Bexar
County’s
Metropolitan
Planning Organization met Monday to vote on proposed bylines
changes, including what constituted a quorum, powers given to the mayor
and
county judge to appoint officials to elected positions, the powers
granted to
the head of the finance committee, what funds can be used for tolling,
and the
extension of the MPO’s boundaries to the Hill Country.
Giving into
pressure from citizens, the MPO decided not to
allow the mayor or county judge to make appointments for elected seats.
TURF
founder Terri Hall was pleased with the decision.
“We
were delighted that this board today decided to strike
the language that would give the mayor or the county judge power to
break the
rules,” Hall said.
The MPO also
voted to adjust their policies away from
spending on toll roads. The MOP will not use any its discretionary
funds for
toll roads, but use solely the TxDOT fund that is for that purpose,
Scott
Ericksen, senior public involvement coordinator for the MPO said.
The meeting
moved the organization in a progressive
direction Ericksen said.
“I think that the policy
board has looked at what changes
are beneficial to the long-term transportation-planning
process,” Ericksen
said, adding that the committee needs to use foresight in planning its
finances,
citing the high rate of growth in San Antonio and
the need to find revenue to support our
infrastructure during that growth.
Asked if toll
roads were still on the table, Ericksen said
that it would be “financially irresponsible to not even
consider that
possibility.”
Although Hall
has been a vocal critic of the MPO's support
of toll roads, she expressed her satisfaction with the decision that
discretionary funds would not be used to push forward the idea of toll
roads.
Ericksen
questions the long-term success of cutting sources
of revenue, saying, “The policy board in not happy with the
planning situation,
but no one has any magic bullets to solve the problem.”
Bylaws were
amended to give the head of the MPO finance
committee. Sheila McNeil, more power to execute her duties.
The MPO also
took steps to extend its boundaries of
governance. They say that they are doing this only because the federal
government is mandating that they do, and if the counties wish to
maintain
their autonomy, the MPO will agree to it.
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