CITY OF TALLAHASSEE
CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED ON: May 27, 2009
SUBJECT/TITLE: Approval to Adopt Resolution No. 09-R-14, Supporting the Membership Apportionment Plan of the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency
TARGET ISSUE:

STATEMENT OF ISSUE

This agenda item requests the Tallahassee City Commission to adopt a resolution supporting the membership apportionment plan of the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA).

RECOMMENDED ACTION

Option 1: Adopt resolution supporting the membership apportionment plan of CRTPA

FISCAL IMPACT

Operations of CRTPA that are not eligible for reimbursement from state and federal grants and local grant matching funds will be shared by the membership based on the weighted voting apportionment upon execution of a new Interlocal Agreement. Based on membership within the new planning boundaries, the City’s share would be reduced from the current percentage of 42% to 37%. CRTPA staff work very diligently to keep the total of non-eligible expenses and matching funds below $20,000 annually.

Harry D. Reed III, Executive Director, Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency

Anita Favors Thompson, City Manager

For information, please contact: Harry Reed – 891-6815

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL/ISSUE ANALYSIS
HISTORY/FACTS & ISSUES

When the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA) was originally formed in 2004, the planning boundaries included all of Leon County, City of Tallahassee, portions of Gadsden County (including the cities of Midway, Quincy and the Town of Havana), and a portion of Wakulla County. The CRTPA Board has approved expanding the planning boundaries to include all of Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson and Wakulla Counties in accordance with Florida Statute 339.175 (2)(2)(c), which states:

“The jurisdictional boundaries of an M.P.O. (Metropolitan Planning Organization) shall be determined by agreement between the Governor and the applicable M.P.O. The boundaries must include at least the metropolitan planning area, which is the existing urbanized area and the contiguous area expected to become urbanized within a 20-year forecast period, and may encompass the entire metropolitan statistical area or the consolidated metropolitan statistical area.”

Based on this statute, the CRTPA voted to expand the jurisdictional boundaries to include all of the Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), Shown as Figure 1 (page 3). This MSA changed with the 2000 Census to include all of Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla Counties. Regardless of whether any of the municipalities choose to participate in the transportation planning process, the CRTPA is the transportation planning agency for the entire MSA. However, CRTPA’s position is to have all municipalities involved, given the importance of this organization at the regional level.

The initial step in recognizing new representatives from the expanded planning boundaries is to adopt a voting Apportionment Plan. The current Apportionment Plan consists of a weight vote based on population from the 2000 Census. The new appointment plan is recommended to also have a weight vote based on the 2000 Census population. The new Apportionment Plan is shown in resolution in Attachment 1 and was adopted by the CRTPA Board at its January 12, 2009 meeting. All of the new jurisdictions within the new CRTPA boundaries have been contacted and are in agreement with the proposed Apportionment Plan.

Figure 1 - CRTPA Planning Area Boundary (approved November 19, 2007)

NEXT STEP

Once all the resolutions have been obtained, they will be sent to the Governor’s Office for final acceptance and approval. The Governor has 30 days to approve the new boundaries and apportionment. Upon approval, CRTPA will initiate the execution of the Interlocal Agreement with all CRTPA members to formally adopt the expanded CRTPA planning boundaries and new membership.

CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

N/A