Agenda 04-26-22; 4-b - Durham & Orange Transit Plan Governance Study

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Attachment 1 4 Durham-Orange Transit Governance Study BOCC Interim Update Memo—Spring 2022 Coordination across multiple agencies,jurisdictions, and stakeholders to achieve a specific goal requires clear direction and guidance. In 2021,through a partnership between Orange and Durham Counties, a need was identified for new Interlocal Agreements and supporting policies& procedures to be developed that reflected the priorities of updated transit plans. These sets of documents are to consider new or refined roles and responsibilities among the partners through a joint process.The primary partners include the County, DCHC- MPO and GoTriangle.This study kicked off in August 2021 and will align with each County's transit plan update schedule for adoption of a new ILA and approval of supporting policies and procedures. Project Goals Goals were identified early on through a joint conversation between County representatives. Craig Benedict& Travis Myren participate for Orange County; Ellen Beckmann participates for Durham County. Critical aspects for this study to accomplish were identified to be: • To create a clear, operationally efficient governance structure that ensures that Durham and Orange Counties' priorities are funded and implemented with the County transit taxes and fees. • To form new levels of accountability,that includes development of an equitable set of processes which seek to gain community trust. To achieve the identified needs and goals,the Counties, DCHC-MPO and GoTriangle selected Atkins to conduct this study. Atkins also partnered with Fountainworks to help facilitate joint stakeholder dialogues throughout the study process. State Enabling Legislation There are key State Statutes that inform the purposes of this governance study: • N.C.G.S Chapter 160A defines how a government body exists.A portion of this chapter(Article 26— 'Regional Public Transportation Authority Act') defines how such a body functions to support public transportation services. • N.C.G.S Chapter 105 defines how a government body is enabled to raise and provide revenue for necessary uses and purposes. A portion of this chapter(Article 43—'Local Government Public Transportation Sales Tax Act') defines how such revenues can be raised for the specific purpose of public transportation services and associated governance oversight. • N.C.G.S. Chapter 153A defines enumerated powers and responsibilities for County's, but also defines the County role with levying revenue sources to support public transportation services (property tax assessment only). Study Process to date After the study kickoff,the process included two parallel tracks.The first is to review existing governance structures with respect to transit plan implementation/administration, both within the counties, as well as peer organizations (i.e., Wake County).The second is to develop a policies and procedures manual, which will be a set of support documents to guide detailed elements of each county's transit plan implementation efforts.The process to date has included the following major actions: Initial Stakeholder Interviews (Sept-Oct'21)—discussions with nearly 70 individuals from all local jurisdictions and regional coordinating agencies across Durham & Orange Counties that share an interest in public