FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
On
Tuesday 2/17, the County Commission will vote on a package of items by
"Consent Agenda" without any public input including a $1 million dollar
planning expense for something that could be another “bridge to
nowhere.”
The
commissioners are set to pay Metro nearly $1 million for further
planning on the SW Corridor Light Rail expansion, even though voters
recently rejected a county-wide vehicle registration fee (tax increase).
This fee was proposed to cover maintenance for county roads. If this
was such a great need, how can we justify spending a million dollars on
more studies for plans that may never be built nor maintain our failing
infrastructure?
Three
Washington County cities have already passed requirements for voter
approval of transit spending. As the Chief petitioner of a similar
county-wide initiative to ensure a public vote on transit spending, I
ask the commissioners to pull this item from the Consent Agenda and give
it a proper hearing.
Here is the agenda:
Scroll down to "Approve Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) Between Metro and Washington County for the Southwest Corridor Plan"
Here is the Inter-Governmental Agreement (with Metro):
(Taken from document)
INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN METRO AND WASHINGTON COUNTY FOR THE SOUTHWEST CORRIDOR PLAN
1.
Funds to Metro. .......... the County shall pay Metro
$900,000................ Payment will occur in two installments. Within
thirty (30) days of execution of this IGA the County shall wire transfer
the first payment of $450,000 to Metro; the second payment of $450,000
will be wire transferred to Metro on July 1, 2015"
On
behalf of the many volunteers who gathered signatures, the roughly
8,000 Washington County voters who signed the 3 city petitions and all
of the voters who approved the measures, I ask the Washington County
Board of Commissioners to pull this action item from the scheduled
consent agenda. I ask my fellow Washington County Residents to contact
their commissioner and respectfully make the same request.
We
additionally request that the county delay any further expenditures on
transit planning until after the voters make their decision on the
upcoming county initiative. Any county participation in a high capacity
transit expansion deserves the same county wide vote allowed for the
Vehicle Registration Fee.
Thank you for your prompt attention.
Respectfully,
Tim Esau,
Chief Petitioner
Contact your commissioners:
Andy Duyck, At-Large, Board Chair: Andy_Duyck@co.washington.or.us
Dick Schouten, District 1: Dick_Schouten@co.washington.
Greg Malinowski, District 2: Greg_Malinowski@co.washington.
Roy Rogers, District 3: Roy_Rogers@co.washington.or.
Bob Terry, District 4: Bob_Terry@co.washington.or.us
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