Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization Board of Directors

2026-02

Monday, February 02, 2026

3:00 P.m. - 5:00 P.m.

County Administration Building - Grace Knight Conference Room

12 SE 1 Street, 2nd Floor, Gainesville, FL 32601

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1.

CALL TO ORDER

2.

ROLL CALL & CONFIRMATION OF QUORUM

3.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

4.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

5.

CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

6.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

7.

ACTION ITEMS

7.1

Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Board Appointments

By Resolution No. 95-3, the MTPO created a Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Board, to which the MTPO appoints four (4) members, for the purpose of studying and making recommendations to the MTPO, City of Gainesville, and Alachua County solely related to the maintenance of policies, programs and facilities for the safe and efficient integration of bicyclists and pedestrians into the metropolitan transportation system. The MTPO currently has two vacancies for the BPAB and two qualified applicants.

Staff Recommendation: Appoint the following two applicants to the BPAB (applications attached), both with three year terms, extending from February 2, 2026 to February 1, 2029:

• Nicholas Cuevas
• Emily Hind

7.2

MTPO Renaming/Branding

Effective June 5, 2023, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced that all urbanized areas with populations greater than 200,000 are identified as Transportation Management Areas (TMA), which are subject to and eligible for special transportation planning and programming requirements and funding.  As the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area (the “MTPO”) is now expanded to include the entirety of Alachua County and covers a population of over 200,000, the MTPO is a TMA. As such, the MTPO Board will be considering a renaming / branding of the MTPO. Executive Director Whitfield will provide a presentation and recommendation of new agency name and branding. Board action and direction requested.

7.3

MTPO Office Space Location

The MTPO was previously staffed by the North Florida Regional Planning Council and recently by Alachua County’s Transportation Planning Manager acting in the role of an Interim Executive Director with administrative support by County staff and consultant services. Meeting rooms for Board and committee meetings are provided in-kind by primary MTPO agency partners.  With the hire of the new Executive Director and the direction from the Board to organize and staff the new agency, the MTPO Board will be considering potential office space lease options and relocation plan. Executive Director Whitfield will provide a presentation and recommendation of office lease space and relocation plan. Board action and direction requested.

8.

INFORMATION ITEMS

8.1

RTS 5-Year Major Transit Development Plan (TDP) Update

As required by FDOT, RTS is providing an annual informational update regarding its 5 Year Transit Development Plan. Presentation will include information on plan achievements and challenges, as well an update on specific projects and programs. Following this meeting of the MTPO Board, RTS will submit its update to FDOT by March 1, 2026.

8.2

RTS December Ridership Report

A table summarizing RTS ridership for the month of December is included as an information item.

8.3

MV/Paratransit Discussion

Opportunity for City and County to discuss continued paratransit services for City of Gainesville and Alachua County. City staff to provide an update regarding 'insourcing' its paratransit services, and for potentially becoming the Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC) and providing paratransit services for Alachua County. County staff to share information on contingent contract with MV Transportation. 

8.4

New MTPO Positions

Based on direction from the Board to organize and staff the new agency, the Executive Director is preparing position descriptions for the hiring of a Director of Contracts and Finance Administration and a Director of Transportation Planning and Development as the initial personnel positions needed to staff the MTPO. The first position is a new position being developed by the Executive Director and the second is a reframing and refinement of the Director of Multimodal Transportation Planning position previously developed. With the website development, the MTPO will post “We are hiring” and will post these two (2) positions.  The recruitment of these positions will include job/career center postings on the relevant professional planning and engineering websites. No Board action needed at this time.

9.

AGENCY REPORTS / PARTNER UPDATES

10.

UPCOMING MEETINGS OF INTEREST

11.

PUBLIC COMMENTS (GENERAL)

12.

MEMBER COMMENTS

12.1

Discussion: Speed Limit Setting (Commissioner Prizzia)

13.

ADJOURNMENT