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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Report - April 4, 1990 (39)C,UNCI L TO: THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE C 0 M M U N I C A. I O N COUNCIL MEETING DATE APRIL 4, 1990 SUBJECT: RESPONSE CONCERNING COUNTY COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS (COG) ORGANIZATION ISSUES PREPARED BY: City Manager RECOMNENDED ACTION: That the City Council review and discuss the information presented herein and take action as deemed appropriate. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: A t the March 8, 1990 meeting of the Cities -County Association i n Stockton, the topic of discussion was the future direction of the County's Council of Governments (COG). Each City was requested to provide input to the Association regarding certain COG organization issues and the possible expended regional role COG might play. Three main areas were discussed: (1) COG organizational issues; (2) the mission of the agency; and (3) agency staffing and resources. These topics are presented i n the attached report prepared by COG (Exhibit A). Staff w i I I be prepared to review these issues, and, with Council direction, to transmit the City's position to the Board of Supervisors. Respectfully submitted, Thomas A. Peterson City Manager TAP: br Attachment COUNC789 �j TO:T San Joaquin Cities and County Association Membership PROM:' Peter Verdoorn, Executive Director BIIBJBCT: Organization Issues in Expanding the Regional Role (Congestion Management Agency (CMA} and Local Transportation Authority (LTA) responsibilities) of COG DATE: March 8, 1990 OBJECTIVES OF THIS MARCH 8 MEETING At the January meeting of the cities and County Association, the discussion concentrated on possibly expanding the regional role of the San Joaquin County Council of Governments (COG) in response to a local transportation sales tax and SCA 1 requirements for a Congestion Management Agency (CMA). In March we will be discussing how these activities may be implemented through the Council of Governments. (Attachment A is a depiction of the present COG duties, staffing, and budget.) We will also be discussing how this implementation can act as a model for regional consensus building in San Joaquin County. COG staff has prepared this memorandum at the request of the City Managers and County Administrator in an attempt to make locally elected officials aware of the choices to be made in the coming year. January's Discussion Attached to this memorandum is the Executive Summary of the "Transportation White Paper: Decisions for 1990" (Attachment B) prepared for the January Cities and County Association meetin At that meeting, and in discussions since, a consensus appears %o. have developed that the Council of Governments would be the appropriate agency to serve as a Congestion Management Agency, and as the Local Transportation Authority. If you remember from the White Paper, the Congestion Management Agency would be required if SCA 1 (now Proposition 111) passes in June. The Congestion Management Agency would be responsible fcr assessing the effect of local land use depisions on the regional transportation system and would have powers to create and implement.a Congestion Management Plan. The Local Transportation Authority would be the agency responsible for administering and implementing a voter approved transportation sales tax. We have discussed using the COG as the regional agency for these new transportation issues. Can this serve as a model for other regional issues? In looking at COG organizational issues, should we also be thinking about how the COG can work as a forum for a wider range of regional issues? Public policy issues that have regional implications abound. Land, use, solid waste management, water quality and water availability, transportation, air quality, agricultural land preservation, and even police and fire protection, are significant regional issues that effect more than one jurisdiction. Can the COG serve as a forum for resolving future regional conflicts over these issues? If it can do so for transportation, then why not for other issues? Can what we are doing here serve as a model? This is happening elsewhere! The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has historically served as a regional transportation agency and as an agency offering technical assistance to its member jurisdictions. In recent years though it has acted as a forum for growth management issues in San Diego county. After two years of public debate and much negotiation, the local jurisdi^tions of San Diego County have joined together to make SANDAG the Regional Planning and Growth Management Review Board. "SANDAL will develop a regional growth management strategy for issues such as the siting and financing of regional facilities, growth rate policies, phasing and distribution of growth, open space preservation, and quality of life objectives.' (Feb. 23, 1990, SANDAG Board Actions.) In the SANDAG example the agency has worked to build consensus among its member agencies on regional issues. Its new authority continues this responsibility. COG ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES COG Votina Structure The present Council of Governments' Board of Directors voting m%�..:.bership is on attachment B. In exploring organizational changes the voting structure must be reviewed. —2— There are really only two choices vhen determining voting structure, 1. One agency/one vote. 2. A weighted voting structure. One agency/one vote is self explanatory. This is the way the COG operated from 1968 till 1983. There can be many options under a weighted voting system. The most simple is COG's existing voting structure which has two votes each for the largest two agencies, the County of San Joaquin and the City of Stockton, and one each for the remaining sit cities. This system has been in operation since 1983. Variations on the weighted voting structure abound. ' Some agencies like the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, provide one seat to the largest agencies, but give the smaller cities fever seats than the number of communities, forcing them to select among themselves, Some systems are more complex, SANDAG has a one agency/one vote system except under a given set of circumstances. For some organizational and financial issues a weighted vote on a matter can be called. Each city and the bounty are given a number of votes based on population, but the system allows no agency (the City of San Diego) to have a maiority of the votes. The process has rarely been used, Fron COG staff's perspective, the existing voting structure as well as the previous one agency/one vote structure have worked well. There are rarely split votes, and there does not appear to have ever been a vote that had Stockton and the County voting against the smaller cities. Of course COG votes are generally non -controversial. CHOICES: a. Maintain existing voting structure. b. Return to one agency/one vote system. C. Try a different form of weighted voting. Creation of Management Advisory Board With expanded policy, financing and implemertation responsibilities and with the possibility of bringing a wider range of regional issues to the COG Board, it has been suggested by the City Managers and the County Administrator and the Consultant for the Business Council's Vision 2000 project, Mountain West, that creating a Management Advisory Board is essential. This Board would be composed of City Managers and the County Administrator, and would make recommendations directly to -3- the Board. The role of the Technical Advisory Committee would continue as an advisory group to the COG staff on specific program elements. It is thought that this process will parallel how cities function today with their advisory bodies on policy and priorities while also receiving recommendations from their respective staffs. This process should enhance input and assure an effective line of communication and effective implementation. It is intended that a Management Advisory Board not reduce the COG Board's authority, nor that of COG staff's, but add a dimension of top management input into what may become a very critical agency for cities and the county. CHOICES= a. Build a Management Advisory Board into the By -Laws. b. Status -quo, with Technical Committee only. c. Seek management input, but leave the process informal. From a COG staff perspective, we see vn..ue in a greater advisory role on the part of City Managers and the County Administrator. THE MISSION OF THE AGENCY Allocatia vs. ImDlementina Actency Is the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) in San Joaquin County expected to be an "Allocating Agency", or an "implementing agency", or a mixture of both? This is an important question. If the answer is an allocating agency just passing money through to the State and local agencies, then the COG's existing mission would change little. If the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) is to implement all, or a portion of the expenditure plan, then the COG's mission would be greatly expanded. At the San Joaquin County Business Council Critical Issues Conference, Will Kempton of the Santa Clara Traffic Authority recommended becoming an implementing agency. There are seteral reasons for this. One is that you reduce your dependence on some other agency (in Santa Clara read Caltrans) to make room in their schedule to deliver your Expenditure Plan. Secondly, if locally elected officials are taking a stand to support a sales tax and an Expenditure Plan they will want to see some immediate results. And so will the voters. If the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) staff isn't producing, or the management consultant isn't producing they can be fired. But if Caltrans or -4- P- a local city or a transit district is not producing, the Authority's Board can have some major problems. CHOICES: a. Hake COG solely an allocating agency passing sales tax revenue through to an implementing agency. h Xake COG responsible for delivering all parts of an expenditure plan. The COG would be responsible for all contracting and management of sales tax projects. C. Define a mix of the two responsibilities. For instance, the COG would allocate dollars to local agencies for solely local projects. This could be local road and street maintenance, safety projects, some transit improvements. For projects of,regional significance the COG would be responsible,for contracting the work through a contract management firm. This could involve highways, major arterials connecting jurisdictions, rail projects, and inter -city transit projects. COG staff suspects that option c. is the most likely and workable solution. However, the mix of responsibilities will probably rest with the actual crafting of the expenditure plan. The breakdown of responsibilities between regional and local appears to be a good guideline. AGENCY STAFFING AND RESOURCES - Should COG become the Congestion Management Agency (CMA) and the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) several changes will have to be made on staff. Approximately four new positions will need to be created (anywhere from 2 to 5, depending upon the duties of the agency). The COG will need added space. This could be accomplished by finding added space in County facilities, or leasing private commercial office space. The COG will be held to a higher set of standards than it has in the past and will be publicly more visible and more accountable. For instance, SB 142 requires the annual publication of a report on the Expenditure Plan's delivery. The COG will need to develop new contractual arrangements for legal services, some financial services, and depending upon whether the agency is to implement the Expenditure Plan, project management services. None of this is new. Other Authorities have done this in the past. For San Joaquin County COG, however, -5- it would be a departure from past practices. 'Of "course, the COG would continue to maintain its existing regional planning and Transportation Development Act (TDA) administration duties. Financing should not be an immediate problem if both designations come to pass. The Local Transportation Authority. would receive --a percentage .of :sales tax revenue for the:, maintenance and administration ol�-the,.program The Congestion KanagementAgency does,; not come with designated dollars, but COG's. existing revenue sources and'the -sales tax dollars should: provide the resources needed to get the program up and running. COG!s existing :finances are heavily geared to, transportation issues. If COG.. ia:: to _ !unction as a regional: agency: with a more diverse set of 40.... And` responsibilities, revenue could become an issue. !such would depend upon wbat.those duties entailed. As a regional forum, the. dollars' needed would be minimum, but if used as a technical resource there will need to be a new revenue g source identified. i ATTACHMENT A A PRESENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS FUNCTIONS: Regional Transportation Planning (75%) Airport Land Use commission ( 5%) County Census Data Center ( 8%) Transportation Development Act { 5%) Fair Share Housing Allocation ( 2%) Other ( 5%) BUDGET FOR 1989-90: $790,457 (This includes pass-throughs) Revenue Sources: State: State Subventions: 11.1% State Housing Dollars: .6% Caltrans (Contracting $) 6.4% Federal: Federal Highway Subventions: 27.0% UMTA Allocation: 3.2% Federal Rideshare Dollars: 14.3% Local: 28.3% TDA Locals: 9.0% STAFFING: Executive Director (1) Deputy Director (1) Planners (6) Clerical (3) COG BOARD MEMBERSHIP: City Councils of Lathrop, Escalon, Ripon, Tracy, Manteca, and Lodi have one Board member each. (Freeman, Ennis, Feichtmeir, Morelos, Snyder, Olson, respectively.) City Council of Stockton has two Board members. (None appointed.) Board of Supervisors has two Board members. (Simas and Costa.) -7- 4 ATTACHMENT B PAPER: EXECUTIVE SUNEVIARY Local elected officials in San Joaquin County face a number of major transportation decisions in 1990. These decisions are tied to: a SCA 1 on the J%M* Ballot o A possible transportation sales tax on the November ballot a A coordinated transportation fee program. 3 e- issues spelled out in this paper can be summarized in thesetwo questions: am at agency or agencies will be responsible for these new program-?: and , on How will these programs be put into effect? SCA 1, which will revise the existing Gann Limits, and result in an increase in the state gasoline tax will also create a nc st;on Management a& ancv. This agency will be responsible for tying transportation decisions to land use decisions on a regional basis. The most likely candidates for this responsibility are the San Joaquin County Council of Governments (COG), or a newly created agency. Placing a k% transportation sales tax measure on the November ballot means: ® that the Board of Supervisors (in consultation with the cities) must designate a Tnral_ Trgnsnnrtati nn A»t hoxi t -v_ At a minimum, Stockton plus three other cities would then have to approve an expenditure plan. ® That the Tial Tran +o Cation Authority would have to approve the expenditure plan by a 2/3 vote. ® That the Board of Supervisors would then have to place the sales tax measure on the ballot. a Finally a majority of the voters would have to pass the measure. SB 142 provided the Legislative authority for a county sales tax. The legislation did not prescribe what agency would be the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) though it does encourage using an existing agency like the COG. However, a brand new agency could -s- be created to serve a8 the (LTA) . A regional fee_would_:also be created for financing roadways. -that ever sore than one planning a=ea:° Determining which:roads:and highways would be iapraved, and when, world be: `negotiated, betveen the cities and the 'dounty of San Joaquin. The, result :could be a more extensive Joint Powers Agreement, or these decision's could be placed in tho hands of a new or existing. Joint Powers Agency.