Attorney tells board 'lengthy process' is ahead for proposal
By Eric Florip, Columbian
Transportation & Environment Reporter
Published: September 15, 2015, 9:19pm
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A C-Tran bus drops off passengers at the Clark County Fair in Ridgefield on Wednesday. The transit agency is offering free shuttle service to the fair this year in an effort to boost ridership to and from the event.
An upcoming public transportation conference will be only the first step in a long process that could change C-Tran’s boundaries, the agency’s legal counsel told the C-Tran Board of Directors on Tuesday.
Attorney Aaron Millstein offered an overview of the undertaking that will involve multiple meetings, at least one public hearing and an opportunity for each jurisdiction to opt in or out of the transit agency’s boundary.
“It’s actually quite a lengthy process,” Millstein said.
Clark County councilors voted last week to convene a public transportation conference with the stated goal of expanding C-Tran’s boundaries to cover the entire county.
Councilors David Madore and Tom Mielke have argued that the move will restore rural residents’ right to vote on sales taxes that support the transit agency. C-Tran currently collects sales taxes within Vancouver’s urban growth boundary, plus the incorporated areas of Camas, Washougal, Battle Ground, Ridgefield, La Center and Yacolt. People who live within those areas — about 80 percent of the county’s population, according to C-Tran — vote on C-Tran tax proposals.
C-Tran’s boundaries were reduced to their current area in 2005, following a failed sales tax measure the year before. Madore, a member of the C-Tran board, has accused the agency of “gerrymandering” the district to ensure passage of future tax measures. Voters approved sales tax increases for C-Tran in 2005 and 2011, but rejected one for high-capacity transit in 2012.
This year’s conference is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 27. The gathering will convene a public transportation improvement board made up of the three county councilors and a representative from each of Clark County’s cities and the town of Yacolt.
Once the group meets, each jurisdiction will have the chance to opt in or out of the C-Tran area, Millstein said. Any boundary proposal would then be subject to a public hearing. If new areas are brought into C-Tran’s boundary, voters in those areas also would have to grant their approval before sales tax could be collected there, Millstein said.
Camas Mayor Scott Higgins, sitting in as a C-Tran board member for his city Tuesday, asked whether the transportation improvement board will change after the number of Clark County councilors changes from three to five in January. Millstein deferred his answer to a closed executive session the C-Tran board held later in the evening to discuss “litigation or legal risks” on the subject of the transportation conference.
Clark County has sent letters out to other jurisdictions about the upcoming conference. The gathering is expected to happen in Vancouver.
Eric Florip: 360-735-4541; twitter.com/ericflorip; eric.florip@columbian.com
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