Traffic Advisory Commission adopts goals, forms Complete Streets education subcommittee and seeks budget

Clark Hotaling, chair of the Traffic Advisory Commission, said the commission is finalizing its goals for the next fiscal year as it opened its meeting and moved to approve a package of priorities focused on safety and public education.

The commission approved a set of near-term and medium-term goals that emphasize “safety as our guiding principle,” a continued partnership with the city’s Safe Streets for All (SS4A) task force and the development of educational programs to explain the Complete Streets concept to residents, employers and city employees. The commission discussed overlapping work between the SS4A effort and the commission’s planned outreach and agreed to coordinate both efforts before public events.

A central, voted action was formation of a small educational subcommittee that will work with staff and outside consultants to design public sessions. Commissioner Clark Hotaling moved to accept the January minutes and later moved formation of the subcommittee; both motions were seconded and approved by the commission. Commissioners who volunteered to serve on the new subcommittee include Rob (last name not specified), Jason Jordan (newly appointed commission member) and Eric Toman (commission liaison to SS4A). Hotaling said the subcommittee will return in March with a proposed name, schedule and coordination plan with SS4A.

The commission discussed an earlier fiscal-year budget request of $2,500 that had been approved but not spent. Staff reminded commissioners that city policy does not permit automatic carryover of unspent funds, so any request to Council should justify why money asked for last year was not used and how it will be spent this year. Commission members said they expect to reuse that $2,500 request or to ask for an amount in the same range when they submit their budget template to the city by mid‑March.

Members discussed hiring TrailNet, an outside transportation education group, to run public sessions. TrailNet provided a cost estimate in prior conversations of roughly $2,000–$3,000 to facilitate a series of community events; commissioners described that as roughly the range the commission should expect. The initial idea discussed last year was up to five public events (three for the general public, one for city staff and one for City Council), but commission members said the subcommittee will settle the precise number of sessions and the detailed agenda. One commissioner suggested scaling the number of events down if staff capacity or public demand is limited; staff recommended that the commission request enough funds now to cover the set of events it expects to hold rather than returning later for more money.

The commission directed staff and the subcommittee to contact SS4A’s community engagement lead (identified in the meeting as Sean Finnegan) to confirm SS4A’s planned outreach and to ensure events do not duplicate or contradict the SS4A public engagement plan. Commissioners said the commission’s role is to provide high‑level, introductory education about what Complete Streets means rather than to advocate for specific SS4A projects.

Commissioners agreed the subcommittee should return to the commission in March with a named plan for public events, draft agendas, a proposed schedule and a recommendation on whether the commission should request the previously budgeted $2,500 or a different amount when the commission’s budget template is submitted to City Council.