. Veronica Green: Great. Alright, let’s get started. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Veronica Green. I am the project manager for the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Regional Goods Movement Plan Update. I am supporting the regional planning manager, Allie Isbell. The plan update is a collaborative effort with HDR whose project manager is Keith Bucklew and deputy project manager is Reddy Edulakanti. So, what is the Regional Goods Movement Plan? It’s a long-range plan for the H-GAC’s goods movement system. The plan is meant to guide and recognize the region’s priority freight-related activity. The plan update is expected to be completed in August of 2023. There’ll be four more stakeholder and steering committee meetings and two public meetings. The first public meeting on March 31st, 2022, and you are more than welcome to join. The Regional Goods Movement Plan Update defines the 2023 vision as creating a multimodal freight transportation system that is efficient, reliable, safe, that supports the economy, environment, and equity with goals centered around mobility, safety, infrastructure, economic development, environment, and equity. The study area includes eight counties covering over 1,600 miles of the Texas freight network, about 1,000 miles of Class I rail, four deepwater ports, two major airports, and over 21,000 miles of pipeline. …has five primary tasks, seen here will result in a web-based project evaluation tool for freight-related activities. First let’s look at the commodity flow analysis. The first task created a preliminary commodity flow analysis using FHWA’s Freight Analysis Framework. The data has a baseline year of 2017 and a forecast year of 2050. A data tool has been developed using Tableau for the H-GAC region and is available to everyone. The data suggest that tonnage moving in, out, and through the region will increase by 64% by the year 2050. Looking at modal shares, trucks account for about 41% of tons moving through the region, followed by pipe at 29%, 14% for water, 6% for rail, and 2% for air to round up the top five modes of transportation. There will also be additional analysis using more recent data in the near future. To existing issues, the Regional Goods Movement Plan also seeks to assess the mobility and connectivity of the freight network. The plan is evaluating the critical urban freight corridors of which about 91 miles exist with… criteria outlined in the Texas Freight Mobility Plan. And the Regional Goods Movement Plan asks should we consider more criteria such as the overweight corridors that are located in Chambers and Brazoria County, at least 17% of the region’s network, the freight network, that have a high vulnerability and high criticality designation based upon H-GAC’s resiliency tool. Next we’ll look at safety. The Regional Goods Movement Plan has collected a significant amount of congestion data. And according to ATRI data, the H-GAC region has about 10% of the top 100 bottlenecks in the country. In statewide data, 6 of the top 10 most congested truck segments are located in the region and roughly about a third of all of the most congested truck segments are located in the H-GAC region. The study also looks at commercial vehicle crashes with over a three-year period, there were approximately 14,000 commercial vehicles involved crashes between 2019 and 2021, the most common locations inside of the 610 Loop. These slides cover bridges. The data identify 14 bridges on the freight network that were deemed poor. The next slide identifies 16 locations where bridge strikes have occurred and note that 5 locations are railroad bridges in which a strike could hinder multiple modes of transportation. The study also looks at rail, noting that about 86% of rail crossings in the region are at grade and have had more than 1,400 incidents of blocked crossing in 2021. All of the maps presented are available on the Regional Goods Movement web page under Freight Planning at hgac.com. Our next steps are adding additional analysis for the commodity flows, identifying issues and challenges, and updating the critical urban freight corridors which we expect to conclude around June of 2022. Regional Goods Movement has a public outreach page listed here with links to each of the data tools previously mentioned in the presentation and you can also subscribe for updates and review reading materials. And again, my name is Veronica Green, and I will take any questions if you have any.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Green. Let me first say that the fact that in your report there were the rail crossings and grade separations, I think we now can say we were not outside of our posted agenda and that conversation was under presentation of 2023 Regional Goods Movement Plan.

Ms. Veronica Green: It was fitting.

Chairperson Lewis: Exactly, I will say. So, I guess my question is, and I was about to ask that on the bottlenecks. When you go through your bottlenecks, are those bottlenecks both where trucks cross each other on roadways or are some of the bottlenecks also related to trucks crossing rail crossings?

Ms. Veronica Green: Primarily, it focuses on all of the bottlenecks. I think only two of the locations that were deemed, were according to rail. I don’t have it directly in front of me, but two locations were direct at a highway rail crossing.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay, alright. And then what about the same sort of question with the bridges?

Ms. Veronica Green: Five of them are located on, 5 of the 14 that had identified strikes were railroad bridge crossings, and then in the top 14, none of them were railroad bridges.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay.

Ms. Veronica Green: But they were adjacent to high rail activity areas, I can say that.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay, perfect, great. Alright. I think that’s the last question I have. Did anyone else have any questions for Ms. Green. Any other GCRD board members?

Director Beeson: Just for clarity, the last slide before the summary, you said 1,400 at-grade crossings were in scope. Is that right?

Ms. Veronica Green: There were 1,400 incidents of blocked crossings.

Director Beeson: 1,400 blocked crossing incidences. And what constitutes an instance of blockage?

Ms. Veronica Green: An incident is when... We received this data actually from you guys, from the Gulf Coast Rail District. I believe it’s a blocked crossing of more than 30 minutes, and it had to be reported to the emergency services. So, it had to be called in by emergency services.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Right. Those numbers are a combination of HFD, HPD. HPD is a lot more detailed in what’s going on at the crossing, HFD basically talks about the reroute. And so, we are actually working on that now in the blocked crossing pilot to get that data and have a repository that we can pull from at any time to kind of give us a picture around what we call critical neighborhoods or areas of concern. And so, kind of the east end is on that list and so these numbers can bear that out. But yes, we are looking at that as well. One question I have for you is the bridge strikes. Is this the first year that it’s been a part of the Goods Movement Plan?

Ms. Veronica Green: Yes.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Okay.

Ms. Veronica Green: This is the first year that bridge strikes have been included as part of the conversation.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Okay.

Chairperson Lewis: Mr. Mann, Director Mann?

Director Mann: Thank you. And this is just informational, I’m not sure if anybody else is, but I’m on the Steering Committee for the Goods Movement update. So, just FYI.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay. Alright, thank you. So, none of this was new to you.

Director Mann: No.

Ms. Veronica Green: And Tyson’s on that occasion as well.

Chairperson Lewis: So, look, once Director Beeson asked the question about your last slide, it made me think. I had a question on the early slide because I couldn’t see the color coding. So, the bars that show the growth in goods movement, I don’t know what the different colors are. I

thought about maybe I should move way down there so I can see better, but can you talk through what the colors are in the bars? I think it’s the second slide, yes, the one where you talked about the 30% growth there. I think you said 30% growth in freight and goods mobility or something.

Ms. Veronica Green: Let me get that to pull up. Here?

Chairperson Lewis: That one, yes. What are the colors in the bars? The red, the blue, the green?

Ms. Veronica Green: Yes. The red is for outbound tonnage and the darker blue is for inbound tonnage, and then the lighter blue is intra or domestic ton movements within the region, and then the light is the pass through.

Chairperson Lewis: Say the last sentence again?

Ms. Katherine Parker: Pass through.

Ms. Veronica Green: The light is the pass-through traffic for the region.

Chairperson Lewis: Oh. I should have...

Ms. Veronica Green: They have no...

Chairperson Lewis: ...known that. I’m glad I asked about that. That’s fascinating. So, basically, the outbound I’m going to say is growing by a third.

Ms. Veronica Green: Yes.

Chairperson Lewis: The inbound is a little bit. I don’t know, 10-20%, right?

Ms. Veronica Green: You have the largest increase in traffic that is intra.

Chairperson Lewis: Exactly.

Ms. Veronica Green: … And for both inbound and outbound, you see almost doubling of the tonnages in the region.

Chairperson Lewis: That’s what I was going to say was extremely interesting is intra. That’s kind of fascinating. I ask myself what does that mean for us. The pass through is interesting too, but it’s not that much, it’s sort of like, “Eh, don’t worry too much about it.” But the intra, the intra bar is bigger than either of the other categories, right?

Ms. Veronica Green: Yes. But when we look at truck movements within the region, if we look at the Houston District Truck Mobility Study, it noted approximately 86% of truck movements within the region are internal movements. So, what comes here into the region...

Chairperson Lewis: Stays.

Ms. Veronica Green: ...in so much, so many words, it stays here in the region.

Chairperson Lewis: Right.

Ms. Veronica Green: We are working, as part of the Regional Goods Movement Study, to look at tertiary or secondary truck trips which will give us a little bit more information on where goods are moving to other parts of the country. But as of now what the data tells us is that if it comes here, it stays here, we’re going to use it.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you. So, for our Roadway/Railway folks, that to me is something to talk about and we can talk about why kind of later. In my mind, this is sort of just thoughts right now given the data.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Bruce has his hand up.

Chairperson Lewis: Director Mann, you have your hand up?

Director Mann: Yes, I was just going to make a quick comment. I know Veronica and I have talked way too much about this. Just for you all, I think one of the things that we’ve looked at in these Regional Goods Movement before really has been focused on the first move. And the difference between the previous studies and this study is going to be really… An example of that is we move a bunch of boxes over to Walmart, so there’s trucks that move to Walmart. So, in the past, we’ve captured that move, but in this regional update, what we’re going to look at also is the move out of the Walmart Distribution Center and where it goes to. And I think what we’re going to find is, in some instances, the percentages are different. So, 70% of the containers that come out of the port stay in the region, 30% go elsewhere. But if you look at Walmart, 30% of their volume stays in the region, 70% goes out. So, this study’s going to be a lot more informative than the studies that we’ve had in the past. So, I’m looking forward to what we’re doing on this study.

Chairperson Lewis: So, that makes me wonder. Is there any double-counting in the bars? In other words, that second and third movement that you talked about… the inbound, for instance, that’s the blue. Would some of the inbound that’s in blue also then be in the lighter blue?

Ms. Veronica Green: No, not the…

Chairperson Lewis: That’s staying intra? No?

Ms. Veronica Green: No. The way that it’s developed, we’re looking at origin and destination, and if the traffic does not have an origin here or a destination here then it would be considered pass through.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay.

Ms. Veronica Green: So, that’s how… I guess that’s the difference.

Chairperson Lewis: Right.

Ms. Veronica Green: If you’re looking at what’s inbound or outbound, it’s the origin and destination.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay, got you. Perfect, okay. Alright. Anybody else? Any other discussion? Alright, hearing none. Thank you, Ms. Green. We appreciate that.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: It gives us more conversation pieces, information pieces into our decision making and helping us to determine what we should do, GCRD.

Ms. Veronica Green: Glad I could help.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright. Thank you.

Ms. Veronica Green: Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright, item number 10, Ms. Parker, Executive Report, please.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Alright. Thank you. Thank you so much again, Veronica, for accepting to come to speak with us today. I just have two items. First there were additional highlights from our committee meetings. Marketing and Outreach has an update, so Director Gonzalez will give us an update from Marketing and Outreach at this time.

Director Gonzalez: Thank you, yes. Hello, everyone. This is Director Gonzalez. As you’ll recall from our last update from the Outreach and Marketing Committee, we were working on determining who would help us with our website update. We did end up determining which vendor or individual could help us with that project. We did go with the most affordable and suitable option, so we are currently working with this person to get an update on the website. She has provided a first iteration. It is not yet ready for our feedback yet from the entire group. We’ll have that ready for you guys to take a look soon. Right now, it’s in the very, very initial stages of getting to know what we want, but we will be opening that up to feedback and look forward to getting all your feedback on the website. Just know that that is something that’s in the works, that we are moving that forward, and we’re excited to share that with you all as soon as we have a new version for you all to see.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Thank you so much.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you very much. I think we’re all looking forward to it and appreciate your work on that. That’ll be our first update, I think, in our agency lifetime.

Ms. Katherine Parker: I believe so.

Director Gonzalez: It’s exciting and it’s looking good so far so I’m excited for everyone to take a look.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Yes, definitely.

Chairperson Lewis: Exactly.

Ms. Katherine Parker: And so, for those directors that I do not have headshots of, I will be shooting an email out to you to ask for those. We do have some, but we’ll need one from each director. My portion, this time we’re talking about ordinance development resolution. We are about halfway there. Harris County is still working on theirs. The City of Houston has decided to do an ordinance instead of a resolution, so they are pinning that down and it’s being reviewed by legal. And also, Fort Bend, we’re still waiting on their response or at least their information to us about acknowledging SB 1990. Also, as Director Robinson shared with us earlier, METRO is also looking into them being a part of the Rail District and their legal will also review, and also review with the City of Houston as well, since that was the original entity that reviewed when they became a part as ex officio member of the District. Thank you. And lastly, we are moving forward, as Dr. Lewis said, to meet with the City of Houston and HCTRA concerning our Commerce and Navigation, which is one of our projects that a long time has been on our list and we hopefully, by April, we will definitely have some positive feedback in moving forward with that particular project. Lastly, as I said, we are having our monthly meetings now with the various railroads to talk about current operations. Not as much long term, really current operations, things that are going now that affect various neighborhoods and what we call critical areas throughout not only the City of Houston but our Houston region. So, those meetings are occurring. And so, if anything from our board, please, if you want to be considered or have a say, please let me know, just shoot me an email or a call and I’ll definitely include our conversation that we have each month. But if there’s something outside of that that we would like to be addressed at this meeting, please let me know. I think that’s it that I have on my list. I’m just trying to make sure I cover everything. Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Any questions for Ms. Parker? Comments to Ms. Parker? Anyone? Alright. Thank you. Item 11, announcements from me. The only thing that I would mention is that at the February Transportation Advisory Committee for H-GAC and the Transportation Policy Council, the High-Capacity Transit Study was mentioned to both entities, both bodies. And the 90A is there and is one of the priorities that H-GAC will start the work on. Also mentioned was Westpark, so those are two. The 90A really was our submittal to H-GAC. We did not submit Westpark, but they still have Westpark on, so I did mention that we are very interested in also being a part of Westpark, particularly as it goes outside of Harris County. So, that occurred at the February H-GAC meetings. So, we’ll look forward to that work going forward. It may be not as rapidly as we would like but it is moving and so that’s positive. I mentioned to you all last month, and Ms. Parker just mentioned, that maybe next month we’ll be able to talk about Commerce/Navigation in terms of sort of a consummated sort of step in the process. I promised last month that it would be this meeting. It didn’t happen but we’re still going to push it one meeting down the road and hope that we’ll be able to do that next month. The good news is that it is still very actively in everyone’s conversations that has a role to play in it. So, that’s the good news. Again, hopefully next month we’ll be able to talk about it. So, Director Owen, did I see you flashing?

Director Owen: Yes, Madam Chairman. Do we know if H-GAC got the letter from the Congressman or not? Or do I need to follow up?

Chairperson Lewis: I do not know. I did mention to them, not in the open meeting but in private conversation, I mentioned to them that they should look for it, but no one has mentioned to me that it was received. We can check on that and see if they have received it.

Director Owen: Yes, if you’ll let me know then I can swing back with him because he was going to do it and I want to make sure that he does.

Chairperson Lewis: Okay. We can do that. Alright. Anyone else? Alright. If that’s all, our next meeting will be April 12th. Ms. Patke, Ms. Parker, will we be back downstairs next month?

Ms. Katherine Parker: Not sure. We’ll let you know.

Chairperson Lewis: Not sure. We were told that this particular setting was through March. Ms. Katherine Parker: Right.

Chairperson Lewis: And so, we will know before the next meeting whether we’re still here or whether we can go back down to the room where they’re doing renovations down there. But we will let you know. So, April 12th is our next date. Thanks to all of you for your attendance, participation today, and we’ll look forward to seeing you next month.

Director Owen: Thank you.

Director Beeson: Thank you.

Ms. Katherine Parker: Thank you.

Chairperson Lewis: Thank you. Motion to adjourn?

Director Beeson: Yes.

Chairperson Lewis: Yes, alright.

Director Beeson: So moved.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright. We’re moving, I saw a hand raised, and Director Owen is gone so I think he voted yes.

Chairperson Lewis: Alright. See you all next month. (Adjourned at 2:50 p.m.)

http://www.gcrd.net/docs/GCRDMinutes.03-08-2022.pdf