Drafter
Clerk 02/02/2010
Title
A MOTION relating to a regional task force on King County's transit system.
Body
WHEREAS, King County operates a transit system comprised of more than three million annual service hours delivering more than one hundred ten million rides per year, and
WHEREAS, this transit system is an important element of meeting regional growth management objectives through the high-occupancy movement of people throughout the county and region, and
WHEREAS, this transit system, due to its dependence on the volatile revenue source of sales tax, has been assailed by financial challenges associated with the global recession, and
WHEREAS, the King County council has worked in close collaboration with the executive to address more than a $200 million deficit for the 2010/2011 biennium, and
WHEREAS, Ordinance 16717 was adopted requiring the executive to transmit a work plan for a regional task force to consider a policy framework to guide the growth and, if necessary, contraction of King County's transit system;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A. The executive should develop a work plan that convenes a task force by March 2010 that is charged with:
1. Exploring the transit system in King County based on key system design factors of land use, social equity and environmental justice, financial sustainability, geographic equity, economic development and productivity and efficiency;
2. Making recommendations on how and to what extent these factors should be reflected in the design of King County's transit system;
3. Exploring system integration and making recommendations regarding King County Metro's role within the region's public transportation and overall transportation system; and
4. Recommending a policy framework to the executive and council that reflects prioritization of the key system design factors. The framework should include:
a. concurrence with, or proposed changes to, the vision and mission of the King County transit system;
b. criteria for systematically growing the transit system to achieve the vision;
c. state and federal legislative agenda issues to achieve the vision;
d. strategies for increasing efficiency of the King County transit system; and
e. criteria for systematically reducing the transit system should revenues not be available to sustain the King County transit system.
B.1. The executive should transmit by February 10, 2010, for council confirmation by motion, task force membership with the following executive-level representation:
a. six currently elected officials with equal representation from each of the three King County transportation subareas, provided that at least one south subarea representative shall be an elected official of a city on the southwestern ridge and no more than one west subarea representative shall be an elected official of the city of Seattle, and no more than one east subarea representative shall be an elected official of the city of Bellevue;
b. three representatives of business and economic development interests with equal representation from each of the three King County transportation subareas;
c. two representatives of organized labor;
d. six representatives of countywide rider interests with equal representation from each of the three King County transportation subareas and including two representatives of educational interests with representatives from different King County transportation subareas, two representatives of social service interests with representatives from different King County transportation subareas, and two large employers representing commuter and commute trip reduction interests with representatives from different King County transportation subareas;
e. one representative of a good government civic organization;
f. two representatives of environmental concerns;
g. two transportation experts;
h. three rider or citizen representatives with equal representation from each of the three King County transportation subareas;
i. one member of the transit advisory committee representing the range of views of the committee; and
j. one representative of the Puget Sound Regional Council.
2. The executive should strive to identify task force members who are broad thinkers that understand multiple stakeholder views, committed to livable communities, collectively represent a balanced geographic distribution, including rural representation and representation from the Rapidly Developing Areas as defined in the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation, and are open to addressing the charge of the task force without being bound by previously held positions. Additionally, the overall task force membership should reflect the racial, gender and economic diversity of King County.
3. The King County transit division manager, the Sound Transit senior staff member and a Washington state Legislature Joint Transportation Committee staff member shall be nonvoting members of the task force.
C. A third-party facilitator, who is not an employee of King County at time of hiring, should be hired by the executive to lead the work of the task force based on the guidance of the executive committee and the support of the interbranch working group.
D.1. The executive committee should consist of the King County executive and three King County councilmembers with equal representation from each of the three King County transportation subareas, without designees.
2. The chair of the regional transit committee, without designee, should be the alternate to the executive committee.
3. The King County councilmembers shall be appointed to the executive committee by the chair of the King County council per OR-1-020 of the council's Organizational Compilation.
4. In a balanced legislative and executive branch approach, the executive committee is charged with overseeing the task force schedule and process relative to the council-approved work plan objectives and charge as transmitted by the executive in accordance with Ordinance 16717, without influencing the substance or content of task force deliberations; and offering to act as a sounding board during the development of actionable recommendations.
E.1. An interbranch working group shall support the executive committee and the task force through comprehensive review and preparation of data and materials.
2. The interbranch working group shall consist of King County executive, transit division and council staff.
F. The work plan transmitted by the executive in accordance with Ordinance 16717 should contain subject areas for meetings with the goals of:
1. Achieving task force comprehension of transit system building blocks by May 2010;
2. Developing policy options for discussion by July 2010; and
3. Adopting final policy recommendations by September 2010.
G. The agendas for the task force meetings shall be developed by the facilitator with guidance from the executive committee and support from the interbranch working group to achieve the objectives in subsection A. of this motion.
H. The work plan should designate a project manager to oversee the day-to-day
needs of the transit task force program, oversee the facilitator contract and coordinate the development and review of materials for the task force.