Senior & Disabled Transportation Cycle 3 Awards:

1. RECOMMEND that the Board award Measure X Senior & Disabled Transportation Cycle 3 funds as follows:
   1. $345,504 to Partnership for Children,
   2. $705,263 to Independent Transportation Network (ITN) Monterey County,
   3. $227,820 to Alliance on Aging,
   4. $142,644 to Blind & Visually Impaired Center, and
   5. $78,770 to Kernes Memorial Pool; and
2. RECOMMEND that the Board approve an extension to the deadline for Kernes Memorial Pool to use their Cycle 2 funding by one year, from June 30, 2023 to June 30, 2024.

The Transportation Agency received five applications for the Measure X Senior & Disabled Transportation Cycle 3 funding for fiscal years 2023-2026 totaling $2,176,436. The Transportation Agency has $1.5 million available for Cycle 3. The grant review subcommittee recommends reducing the award amount for the top four applicants by 25%, with the remainder going to the fifth ranked applicant, to make sure all applicants receive sufficient funding to perform a revised scope of their project proposals; and to extend the time for the deadline for Kernes Memorial Pool to use their Cycle 2 funding by one year, to June 30, 2024.

At their September 28, 2022 meeting, the Transportation Agency Board of Directors adopted the Program Guidelines for the use of $1.5 million in Measure X funds for Cycle 3, covering fiscal years 2023/24, 2024/25, and 2025/26. In Cycle 2, fiscal years 2020-2023, approximately $253,925.26 remains unbilled. Grantees have until June 30, 2023, to expend the funds, and until July 31, 2023 to submit the final claim documentation. This action awards $1.5 million to five Cycle 3 grantees and extends the deadline for one cycle 2 grantee by one year.

The Policies & Project Descriptions for the Measure X Transportation Safety & Investment Plan describes the Senior & Disabled Transportation Program:

1. The purpose of this program is to increase transportation services for seniors and persons with disabilities to support their ability to live independently in their homes and communities.
2. This program will fund non-profit transportation to support seniors and persons with disabilities.
3. This program provides the following benefits:

• Give seniors more transportation options
• Support independent travel by people with disabilities
• Provide safer and more reliable senior transportation services

The intent of this program is to fund projects, programs and operations that meet these goals.

The Transportation Agency received five grant applications for Cycle 3. Staff determined that all five applications were complete and in compliance with the Program Guidelines requirements.

A grant review committee composed of members of the Measure X Citizens Oversight Committee, the Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) Mobility Advisory Committee, and Transportation Agency staff conducted an initial review of the application materials and met to draft a list of follow-up questions for on-site field visits. The field visits took place during January 2023, but due to the atmospheric river event in January, field visits with ITN Monterey County and Partnership for Children were conducted via Zoom.

After the interviews were conducted, the grant review committee ranked the applications using the scoring criteria noted below. The Cycle 3 Program Guidelines (web attachment) provide a detailed breakdown of the application questions and corresponding scoring criteria.

Final Rankings

1. Partnership for Children
2. ITN Monterey County
3. Alliance on Aging
4. Blind & Visually Impaired Center
5. Kernes Memorial Pool

Scoring Criteria

• Program Purpose & Goals

• Program Benefits
• Feasibility
• Geographic Equity
• Cost Effectiveness

The total request of $2,176,436 came in $676,436 above the $1.5 million Measure X funds available for Cycle 3. A summary of the proposals, final ranking, and average ranking is attached to this report. The grant review committee identified three funding scenarios to fund the applicants:

1. Option 1, the recommended option, reduces the grant request from the top four applicants by 25% with the remainder going to the lowest ranked applicant for a total award of $1.5 million.
2. Option 2 would follow the program guidelines and only fund the top two ranked applicants with their full request amounts and the third ranked applicant with a partial award.
3. Option 3 would apply a 20% incremental reduction by rank. In Option 3, the top ranked applicant would receive 100% of the their funding request, the 2nd ranked applicant would receive 80% of their request, and the 5th ranked applicant would receive 20% of their funding request.

From the three funding scenarios that the grant review committee identified, Option 1 was chosen as the preferred funding option to best support the proposals of all applicants with a reduced scope. On March 29, 2023, the grant review committee's proposal was presented to the MST Mobility Advisory Committee, where most applicants sit on the advisory committee. While applicants hope to deliver the full scope of their project proposals, applicants are willing to revise their project budgets and scopes of work to reflect the proposed awards.

The grant review committee also recommends an extension to the Kernes Pool deadline to use Cycle 2 funds for an additional year to June 30, 2024. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kernes Pool followed shelter-in-place orders and shut down operations for a full year of the Cycle 2 three-year period.

To date, approximately $253,925.26 has not been claimed from Cycle 2 funds. A summary of the remaining Cycle 2 funds is attached to this report. Current grantees have until June 30, 2023 to expend the funds, with the final claim documentation due by July 31, 2023.

The subcommittee recommends awarding Measure X Senior & Disabled Transportation Cycle 3 funds to all five applicants, with a reduction of 25% of the top four applicant's original request with the reminder going to the fifth awardee; and to extend the time for the deadline for Kernes Memorial Pool to use their Cycle 2 funding by one year to June 30, 2024.

Cycle 3 Program Guidelines