Restructuring of Metroplan faces criticism
Activist calls council redo a ‘Rube Goldberg creation’
A proposal to restructure Metroplan, the long-range transportation planning agency for central Arkansas, is an effort to “destroy the effectiveness” of the agency’s voluntary advisory group, which has been at odds with its board of directors, according to a community activist.
Replacing the Regional Advisory Council, under the proposal, is a three-committee structure that the activist, Barry Haas, termed a “Rube Goldberg creation.”
His comments came at the final meeting of a Metroplan board task force set up to restructure the agency based on ideas developed at a board retreat earlier this year.
The restructuring effort was spawned by the debate over the merits of a $630.7 million project to remake the aging and congested 6.7-mile corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock, which includes replacing the I-30 bridge over the Arkansas River.
The project is sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, but Metroplan, as the federally designated metropolitan planning agency for the region, had formal input.
The Metroplan board and an array of outside interests, including the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Central Arkansas Library System and the Clinton Presidential Center, backed the project.
But a coalition of downtown neighborhood interests and others opposed the project, including Haas and the Regional Planning Advisory Council, often called RPAC. The volunteer group helped shape the long-range transportation plan for the region and felt the I-30 project clashed with the plan’s goals to develop more transportation options rather than rely on an ever-growing freeway system.
Members of the council said they felt its work on the transportation plan, called Imagine Central Arkansas, was for naught after board votes to move the I-30 project against council recommendations. That disconnect between the board and the council led to the broader restructuring discussion.
“They made a recommendation to the Metroplan board that was at odds with what I characterize as your group think,” Haas said.
Two members of the task force took issue with Haas’ comments. They said their aim was not to eliminate the council but restructure the entire organization to improve communication at all levels.
“The old structure, not RPAC, the old structure, was not serving the board in terms of the level of communication and the quality of communication we were getting,” said Barry Hyde, the county judge of Pulaski County. “There wasn’t a real connection built in. No disrespect or lack of gratitude for
members of RPAC that have served well. We think highly of you all. We’re trying to move forward. Everything changes.”
Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs, who chairs the restructuring task force, agreed.
She said newly elected mayors and county judges who join the Metroplan board from Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski and Saline counties often are unfamiliar with the council’s role within the agency as a conduit for public outreach, which is required by federal regulations governing Metroplan’s role as a metropolitan planning agency.
The council doesn’t meet often except for years in which the long-range transportation plan is scheduled to be updated to reflect demographic changes in the region and transportation priorities, including anticipated projects.
“I think that was because it got staled and everybody assumed the new board members understood the purpose of the RPAC, and I had no idea,” Dabbs said. “When I use the term stale, that’s just not a reflection of RPAC, that’s a reflection of this board and our responsibilities to reach out to you all as well.”
She also said many volunteers on the council as well as members of another advisory committee called the Technical Coordinating Committee will have roles in the new structure.
“I see a lot of the positions here being filled by the same people that have served us very well through the RPAC and through the [technical coordinating committee],” Dabbs said.
The council, which has up to 40 members, is one of two advisory committees that are supposed to report to the Metroplan board. The technical coordinating committee is composed of nearly two dozen city and county planners, engineers and public-works staff members.
Recommendations from either committee aren’t binding on the board.
Under the latest proposal, those two committees would be replaced by three 25-member advisory committees: Economic Vitality, Transportation Systems and Livable Communities.
A six-member steering committee will coordinate planning activities among the three committees, oversee public outreach efforts and serve as a liaison to the executive committee.
The board’s executive committee would be expanded from three members to 13 and would have a liaison on each of the three new advisory committees.
The board also will have a small cities council and a legislative task force. The board also will be expanded to include the Little Rock Port Authority director, who will have a vote when the board considers transportation policy issues.
Tab Townsell, the Metroplan executive director, said the proposal will be presented to the board this month followed by a board vote in August to send it out for public comment, with a vote to approve the restructuring coming in September.
Charles Cummings, the long-time chairman of the council who also was at Thursday’s meeting but didn’t address the task force, expressed disappointment with the elimination of the council.
“You’re eliminating the public input,” he said. “Now the writing of the plan goes to the elected officials and not the concerned citizens. I just think we’re going down a bad road.”
But he agreed that a lack of communication hurt the council.
“The only problem we had in the RPAC was a lack of communication between the board and RPAC, and I agree with them 100 percent,” Cummings said. “We would not have had the problems through the 30 Crossing project if we would have had better communications. Now, communications is a two-way street.”