Ferry Facilities—1) Fall outage date,: 2) Passenger ferry options during outage; 3) ADA accessibility ; 4) ADA ferry modifications proposed

Parking Lots --- 1) Guemes implementation schedule and community input; 2) immediate interim usage possibilities; 3) Anacortes lot time-line; 4) Anacortes terminal time-line

Operations--- 1) process to operate with 3 person crew; 2) Ticketing

Operations Costs--- 1) GIFC contact for accounting questions; 2) out-drive repair review; 3) Emergency ferry outage notification procedures; 4) county policy concerning stranded vehicles, transport and reimbursement.

Veal reiterated the desire of the GIFC, as stated in the last Roundtable meeting, to schedule the outage in September if at all possible. This would be the best time for weather considerations and the best to accommodated previously established islander plans.

Cox said that the “bid packages” for the engine replacements won’t go out until next week, with a response date of the first week in May, two weeks to select the bidder and 16 weeks for delivery (This makes delivery by September 9th 2005). Cox stated that the outage would need to be in October but will review this as the process proceeds.

Following a question, Cox stated that the list of work for the outage would be available in early June. Work known at this time is: 1) painting the vessel. 2) replacement of both engines, 3) repair of the Anacortes bridge joint, 4) making the passenger cabin accessible for a wheel chair, 5) relocation of the passenger walkway to the west side of the Guemes dock.

Wheel chair access discussion—Cox provided a look at the proposed cabin layout and said that this would require permanent removal of some of the passenger seating for reasons surrounding the mechanics of a movable bench. The FC requested that further consideration be given to making the seating area available for passengers when not used by a wheel chair occupant. Cox agreed to do that. The FC requested an opportunity to further review the ADA plans and loading procedures.

Beach landings during the outage vs. dock landings at the Anacortes terminal. The Anacortes bridge work will require the bridge to be disabled and lifted above the dock level. Cox again stated that this would require beach landings. The GIFC again requested and reviewed the strategy of placing a floating dock or barge close to the dock with a long brow extending to the terminal area, landward of the movable bridge. Cox said he would contact Culbertson Marine to see what might be possible. Cox said that van service would again be provided on Guemes and that if beach landings were required that a light movable aluminum bridge with hand rail would be provided to access the beach.

The GIFC requested that the newly purchased property on Guemes be made available on a temporary basis prior to final development. There is a need now for more parking, particularly if we want to encourage walk-on passengers during the summer. Cox stated that county code requires that if more that 5,000 sq ft of gravel surface are laid (considered an impervious surface), that drainage and run off containment must be provided. He agreed to review possible interim drainage options to make the parking area available.

The scheduled work for the new Anacortes parking area is to start May 1st and be completed by May 23rd. Garcia requested that the county work with the City of Anacortes to relax the street parking regulations during the construction period due to the loss of parking space. Cox said that he would contact the city but that they are becoming less and less tolerant of the parking problem. In response to the status of egress from the new lot through the railroad grade parking lot, Flude said that the two attorneys were still negotiation the easement language with the Marina.

24 hour parking limit-Guemes lot--- the GIFC said that we support the removal of derelict vehicles from the parking lot but that the 24 hour limit was inappropriate and impractical to enforce. Cox said that following our earlier request that he had posted the only parking time limit permitted in the county code and one that the County Sheriff could act upon. The GIFC recommended that a 7-10 day period would be more reasonable but that additional island views should be sought. Cox agreed to investigate other possibilities and report back.

Cox stated that while the county is still committed to return to three person operation that many things are getting in the way of accomplishing this: 1) many days ferry usage is to high 2) the Coast Guard requirement that the crew not go beyond the terminal building to pre-sell tickets, 3) the county cash handling requirements. Panzero (crew) said that while he previously supported three person operation that the following were causing problems: 1) the number of oversized vehicle sales, 2) the loss crew and retraining time for new crew members, 3) contractual requirements, 4) crew breaks.

Cady said that the GIFC did not want any involvement in the management of the ferry operation but at the same time was requesting that the county review all elements of the ticketing , loading and operating procedures and develop methods that would assure three person crew operation during normal situations. He also said that the rider-ship data supplied by the county did not support an increase in oversize vehicle sales since 1996. Orsini expressed the view that the operations problems were caused by the counties inability to correct their ticket sales and cash handling processes. Further, that as far as the rider-ship was concerned, the county could man the vessel with 10 people per shift but the rider-ship revenue requirement should only reflect a three person crew, until the county fixed their internal problems.

It was offered by Cady that a second run of the 9:00 AM ferry could be accomplished if it were moved to 9:05 AM permitting the scheduled crew break at 8:45 AM. This was a solution that Panzero was also about to offer but also wanted to move the 3:10 PM to 3:15 PM to better accommodate the crew break in the PM. Much discussion followed as to how this could be accomplished, published to the rider-ship etc. Panzero agreed that this change in the schedule would also improve the ability to operate with a three person crew. Flude agreed to start the new schedule on Monday April 17th with appropriated rider-ship notification. The GIFC agreed to post it on Linetime and on the chalk board at the Guemes terminal.

10:00 AM Tuesday Propane Run – the GIFC requested that the county follow up with the task force recommendation that the Propane suppliers come to Guemes on the 6:30 AM ferry. This would help with traffic load on Tuesdays. Cox will pursue this with the suppliers.