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

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5 Durham-Orange Transit Governance Study BOCC Interim Update Memo—Spring 2022 transportation investment. Goals of the interviews were to capture needs,wants and desires for how a new governance framework should serve the local and regional communities within and across the two counties. Joint Elected Officials Workshop (Nov'21)—Facilitated a half-day forum, which included elected officials from each County and each local municipality within each County,to build on the Initial Stakeholder Interviews and begin to quantify desired level of change to be made on major elements that support a governance framework. A majority of elected officials in attendance indicated that there should be some aspect of change with almost every element highlighted. Such elements included: • changing the structure to allow for more collaboration between municipalities within each County (83%indicated more collaboration was needed), • defining a significant change in voting representation (both for governing board roles& responsibilities, as well as staff representation on the technical recommending body,the Staff Working Group; 100%indicated some level of change from existing framework regarding voting representation), and • as well as defining how the annual budget development and decision-making process to meet the desired change for greater representation (67%indicated that some level of change was necessary to better define/guide the annual budget development and decision-making process). Wake County Transit Program Peer Interview (Dec'21)—learned from neighboring peer to the east, Wake County, regarding successes and challenges relative to the governance framework supporting the Wake County Transit Plan/Program. Alternatives Development (Jan-Feb'22)—alternative concepts for consideration in a new governance framework were reviewed and developed. While peer examples were used as models to inform initial direction,the concept of a comprehensive governance framework was deconstructed to focus on the critical elements that were necessary for collaborative dialogue during joint stakeholder workshops by all stakeholders before moving forward. Joint Staff Workshop#1 (Mar'22)—Facilitated a half-day workshop with staff from each of the four coordinating organizations (Durham &Orange Counties, DCHC-MPO and GoTriangle), as well as staff from City of Durham/GoDurham,Town of Chapel Hill/Chapel Hill Transit and Orange Public Transit.This workshop focused on 17 proposed alternatives (each with a proposed recommendation)for consideration across 5 major elements that should comprise a transit plan governance framework.These 5 major elements are: • Membership • Voting Structures • Financial Planning • Multi-Year Plan Development • Annual Work Program Development Workshop participants were asked to provide feedback on each proposed alternative and the indicated recommendation. Upon conclusion of each topic's discussion, a 'pulse-check' confirmation was sought to provide direction on how to best incorporate language in draft governance documents. Many proposed recommended alternatives were met with consensus by all participants. Where a consensus was not met, one or more parties offered an alternative perspective for further consideration by all parties.