Drafter
Clerk 03/21/2008
Title
AN ORDINANCE authorizing the county executive to enter into agreements with transit service partners as authorized in Ordinance 15582 and in accordance with Ordinance 15756.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. The Transit Now ordinance, Ordinance 15582, adopted by the council on September 5, 2006, and the subsequent Transit Now proposition approved by the voters in the general election on November 7, 2006, provides funds for new transit services. The Transit Now ordinance also authorizes King County metro transit to enter into certain service partnerships with public and private service partners to add other transit services mutually agreed to by the service partners and metro transit. Two types of service partnerships are authorized by the Transit Now ordinance: direct financial partnerships and speed-and-reliability partnerships.
B. According to the Transit Now ordinance, service partnership agreements are intended: to "leverage metro's service resources to increase overall transit service resources"; to be located "where transit service investments will generate the most riders"; to "act as a tool to meet growth targets and improve transit market share to support employee commuting"; and to target but not limit partnerships to designated urban, manufacturing, and industrial centers.
C. The Transit Now ordinance establishes the maximum number of annual service hours available for service partnerships, and sets minimum requirements for service partnership proposals to be eligible for service partnership agreements.
D. The Transit Now Service Partnership Criteria Ordinance, Ordinance 15756 adopted on May 7, 2007, adopts criteria for selecting among eligible applications for entering into service partnerships and establishes a process to solicit proposals from interested parties.
E. Fourteen direct financial service partnership and two speed-and-reliability service partnership proposals, set forth in Attachment A to this ordinance, meet the minimum eligibility requirements, are ranked against the priority criteria for such partnerships, and are phased for implementation as adopted in the King County Metro Ten Year Transit Strategic Plan 2007-2016 and Ordinance 15756. Six more speed-and-reliability service partnership proposals, set forth in Attachment B to this ordinance, meet all eligibility requirements and are ranked on a contingency list for implementation should other proposed service partnership agreements not move forward to implementation, or should the county authorize additional hours to the service partnership program as provided in the Transit Now ordinance, Ordinance 15582.
SECTION 2. The King County executive is hereby authorized to execute agreements, in substantially the form as the contract templates set forth in Attachments C and D to this ordinance, for those direct financial and speed-and-reliability service partnership proposals identified in Attachment A to this ordinance, by May 15, 2008, for services scheduled to begin in September 2008, and by December 31, 2008, for all other agreements. If agreements are not executed for any of the proposed service partnerships approved herein, or if any agreements for the service partnerships approved herein are terminated prior to their full term, or if the county authorizes additional hours to the service partnership program as provided in the Transit Now ordinance, Ordinance 15582, the King County executive is hereby further authorized to execute agreements for those service partnership proposals on the contingency list, consistent with their evaluation ranking as shown in Attachment E to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. The appropriate county officials, agents and employees are hereby authorized to take all actions necessary to implement the service partnership agreements approved herein.
SECTION 4. The authority granted in this ordinance is supplemental to all other powers of the county and nothing in this ordinance shall be construed as limiting or restricting any powers or authority conferred upon the county by law.
SECTION 5. If any provision of this ordinance or its application to any person or
circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.