Date: December 5, 2001

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Location: Chicago Area Transportation Study

Charles Allen, AAA-Chicago Motor Club

Kim Grimshaw Bolton, Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission

Steve Call, Federal Highway Administration

Jo Ann Eckmann, Lake County Citizen/Chair

Tim Golemo, Illinois Department of Transportation

Laura Guillot, Chicago Department of Transportation

Joelle McGinnis, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority

Jan Metzger, Center for Neighborhood Technology

Eric Miller, Cook County President's Office

Marietta Bailey, CATS

Patricia Berry, CATS

Jock Hardy, CATS

Suzanne Lanzafame, CATS

Jill Leary, West Central Municipal Conference

Veronica Lopez, CATS

Tom Palzer, CATS

Eugene Ryan, CATS

Melissa Smiley, CATS

Anita Torres, CATS

Before the items on the agenda were discussed, CATS Associate Executive Director Eugene Ryan announced a staff change. Jock Hardy is now the staff person for the PITF.

Meeting Notes from September 12, 2001

The minutes were approved.

Report from the Working Group

Mr. Hardy announced that the poster contest would take place on a larger scale this spring. He said that preparation should begin earlier and the number of participating sponsors and schools should be increased.

Individual task force members will represent the task force on the different upcoming projects/events. These small groups will work on the projects they sign-up for and then bring their results and recommendations to the full task force. Sign-up sheets were available for the poster contest, teen column, February press conference, May press conference and consultency review at today's meeting for task force members to volunteer.

It was also decided that the July press conference be moved to the Tuesday before Memorial Day.

Public Involvement Activities for FY03 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program Call for Projects

The task force approved the use of the postcards for this year but recommended that next year the TIP department bring their requests for assistance before the task force earlier to develop a public involvement strategy. Also the Task Force suggested that deadlines, end dates and eligible project sponsors be added to the postcard. Ms. Metzger pointed out that the postcard should have less jargon, and be written in more general language to make it easier for the public to understand.

Consultant Status Report

Input is needed regarding the direction of the consultant for both public involvement evaluation and public involvement strategy for the Regional Transportation Plan contracts before the end of the year. There will be no PITF members on the selection committee. However, recommendations on both proposals can be given to the selection committee the second week of January. Action will be seen right away. The future consultant will evaluate the PITF and compare it to other PITFs at different MPOs.

The PITF decided to meet on December 18, 2001 to discuss the consultant contracts. This gives everybody an opportunity to read through the eight packets.

Update on CNT Community Summits

Ms. Metzger talked about CNT's public involvement strategy for their 2030 plan. This could be found on www.cnt.gov/2030. There were seven community summits held throughout the region. Three separate meetings were held where the summit was located. These consisted of planning with local partners six weeks ahead of time, surveying the area and playing "transopoly" (a transportation game). Community values were discussed and how the community would like to see them played out. The ideas were then catalogued and shown to the community so that they could view the ideas and also edit the report. There also were mini-summits held in May and August. These targeted populations that CNT felt needed additional attention, for example high school students.

The end result of this will be the culmination of a Citizen Transportation Plan from CNT. Mr. Ryan noted that this is not the same as the 2030 Regional Transportation Plan, which is the official plan for the region.

Other Business

Ms. Metzger addressed her concerns with the staff change. She felt that this change, made just a half a year before CATS federal review period could have an adverse affect upon the upcoming evaluation.

Ms. Eckmann was optimistic about the change.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on December 18, 2001 at 2:30 pm at the Chicago Area Transportation Study.