Traffic Safety Commission - April 2, 2025

Agenda

1. CALL TO ORDER: 7:00 PM
2. APPROVAL OF LAST MEETING MINUTES (December 2024)
3. CALL FOR ADDITIONAL AGENDA ITEMS
4. CITIZEN CONCERNS
5. Safe Systems Kick Off Report
6. ODOT Outward Portal
7. Paving Friction Results
8. Lessons from Joe
9. New Candidates for TSC (Rafael and Marchelle)
10. Quick Updates:
    • a. Project updates
      • i. Planning Project (see attached scope of work)
      • ii. Marketing Project
11. ADJOURNMENT

Minutes

Present

• William Farley
• Chris Larsen
• Andrew Labonte (zoom)
• Bob Karl
• Robert Biddle (zoom)
• Patricia Oleson

Absent

• Michael Wilson
• Nathan McCarty
• Jeanette DeCastro

Staff Present

• Rob Sadowsky
• Joe Marek
• Christian Snuffin

Guest

• Marchelle Paholsky

December 2024 Minutes: Andrew moved and William seconded. Approved unanimously.

Additional Items to add: Bylaws

Citizen Concerns: Christian shared a former member’s concern, Bruce Fontaine, about Webster Road. He wrote a memo about six issues on noise, speeding and reckless driving. This also included a list of recommendations. Christian will follow up with Mr. Fontaine. Most of the items seem to be enforcement areas and we recently did a speed reduction on Webster Road. Jennings and Webster is on our list to review that are of concern. Other concerns the committee discussed included lack of sidewalks, increased congestion due to demographic and traffic changes.

Bylaws: There appear to be some inconsistencies between the bylaws and our operating procedures. Chris and Rob will meet to determine if there are any proposed changes we should address.

Safe Systems Kick Off Report: Representatives of the TSC that also serve on the Safe Systems advisory group. Andrew shared his interest around post-crash services and overall approach to safety. The overall theme was to have good communications across groups. Robert found it informative and the approach to prevent crashes.

Pavement Friction Study: Joe shared that we hired a company out of Virginia to measure skid resistance last August on all the county’s roads. We got the data integrated into our mapping system. Joe reviewed the maps and the methodology. The truck measured both roughness and friction. Overall, the friction is good, our pavement is made from angled rock fragments that is not as available in other parts of the country. We can overlay the map to see how they related to friction. This can give us insight into potential treatments at spot locations or corridors. We are also linking curve warning signs data and a new software system to correlate for potential countermeasures. In general, our road system is very good.

ODOT Portal: Joe shared a new ODOT transit data map that is now open to the public. See this at https://gis.odot.state.or.us/transGIS/. Joe demonstrated the system for the committee.

A retrospective on traffic safety during Joe’s tenure: Joe announced he is retiring in June. He shared a contrast between 2002 and today. (see attached pdf).

New Committee Candidates: James Waddington resigned to spend more time with family members. We reopened for candidates for two positions. We had two candidates, Rafael Kaup and Marchelle Paholsky. They were both invited to attend an interview. Rafael did not attend tonight. The committee interviewed Marchelle. After the interview, the committee voted unanimously to recommend Marchelle to the Board of Commissioners for appointment. We tabled a decision on Rafael.

Election for Chair and Vice Chair: Chris volunteered to serve as Chair and Andrew volunteered to serve as Vice Chair and this was approved unanimously.

Adjourned at 9 pm.

Notes taken from recording by Rob Sadowsky.