Council Communication Office of the City Manager	Date	June 23, 2008
	Agenda Item No. 49 Roll Call No. 08- Communication No. 08-377 Submitted by: Tom Turner, Director of Human Resources

AGENDA HEADING:

Approval of a one year agreement with four annual renewals between the City of Des Moines and the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) , Brad Miller, General Manager, to provide transit passes for all City of Des Moines employees and retirees for an initial annual fee of $7,800.

SYNOPSIS:

Recommend authorization by the Mayor to execute and the City Clerk to attest an agreement between the City of Des Moines and the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority regarding DART’s unlimited access transit fare program.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Amount: $7,800 for transit fare program and approximately $2,500 for program identification badges.

Funding Source: EN078 – ENG100707 – Park and Ride Operations Fund (page 128)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The City of Des Moines supports transit ridership to alleviate parking and commuting congestion. The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority has an objective to increase ridership. These two goals can be furthered by this agreement whereby all City of Des Moines employees and retirees may be issued an identification card entitling them to free transit on essentially all DART services with the exception of vanpools and special event shuttles (e.g. State Fair shuttle, Arts Festival Shuttle, etc.).

The initial cost is $7,800 which will be provided through the Park and Ride funds. An additional start up cost is the creation of the special identification cards. These cards will be produced by DART at a cost of $0.94 per card. It is estimated that the City will issue up to 2500 cards over the life of the agreement. The agreement is for one year with four annual renewals. The base cost may escalate by up to 5% each year to cover documented increased costs of operation. Either party can terminate the agreement upon 60 days written notice. Other fee adjustments may be requested if, as a result of ridership identified as City of Des Moines employees and retirees overcrowding occurs, or if the actual costs of providing the transit services to City of Des Moines employees and retirees increases or decreases by 33% or more. DART will provide the City of Des Moines periodic ridership reports through the term of this agreement.

This is a non-taxable fringe benefit pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 132(f).

PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION(S): NONE

BOARD/COMMISSION ACTION(S): NONE

ANTICIPATED ACTIONS AND FUTURE COMMITMENTS: NONE

For more information on this and other agenda items, please call the City Clerk’s Office at 515-283-4209 or visit the Clerk’s Office on the second floor of City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive. Council agendas are available to the public at the City Clerk’s Office on Thursday afternoon preceding Monday’s Council meeting. Citizens can also request to receive meeting notices and agendas by email by calling the Clerk’s Office or sending their request via email to cityclerk@dmgov.org.