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Dear CAMPO Policy Board Members (and some others who may be shortly*):
This week, I sent a letter to a large number of you introducing the recommendations of a Chamber of Commerce Task Force related to CAMPO. If you didn't receive this report and would like to, please contact me. Separately, I wanted to address a couple of other important issues.
I'm writing as a future member of the CAMPO Board. I've also talked to many of you about playing a role in the leadership of CAMPO, although it's premature to make assumptions in that regard.
Whatever my role on your board proves to be, I want to recommend that a vote on the Phase 2 Toll Plan be put off for at least six months. I believe the new Board deserves the chance to thoroughly evaluate the proposal. We also need to review recent information that has become public that some suggest could alleviate the need for the Phase 2 toll plan. We should take a fresh look at our significant and growing transportation challenges. And we can give the Legislature time to decide what tools we should have to address those challenges.
Quite simply, I think the new board members -- and the current members, for that matter -- need time and information before they can be asked to take a vote of this magnitude. I also believe strongly that the reforms laid out in the Chamber of Commerce Task Force report could improve transportation planning for generations, and it would be a critical mistake to consider those reforms in the maelstrom of the so-called debate over toll roads.
I am not, however, averse to a vote that allows essential transportation planning to continue without committing to financing mechanisms at this time. We all want to assure that we meet our federal obligations regarding the Transportation Improvement Plan. I am currently analyzing options in that regard and will report my findings to you.
We will, of course, have to take up the delicate issues of funding and financing. But before making a potentially irreversible decision, I recommend that the CAMPO Board take advantage of this proposed six-month interim and begin crafting a policy framework to evaluate all transportation projects, as well as the possible methods of financing them.
The size and shape of this policy, of course, is entirely up to the Board. I will forward a proposed outline of a conceptual framework for analyzing transportation financing before the January Board meeting. We will need to pool our knowledge to fully develop a framework that can lead Central Texas to a comprehensive transportation plan that both serves the public and wins its support.
To help us develop this policy, I also propose that the CAMPO Board form a Mobility Financing Task Force, made up primarily of members of the CAMPO Board, which will spend the six months gathering input, weighing ideas, and developing recommendations that, hopefully, will help guide the Board as it drafts a policy. The Task Force would report back to the full Board in early June. At that time, the Board would consider a long-term transportation financing policy that will meet federal requirements and our constituents' demands for improved transportation.
I've had discussions with appropriate representatives of relevant agencies, who've said they understand the rationale and are not necessarily opposed to delaying parts of the Phase 2 plan. They've told me there will still be some issues to work out, but I'm confident that the Board can do that and still gain the time we need to create a policy that is right for the region and that the region will support.
These adjustments are not part of the Chamber Task Force report I sent you. I simply and strongly feel they are necessary for us to do our jobs at this important point in time.
Finally, I have an interest in a business that owns a piece of property on 290 East in Elgin, Bastrop County. While this is outside the CAMPO area and beyond the area of 290 East considered for inclusion in the Phase 2 Toll Plan, I will recuse myself from decisions regarding 290 East to avoid any conflict, real or perceived, that might impact my ability to assist with the work of CAMPO.
Sorry for the long letter. I just wanted to start laying things out. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Again, let me say that I hope you all have a great holiday. I am really looking forward to working with you in 2007.
Sincerely yours,
Kirk Watson
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*If you're receiving this e-mail, it may be because you are currently on the CAMPO Policy Board and I've assumed you will continue that service in January 2007. Or, it may be that you're newly elected to office and I've made an assumption about you filling a place on the CAMPO Board. It might also be that you're newly elected to a body that gets to appoint a new member of the CAMPO Board and, so, I thought you should see this letter. Finally, it might be that you are a part of some organization, such as the Alliance of Cities, that gets to appoint members to CAMPO and, while you may not serve on the CAMPO Board, your organization has an interest in CAMPO. I've tried to cast a pretty broad net of likely future members of CAMPO or those who will be deciding who will be on the next Board. Feel free to forward this letter to others. I'm sure I've missed some folks.
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