Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation March 7, 2012 Motions

I have uploaded a copy of the official letter that was sent from TransLink's Mayors' Council to Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Blair Lekstrom to the document archive of this site. The highlights include the following motions.

Motion #1
The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation requests changes to legislation to:
-require the approval of both TransLink’s base and supplementary budgets by the Mayors’ Council;
-enable a Graduated Vehicle Registration Fee or a new Regional Carbon Tax in order to avoid the short-term property tax increase; and
-provide for review of TransLink by the Provincial Auditor General or the new Local Government Auditor General.

Motion # 2
The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation requests that:
a) the Provincial Government of BC amend or introduce legislation prior to June 2012 to enable the following long term revenue sources:
1. Comprehensive road pricing to be built on sound demand management strategies and consistent with the principles adopted by the Mayors’ Council on May 3, 2011;
2. New Regional Carbon Tax;
3. Allocation of future or restructured Provincial Carbon Tax revenues;
4. Graduated Vehicle Registration Fee based on engine size, fuel consumption, emissions rating;
5. Additional Fuel Tax;
6. Flexibility to add other best practices from around the world;
and
b) clarify that any new funding changes are to be implemented by the Mayors’ Council subject to public engagement.

Motion #3
The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation authorizes the release of the motions from the Mayors’ Council March 7, 2012 In-Camera meeting, and the resulting draft letter to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, to local councils.

Motion #4
The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation:
a) requests changes to legislation to:
-add Electoral Area A Director as a full member of the Mayors’ Council;
-allow the Mayors’ Council to call regular or subcommittee meetings when required and for remuneration in a manner consistent with Metro Vancouver to be funded within the Mayors’ Council funding envelope;
b) wishes to engage an independent, third party governance consultant and undertake a process that will review past and current public transportation governance models and best practices from other jurisdictions, with a view to recommending future changes to legislation based on the following principles:
-Openness and transparency to the shareholders (taxpayers) as exemplified by more public meetings;
-More direct involvement of the region in planning, funding and establishment of long term vision for transportation; and
-Review and establishment of long term funding options and allocations based on agreed on plans and vision.

In motion 1, the mayors are basically asking for TransLink to become controlled once again by politicians which is interesting because that is very similar to how TransLink was run originally. I guess it's true that what's old is new again!