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It is requested that the information presented herein be given formal consideration by the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners at its meeting of July 27, 1999. For the past several years, the Board of County Commissioners has applied for and received grant funds under 49 USC Ch. 53, Section 5307 (formerly and more widely known as Section 9 of the Federal Transit Act). Those funds have been passed through to the Indian River County Council on Aging, Inc. (COA) to provide capital and operating funding for the Community Coach fixed route bus system. Section 5307 program grants may be used for the planning, acquisition, construction, improvement, and operating costs of facilities, equipment, and associated capital maintenance items used in mass transportation service. Operating expenses require a 50% non-federal match, while capital expenses require a 20% non-federal match. In Indian River County, state toll revenue credits are utilized as a soft match to provide the required nonfederal share for the capital expenses portion of a Section 5307 grant. While a match is still required, the use of a soft -match eliminates the need for the County to provide a cash share for capital expenses. Toll revenue credits as soft match may be used only for the capital portion of a Section 5307 grant. The nonfederal share for operating expenses is met through equal amounts of local funding and a state public transit block grant. For FY 1998/99, the COA has requested that the County apply for federal Section 5307 funds on its behalf so that the COA can provide for the continuation and expansion of its Community Coach fixed route/dial-a-ride bus service. As proposed, the grant will allow the Council on Aging to leverage County and state fiords to continue and expand needed public transportation services within the County. The County's proposed FY 1998/99 Section 5307 grant application is provided in Attachment 1. As required by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations, the attached grant application was prepared using its Transportation Electronic Award and Management (TEAM) software. FTA now requires grantees to utilize its TEAM software in the development, submittal, modification, and management of Section 5307 grants. The attached grant application contains all information required by FTA. As indicated in the grant application and the attached budget forms (Attachment 2), the total proposed grant amount is $1,040,660. This amount includes $225,188 in capital expenditures and $815,472 in operating expenditures. The nonfederal share of capital expenditures ($56,297) will be met through the use of toll revenue credits as soft match and is not included in the project total. The nonfederal share of operating expenditures (50%) will be provided in equal amounts of $203,868 by local fiords and a previously approved Florida Public Transit Block Grant (PTBG). At its December 8, 1998 meeting, the Board of County Commissioners approved execution of a Joint Participation Agreement with FDOT for the use of FY 1998/99 PTBG fiords as partial operating match for FY 1998/99 Section 5307 grant fiends. According to Section 5307 grant application requirements, a designated recipient must hold a public hearing to obtain the views of citizens on a proposed grant application. In keeping with that requirement, staff has published a notice of this meeting and has scheduled this item as a public hearing. JULY 279 1999 71 B00K iU' ` PAGE#21173