MARP Executive Committee
Phone Conference Call
11 September 2018, 7:00-8:15pm

Present:  Steve Vagnozzi, Tom Purmort, John Langdon, Adam Tauno Williams, Kay Chase, Joshua Hamilton

Absent: Charles Shong, Robert Tischbein, Robert Patterson, Mark Miller

Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 7:03 pm. Vagnozzi asked Purmort to preside.

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of May 29 and July 28 meetings approved with two corrections:

• May 29, budget discussion on page two, should read “Langdon moves, Miller seconds, to amend the motion to add $500 grant to DUSI, and change “Dues To” line item to $425 (from $400).”
• July 28, under V.(b) Southwest Chief letter, strike “that the transfers at Dodge City would take place at 5:25 am and 12:27 am; also”. The sentence will then read “Following discussion, motion passed unanimously with the addition that the letter be cc’ed to the entire Michigan Congressional delegation.

Art Prize Event on 28 September: Will take place 6:30-9:00pm, 28 September, at One Bourbon, 608 Bridge St NW, Grand Rapids MI 49504 and feature Elaine S. Wilson who will talk about her series of paintings “Charting the Wolverine”. Williams states he is modeling the event on one often used by non-profits to network and raise money. He has reached out to a number of transportation-related groups in Grand Rapids via social media. Tickets offered online at no cost, but a donation of $15 is suggested. Our expenses will be covered if at least 30 people respond. Information is on the MARP Facebook page:       https://www.facebook.com/events/460998630974214/

October member meeting: There will be no member meeting in October since the Annual Meeting occurs in early November. Executive committee will have a conference call on October 9.

Annual Meeting:  Scheduled for November 10, 10am-2pm, O’Kelly’s Banquet Hall, Dearborn MI. Keynote speaker will be Paul Larouche, a retired Bombardier Sr. Mgt.  Engineer. Suggestions for other speakers: MDOT, Amtrak, Rick Harnish, James Bruckbauer. Vagnozzi reminds that MDOT is traditionally invited to speak at the January meeting.  Langdon suggests 2 or 3 short presentations under the umbrella of Michigan By Rail: West Michigan Express, A2TC. Appointed to work with Williams on the Annual Meeting. Langdon, Chase. Cost will be $25. Langdon contacted Jim Wallington who is not optimistic that Larry Swartz will make a donation this year to cover speaker expenses.

Nominating committee: Vagnozzi will contact Clark Charnetski, Steve Sobel and Hugh Gurney by 20^th September about serving as the nominating committee.

Membership committee: Committee established by Resolution with one of the four At-Large Executive Committee members (currently Robert Tischbein) as Coordinator. Decision to defer naming of committee members until new slate of officers is named in November. Purmort will reach out to Tischbein to see if he is on same page and prepared to move forward with activating a committee.

Budget Committee: Vagnozzi, as Treasurer, will chair. Will reach out to Mark Miller and Hugh Gurney who served last year.

Regional Chair Reports:

Hamilton:   Spoke to caretaker at East Lansing station to get an idea what MARP could do to make the passenger experience better in the absence of station agents. Traveled to Port Huron and observed that many passengers are first-timers and are confused and apprehensive. Suggests developing a poster with FAQs, maybe a video on how to ride the train. Also spoke with Nick Little and Andreas Hoffrichter, MSU Rail Program, about getting on campus for a MARP sponsored event.  Vagnozzi will work with Hamilton to design something for the electronic boards in KAL, BTL, PNT. Hamilton asks who to contact at Amtrak about doing a “how-to-ride-the-train” video. Langdon will brief Hamilton on working with Amtrak. Also suggests he get acquainted with the station caretakers and volunteers involved in the bikes on trains poster campaign.

Other reports:

Langdon:   Reports great success and excellent volunteer effort in distributing “Ride the Rails to Michigan Trails” posters. Success in working with residence hall directors in gaining access to campuses. A major benefit of this project is to demonstrate to MDOT Office of Rail that MARP can mobilize and successfully carry out a project. MDOT paid for printing the posters and may do another round in the spring. Chase mentions the MDOT and Trails Magazine websites that have detailed trail maps and excellent information. Wonders how this information might be conveyed along with the posters.

Langdon:  Reports that MARP will give a grant of $500 out of our MEC Michigan By Rail grant funds to support West Michigan Express in conducting a survey.

Langdon:  Reports that John Guidinger has asked MARP to collaborate in printing 3,000 Michigan train schedules to be distributed to all stations. The $700 cost will be covered with $350 from the Outreach budget and $350 from Guidinger via a “grant” to MARP.  Amtrak and MDOT have given the OK to place in stations.

Vagnozzi:   Reports that he has received no response from Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson to our letter regarding the proposal to segment the route of the Southwest Chief, transferring passengers to buses between Dodge City KS and Albuquerque NM. The letter was also sent to the Michigan Congressional delegation last week. No response at this time.

Purmort:  Will develop a matrix for managing action items and as a guide to keep moving forward. He will send this to executive committee members.

Meeting adjourned at 8:17pm.

Respectfully submitted,

                       Kay Chase                                             Steve Vagnozzi_________________   Acting Secretary                                                          Chair

MARP Executive Committee Meeting
Durand Union Station
28 July 2018

Present: Steve Vagnozzi, Robert Patterson, John Langdon, Kay Chase, Adam Tauno Williams, Mark Miller (arrive 11:00), Charles Shong (arrive 11:00)

Absent: Robert Tischbein

Guests: Dan Platz (co-coordinator, with Robert Tischbein, of Membership Committee), Joshua Hamilton (candidate for East/Central Region Chair); Tom Purmort (candidate for Vice-Chair); Barb Spaulding-Westcott (Crossroads Village-Huckleberry Railroad)

1. Call to Order: 10:40 am Quorum is present (5 of 8), 2 more members arrived at 11am
2. Approval of Agenda: Vagnozzi asks to remove item IV.f related to reimbursement for certain outreach expenses. Williams moves, Langdon seconds, to approve agenda with the deletion. Unanimously approved.

III. Approval of Minutes of the 28 May 2018 Meeting: Deferred approval since the minutes were not sent out

1. Discussion Items

1. Williams – Remaining 2018 Meetings

During the Grand Rapids Art Prize, September 19 to October 7, planning a MARP  “event” that will be widely promoted to GVSU students and the community at large. Purmort suggests partnering with West Michigan Express in promoting the MARP “event”.
Annual Meeting will be held in Dearborn.

Attempts to make contact with Universities to hold MARP events on campus have been unproductive. Chase suggests making contact with a specific campus group. MARP members with .edu email addresses could also be an avenue for making contact.

1. b) Membership and Executive Committee Recruitment

Election of officers takes place at the Annual Meeting in even-numbered years. Langdon asks Chair to appoint a nominating committee.

Vagnozzi willing to continue as chair until the fall election of officers, but will not seek a 2^nd term. He will also assume, with agreement of executive committee, the duties of treasurer until a replacement is found for Stewart Bolinger, whose letter of resignation was submitted to the committee today. Committee concurs.

Chase distributes list of members who have attended one or more meetings. This may be helpful in identifying potential candidates. She will add hometowns, arrange by region and email to committee members.

1. c) Treasurer’s report

As of 25 July, total receipts are $6,522, disbursements are $4,435.  Donations ($257) are lagging, but may pick up with year-end appeal.  Dues receipts from 152 renewals and 12 new members total $4,800.  93 of the 2017 members have not yet renewed. $500 Grant to Durand Union Station, Inc., has been paid, as well as dues to Transportation Riders United (TRU), Midwest High Speed Rail Assoc. (MHSRA), and Michigan Environmental Council (MEC). Rail Passengers Association dues are pending. Major expenses include The Michigan Passenger newspaper, outreach and governmental affairs activities. Checking Account Reconciliation Summary show a bank balance of $12,521.

The Vanguard investment fund was valued at around $24,700 at the end of March.

Langdon gives background on the Michigan by Rail project, a line item in the budget, and the MEC grant MARP receives to support our work on this initiative (Coast-to-Coast, A2TC, Wally). With a new legislature in January 2019, there will be a significant effort with “meet’n greets”, emphasizing progress with passenger transportation, “last mile” concerns, Amtrak Thruway services.

1. d) Executive Committee Member Reports

Charles Shong, West Regional Chair: compiling a list of Colleges in the west region and making contacts particularly with student groups – distributed The Michigan Passenger to various locations around the region – wonders about a questionnaire to candidates –  developing a fact sheet to give to candidates – Vagnozzi will work with Shong in developing a fact sheet, send to Chase  for comment

Kay Chase, Communications Coordinator: Deadline for submissions for the Autumn issue of The Michigan Passenger is mid-September. Purmort volunteers to write the “From the Boardroom” column. Williams will submit an article for use in either the newspaper or ON TRACK.

Robert Patterson, Detroit/Metro Region Chair: distributes copies of a Resolution circulated by RailPac, suggesting it be adapted to Michigan.

John Langdon, Governmental and Public Affairs Coordinator: special trains for Holland Tulip Time successful – 270+ passengers per train – doesn’t know what the revenue was – success bolsters argument for a 2^nd frequency on the PM – 10 station staff people have retired and been replaced with caretakers (Amtrak agents cost $120,000 per year, caretakers about $20,000) – Charger locomotives will decrease operating costs of Michigan trains – Michigan budget is not transparent, thus difficult to know exactly what is budgeted for trains – entire Amtrak network now bike friendly – MARP can help distribute flyers to bike shops, stations, etc. – suggestion that MARP partner with Michigan League of Bicyclists to get the word out

1. e) MDOT Draft Five-Year Transportation Program Input

Vagnozzi asks Purmort to look over the document, specifically the rail sections, with idea of developing “official” MARP comment. In the meantime, individuals may submit their own comments. Shong points out that updates are done each year to guide project implementation over the next 5 years. The rail portion is very general, focusing on the budgetary implications of implementation.

12:25 pm    short break

12:43 pm reconvene

1. Action Items

1. a) Filling Vacancies (Vice-Chair and East/Central Regional Chair)

   Williams moves, Miller seconds, to approve Tom Purmort to fill the vacant vice-chair position. Unanimously approved.

Langdon moves, Williams seconds, to approve Joshua Hamilton to fill vacant East/Central Region chair position. Unanimously approved.

Hamilton suggests MARP look at the student activities area in the MSU Student Union where we might be able to display materials; also think about raffling a ticket to Chicago. Vagnozzi asks Hamilton to pursue this idea.

Shong – suggests outreach at Capitol Farmer’s Market (CATA Clean Air Commute displays here) – Vagnozzi will make contact with CATA.

1. b) Southwest Chief Letter to Amtrak CEO

   Hugh Gurney has drafted a letter to Amtrak CEO, Richard Anderson, protesting plans to break the route of the Southwest Chief into three sections, with passengers transferring to buses for the Dodge City KS to Albuquerque NM section. The letter would be cc’ed to Anthony Coscia, President of the Amtrak Board, and Jim Matthews, CEO of Rail Passengers Association.

Williams moves, Langdon seconds, to approve sending the letter. Following discussion, motion passed unanimously with the addition that the letter be cc’ed to the entire Michigan Congressional delegation.

1. c) Committee agrees that it is not necessary to revise the budget at this time
2. d) Other

Platz suggests promoting MARP’s 45^th Anniversary with appeal to members to donate $1 for each year they have been a member. Vagnozzi suggests an alternative: “suggest” a donation of $45 and recognize individuals donating that amount in the Annual Meeting program.

Discussion of possible election activities: develop a candidate questionnaire and publish responses (Chase points out that 501(c)3 organizations are advised caution in doing this); develop a briefing paper to be distributed to all gubernatorial and legislative candidates.

Discussion of an action alert to our members who have “opted-in”. Chase will pull out talking points from the SW Chief letter, circulate to EC and then send to the “opt-in” members

1. Adjournment – Meeting adjourned at 1:20 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

                       Kay Chase                                             Steve Vagnozzi_________________                                                                  

Acting Secretary                                                          Chair