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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution - 2008-R0322 - Interlocal Agreement With Texas Tech University For Part-Time Student Work - 08/28/2008Resolution No. 2008-RO322 August 28, 2008 Item No. 5.22 RESOLUTION BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL O1~ THE CITY OF LUBBOCK: THAT the City Council of the City of Lubbock hereby authorizes and directs the Mayor of the City of Lubbock to execute an interlocal Agreement by and between the City of Lubbock and Texas Tech University for Texas Tech University's Traffic Engineering Program to provide a graduate student to work part time in the City's Traffic Management Center, which Agreement and any associated documents, are attached hereto and made a part of this Resolution for all intents and purposes. Passed by the City Council this 28th day of August , 2008. TOM MARTI , MAYOR ATTEST: Rebe ca Garza, City Secretary APPROVED AS To CONTENT: Sharmon Owens, Traffic Engineering APPROVED A§,T FORM: fJ _ Don Vandiver, ttorney of Cou Mres/Tech-City rraMpCtrCon08Res August 19. 2008 Contract: 8676 Resolution No. 2008—R0322 PROJECT AGREEMENT THIS AGREEMENT effective this 1st day of August , 2008, by and between City of Lubbock (hereinafter referred to as the "City") and Texas Tech University, a non-profit educational institution of the State of Texas (hereinafter referred to as the "University"). WITNESSETH: WHEREAS, the project contemplated by this Agreement is of mutual interest and benefit to University and to City, will further the instructional, research and service objectives of University in a manner consistent with its status as a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational institution, and may derive benefits for both City and University; NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and mutual covenants herein contained, the parties hereto agree to the following: Article 1 - Definitions As used herein, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 1.1 "Project" shall mean the description of the project as described in Appendix A hereof, under the direction of Hongchao Liu as Project Director. 1.2 "Project Period" is defined as one calendar year, beginning September 1 and terminating August 31 of the following year. It is anticipated this project will be renewed on an annual basis. Article 2 - Project Work 2.1 University shall commence the performance of Project promptly after the effective date of this Agreement, and shall use reasonable efforts to perform such Project substantially in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, City and University may at any time amend Project by mutual written agreement. 2.2 In the event that the Project Director becomes unable or unwilling to continue Project, and a mutually acceptable substitute is not available, University and/or City shall have the option to terminate said Project. 2.3 Any and all materials to be created or utilized by University for purposes of the Project shall be reviewed and approved by the City. University agrees to make any and all changes to such material as directed by the City. Article 3 - Reports and Deliverables 3.1 During the term of this Agreement, representatives of University will meet with representatives of City at times and places mutually agreed upon to discuss the progress and results, as well as ongoing plans, or changes therein, of Project to be performed hereunder. Article 4 - Costs, Billings, and Other Support 4.1 It is agreed to and understood by the parties hereto that this is a fixed price agreement. Total costs to City hereunder shall not exceed the sums shown in Attachment A. The City will pay for actual hours worked, not to exceed the schedule set in Attachment A. Payment shall be made by City according to the following schedule: four payments of 25% of the total yearly payment, with first payment due December 31 of the contract year, and 3 subsequent payments at the end of March, June, and September. Attachment A shows the "Interagency Cooperation Contract Estimated Budget." 4.2 Due to the nature of this project, no costs will be accrued by the University. 4.3 It is agreed that a new student employee shall begin work at a salary of $18.00 per hour. At the beginning of each subsequent contract year, if the student's performance has been deemed satisfactory by Traffic Engineering staff, the student shall receive a 2% cost of living salary increase, provided that funds are available for such an increase. Fringe benefit payments and indirect costs paid by the City shall change so as to remain at a constant percentage of the student's salary, as shown in Attachment A. Article 5 -Term and Termination 5.1 This agreement shall become effective upon the date first hereinabove written and shall continue in effect for the full duration of the Project Period unless sooner terminated in accordance with the provision of this Article. The parties hereto may, however, extend the term of this Agreement for additional periods as desired under mutually agreeable terms and conditions which the parties reduce to writing and sign. Either party may terminate this agreement upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to the other. 5.2 In the event that either party hereto shall commit any breach of or default in any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement, and also shall fail to remedy such default or breach within thirty (30) days after receipt of written notice thereof from the other party hereto, the party giving notice may, at its option and in addition to any other remedies which it may have at law or in equity, terminate this Agreement by sending notice of termination in writing to the other party to such effect, and such termination shall be effective as of the date of the receipt of such notice. 5.3 Termination of this Agreement by either party for any reason shall not affect the rights and obligations of the parties accrued prior to the effective date of termination of this Agreement. No termination of this Agreement, however effectuated, shall release the 2 parties hereto from their rights and obligations under Articles. Article 6 - Independent Contractor 6.1 In the performance of all services hereunder: 6. 1.1 University shall be deemed to be and shall be an independent contractor and, as such, University shall not be entitled to any benefits applicable to employees of City; 6.1.2 Neither party is authorized or empowered to act as agent for the other for any purpose and shall not on behalf of the other enter into any contract, warranty, or representation as to any matter. Neither shall be bound by the acts or conduct of the other. Article 7 - Insurance 7.1 University warrants and represents that University has adequate Worker's Compensation Insurance, which is applicable to officers, employees, and agents while acting within the scope of their employment by University, and University has no liability insurance policy as such that can extend protection to any other person. 7.2 Each party hereby assumes any and all risks of personal injury and property damage attributable to the negligent acts or omissions of that party and the officers, employees, and agents thereof. Article 8 - Governing Law 8.1 This agreement shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas. 8.2 This Agreement is executed pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 791 of the Texas Government Code. 8.3 The parties agree that all payments to this Agreement must be made from current revenues available to each respective party pursuant to Section 791.0111 of the Texas Government Code. Article 9 - Assignment 9.1 This agreement shall not be assigned by either party without the prior written consent of the parties hereto. Article 10 - Agreement Modification 10.1 Any agreement to change the terms of this agreement in any way shall be valid only if the change is made in writing and approved by mutual agreement of authorized representatives of the parties hereto. 3 Article 11— Notices 11.1 Notices, invoices, communications, and payments hereunder shall be deemed made if given by registered or certified envelope, postage prepaid and addressed to the parry to receive such notice, invoice, or communication at the address given below, or such other address as may hereafter be designated by notice in writing: 2 If to City: Rhett Dollins, P.E. Trak Engineering City of Lubbock P. O. Box 2000 Lubbock, TX 79457 If to University and a contractual matter: Kathleen Harris Office of Research Services Texas Tech University P.O. Box 41035 Lubbock, TX 79409-1035 If to University and a technical matter: Hongchao Liu Civil Engineering Texas Tech University P.O. Box 41023 Lubbock, TX 79409-1023 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused these presents to be executed in duplicate as of the day and year first above written. CITY OF LUBBOCK �ilr,»� Tom Martin, Mayor ATTEST: Rebe ca Garza APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: Sharmon Owens APPROVED AS TQ FORM: A QA ..6Vandiver .:. r TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY Kathleen Harris Senior Associate Vice President for Research 5 Resolution No. 2008—RO322 Appendix A Operation of the City of Lubbock Traffic Management Center 1 Executive Summary This document outlines the background and requirements for a potential inter -government agreement between Texas Tech University and the City of Lubbock. According to the agreement, Texas Tech University is responsible to furnish a graduate student to work at the City's Traffic Operations Office on a part-time basis (20 hrs/week) for at least a year. Desirably, the position will be made available for three years for a PhD student who majors in transportation engineering. Under the supervision of the city's Traffic Engineer and Tech faculty members, the student will play an assisting role in daily operation of the city's traffic management center (TMC). The duties include but are not limited to: monitoring traffic conditions, communication, developing traffic signal timing plans, developing data reports, and collaborating with TxDOT engineers. The remainder of the document is structured as follows: section 2 of the document describes in brief the functions of a traffic management center, as well as the traffic engineering program in Texas Tech University; Section 3 details the required activities of the position. 2 Background 2. 1 Traffic Management Center(TMC) in Lubbock Highway management is performed through a combination of human (i.e., institutional), and physical (i.e., technical) elements. The human elements are the managers and operators who plan and perform control functions, while the technical elements are those tools, typically traffic surveillance systems that assist the operators in performing their functions. These two elements are brought together at the transportation management center (TMC). The TMC is the hub or nerve center of most freeway management systems. (Figure 1). It is here data about the freeway system is collected and processed, fused with other operational and control data, synthesized to produce "information", and distributed to stakeholders such as the media, other agencies, and the traveling public. The information is used by TMC staff to monitor the operation of the freeway and to initiate control strategies that affect changes in the operation of the freeway network. It is also where agencies can coordinate their responses to traffic situations and incidents. Figure 1: Transportation Management Center 2 The City of Lubbock, in collaboration with Texas Department of Transportation's Lubbock District will implement the first TMC within the city's traffic engineering office. This is the first time that traffic engineers of Lubbock will have the ability to see the big picture from a centralized system monitoring and controlling the freeway system. In the center, traffic engineers will be able to adjust the timing of traffic signals and watch for accidents and stalled vehicles. There will be better coordination between the city and TxDOT traffic management officials who can coordinate incident management techniques along the freeways. In essence, the Lubbock TMC serves many purposes: as a real-time command and control center, a communications center receiving and disseminating information, a center where the appropriate response vehicles or equipment is dispatched in response to an incident or other event, a coordination center where multiple agencies coordinate activities for large incidents or planned special events, a training center where operators or stakeholders are trained in the concepts of real-time freeway management, an interface with the media, a storage facility where data collected from field systems are archived for use at a later time for related traffic management. 2.2 Tech's Traffic Engineering Program Traffic Engineering is a branch of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Texas Tech University. Dr. Frank H. Liu initiated the program in the fall of 2004 when he joined the faculty of Texas Tech University. Since then, the Traffic Engineering research group has grown significantly to include five graduate and/or doctoral students. The Transtech traffic lab was established in 2005 in collaboration with the City of Lubbock Office of Traffic Engineering. The traffic engineering program offers three courses that cover three major areas of traffic engineering: highway design, evaluation of highway systems, and traffic flow theory and operation. CE 4371/5371 "Highway Geometric Design" allows senior undergraduate and junior graduate students to learn the fundamental principles and technical requirements for the design of various highway facilities. The other two courses are for the graduate program. They are CE 5372 "Advanced Traffic Engineering I — Highway Capacity Analysis" and CE 5373 "Advanced Traffic Engineering II — Traffic Flow Theory and Control." CE 5372 allows students with little or no experience in traffic engineering to learn about the subject material. Fundamental concepts and practical knowledge account for eighty percent of the course. Its purpose is to familiarize students with highway capacity, performance measurement, public transit systems, and traffic simulation at a basic level and to prepare the students for further study of advanced topics. CE 5373 introduces macro and microscopic traffic flow theory and methodologies for the control and operation of highway systems. Classic traffic flow theory and application of mathematical models in transportation account for about seventy percent of the course. The other thirty percent introduces the latest research through reading assignments and discussion classes. The traffic management center in Lubbock will benefit the Traffic Engineering program in Texas Tech University in many ways. It will allow students to learn the logical and physical structure as well as the functions of a TMC through a real-life system. It will also allow students to learn how real time information is gathered from many sources such as electronic sensors in the pavement, video cameras, officers on patrol, TxDOT highway crews etc. Most importantly, students will be able to learn how highway traffic can be managed and controlled in a centralized fashion through the collaboration with the city's traffic engineering office. 7 3 Required Activities of the Position The basic activities of the position are to assist TxDOT and the City's traffic engineers to: Perform Monitoring: One of the most common activities undertaken in a TMC is to monitor the transportation facilities that are part of TMC's domain. Typically, traffic starts earlier than 8:00 AM and ends later than 5:OO PM. The hired graduate student is supposed to extend the surveillance time beyond 8 hours by monitoring traffic conditions through the use of a computer workstation graphic display environment and communicate with traffic operators on regular basis. TMC operating hours are 7 am — 6:30pm, Monday -Friday, and certain special events. Data Reports: Through the displays of video images and computer-generated graphics and other information resources (e.g., radio broadcast information), the student is responsible to develop data reports for decision making. • Signal Timing Plans: Develop signal timing plans for certain corridors in response to traffic being diverted off the freeways onto the frontage roads and through one or more signalized intersections. Manage Events: The student will assist in event management. Events are a broad category that includes randomly occurring events (e.g., vehicle crashes, debris on the roadway), planned events (i.e., an expected event for which a schedule has been established, such as a sporting event, lane closure for construction, etc.), and recurring random events (e.g., recurring congestion). Management of these events can involve numerous operator activities (e.g., incident verification and management, coordination with emergency services, display messages on roadside dynamic message signs, change signal timing plans). 8 Resolution No. 2008—RO322 ATTACHMENT A Interagency Cooperation Contract Estimated Budget First Yaar of Fmnlevment Description Est. Hourly Line Category Total Est. Hours Rates Item Subtotals Cost Total Personnel Salaries and Wages — Regular Time Est. Staff Mo. Graduate student - PhD 12 1038 $18.00 $18684 Total Salaries and Wages 12 $18,684.00 Fringe Benefits 20% of Salaries and Wages (Faculty and Staff) 1.0% of Salaries and Wages (Students) $186.84 Health Insurance @ $548/staff month (Faculty and Staff) $187.00 Total Fringe Benefits Travel and Per Diem (Field observation and data collection of the study area) Mileage Total Travel and Per Diem Equipment Indirect cost 10% $1,887.00 Net Cost to Sponsor $20,758.00 Spr_nnd Year of Fmnlovment Description Est. Hourly Line Item Category Total Est. Hours Rates Total Subtotals Cost Personnel Salaries and Wages — Regular Time Est. Staff Mo. Graduate student - PhD 12 1038 $18.36 $19057.68 Total Salaries and Wages 12 $19,058 Fringe Benefits 20% of Salaries and Wages (Faculty and Staff 1.0% of Salaries and Wages (Students) $190.58 Health Insurance @ $548/staff month (Faculty and Staff) $191.00 Total Fringe Benefits Travel and Per Diem (Field observation and data collection of the study area) Mileage Total Travel and Per Diem Equipment Indirect cost 10% 1,924.90 Net Cost to Sponsor $21,174.00 10 Third Year of Employment Description Est. Hourly Line Item Category Total Est. Hours Rates Total Subtotals Cost Personnel Salaries and Wages — Regular Time Est. Staff Mo. Graduate student - PhD 12 1038 $18.73 $19438.84 Total Salaries and Wages 12 $19,440 Fringe Benefits 20% of Salaries and Wages (Faculty and Staff) 1.0% of Salaries and Wages (Students) $194.39 Health Insurance @ $548/staff month (Faculty and Staff) $196 Total Fringe Benefits Travel and Per Diem (Field observation and data collection of the study area) Mileage Total Travel and Per Diem Equipment Indirect cost 10% 1,963.50 Net Cost to Sponsor $21,598.50 11