Draft Memorandum for the Record
Community Advisory Council Meeting
September 4, 2025, Meeting Minutes
1:00 PM–2:30 PM, Zoom
Decisions
The Community Advisory Council agreed to the following:
· Adopt the Community Advisory Council Charter
· Elect TransitMatters as chair and Mystic River Watershed Association as vice chair
Meeting Agenda
1. Introductions
Members attending the meeting introduced themselves. (For attendance list, see page 4.)
2. Public Comment
There were no public comments.
3. Discussion and Adoption of Advisory Council Charter—Stella Jordan, MPO Staff
S. Jordan facilitated a discussion of the Community Advisory Council Charter and members voted to adopt the charter.
Vote
A vote to adopt the charter was made by the 495/MetroWest Partnership (Jason Palitsch) and seconded by Town Green (Maureen Aylward). The vote carried.
4. Community Advisory Council Leadership Nominations—Stella Jordan, MPO Staff
S. Jordan facilitated the nominations for Community Advisory Council chair and vice chair.
Vote
A motion to nominate TransitMatters for a chair or vice chair position was made by TransitMatters (Will Palmer) and seconded by Mystic River Watershed Association (Karl Alexander).
A motion to nominate Mystic River Watershed Association for a chair or vice chair position was made by Mystic River Watershed Association (K. Alexander) and seconded by A Better City (Scott Mullen).
A motion to nominate MassBike for a chair or vice chair position was made by MassBike (Alexis Hosea-Abbott) and seconded by an unidentified member (name inaudible on Zoom recording).
5. Elections for Community Advisory Council Chair and Vice Chair—Stella Jordan, MPO Staff
S. Jordan facilitated the elections for Community Advisory Council chair and vice chair.
Vote
The Community Advisory Council voted to elect TransitMatters as the chair and Mystic River Watershed Association as the vice chair.
Discussion
Tegin Teich, Executive Director, MPO staff, encouraged members to reach out with questions and congratulated the chair and vice chair.
6. MPO Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)—Sean Rourke and Erin Maguire, MPO Staff
Sean Rourke, MPO staff, stated the goal for the next few months is to build a shared understanding of the MPO’s work and the role of the Community Advisory Council.
Erin Maguire, MPO staff, provided an overview of the MPO’s core documents:
· Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)
· Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
· Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
E. Maguire discussed Destination 2050, the current LRTP endorsed by the MPO board in July 2023. E. Maguire provided an overview of the LRTP development timeline for updating Destination 2050, including
· ongoing public engagement;
· initiation, data gathering, and vision setting;
· analysis, performance measures, and strategies; and
· adoption.
E. Maguire discussed the Community Advisory Council’s role in LRTP development, including
· determining strategies and metrics to track progress towards goals;
· discussing the impacts of different strategies and policies for the MPO to pursue; and
· advising about optimal investment program structure and targets.
Discussion
W. Palmer and E. Maguire discussed that the development of the LRTP, TIP, and UPWP is completed by MPO staff.
Paulina Muratore, Conservation Law Foundation, and Ethan Lapointe, MPO staff, discussed methods to measure the impact of the Major Infrastructure Program and the Core Investment Program, including performance measures and metrics for specific goal areas.
S. Jordan facilitated an activity on Menti, an online interactive platform, to frame the MPO’s role in the broader context of regional transportation planning using examples of transportation challenges shared by members.
7. MPO Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)—Sean Rourke, MPO Staff
S. Rourke provided an overview of the TIP, including a breakdown of federal transportation funding, objectives of the Boston Region TIP, and a timeline for the next development cycle.
S. Rourke discussed the role of the Community Advisory Council in TIP development, including
· engaging with the TIP development process; and
· providing feedback on challenges, project funding scenarios, and project scoring.
S. Rourke provided an overview of the UPWP, the annual work plan for the Boston Region MPO.
Discussion
Caitlin Allen-Connelly, TransitMatters, and E. Lapointe discussed the list of projects found in Appendix D of the TIP, which provides a distribution of transportation funding across communities in the region.
C. Allen-Connelly, P. Muratore, and T. Teich discussed federal funding allocation and funding sources between different transportation agencies.
8. Members’ Items
C. Allen-Connelly and K. Alexander shared gratitude for Advisory Council members and MPO staff and future collaboration.
9. Adjourn
A motion to adjourn was made by Town Green (M. Aylward) and seconded by TransitMatters (C. Allen-Connelly). The motion carried.
Attendees
|
Member Municipalities |
Representatives and Alternates |
|
Chelsea |
Sara Han Emily Granoff |
|
Natick |
Morgan Griffiths |
|
Community-Based Organizations |
Attendees |
|
495/MetroWest Partnership |
Jason Palitsch Tom Driscoll |
|
A Better City |
Scott Mullen Amir Wilson |
|
Abundant Housing MA |
Jesse Kanson-Benanav |
|
Bike to the Sea |
Jonah Chiarenza |
|
Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC) |
Jacynda Espenshade |
|
Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) |
Paulina Muratore |
|
LivableStreets Alliance |
Maha Aslam |
|
MassBike |
Alexis Hosea-Abbott |
|
Mystic River Watershed Association |
Karl Alexander |
|
Mystic Valley Elder Services |
Meg von Lossnitzer Sheila Buckland |
|
Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) |
Pete Wilson |
|
Town Green |
Maureen Aylward |
|
TransitMatters |
Caitlin Allen-Connelly Will Palmer |
|
Other Attendees |
Affiliation |
|
Elias Fen |
TransitMatters |
|
Steve Olanoff |
Town of Westwood, Three Rivers Interlocal Council (TRIC) |
|
Sheila Page |
Town of Wellesley |
|
Jon Seward |
|
|
Sanja Stegich |
MBTA |
|
Jim Tarr |
City of Malden |
|
Tyler Terrasi |
MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) |
|
Robert Warren |
|
|
MPO Staff |
|
Carmen Baskauf |
|
Annette Demchur |
|
Shravanthi Gopalan Narayanan |
|
David Hong |
|
Jia Huang |
|
Adriana Jacobsen |
|
Stella Jordan |
|
Ethan Lapointe |
|
Erin Maguire |
|
Meghan O’ Connor |
|
Sean Rourke |
|
Olivia Saccocia |
|
Tegin Teich |
|
Ibbu Quraishi |
|
CIVIL RIGHTS NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC Welcome. Bem Vinda. Bienvenido. Akeyi. 欢迎. 歡迎.
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