Time Line at Miami-Dade MPO (text only)

Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization

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Interlocal Agreement.

The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) and FDOT, using an interlocal agreement, gave the MPO the authority to organize itself to conduct a "continuing, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning and programming process". The agreement was designed to make the MPO an effective instrument for developing plans and programs that would thereafter be implemented.

Although the membership of the MPO Governing Board is largely composed of individuals who serve on the BCC, the two boards are separate and distinct. The BCC, a general-purpose local governing body consisting of locally elected officials, exercises the powers delegated to it by the metropolitan charter. The MPO Board, on the other hand, possesses no powers of local self-government and acts within the policy realm of transportation only. While the BCC is responsible primarily to the electorate of Miami-Dade County, the MPO Board is primarily responsible to the state governor and to the federal agencies that provide funding for transportation projects and mandate planning requirements as a precondition for funding.

In other major metropolitan areas, MPO boards are markedly different than local governmental boards and are composed of officials representing the various municipalities in the given urban area. The unique structure used by Miami-Dade County, however, enhances coordination between the two boards, and tends to facilitate the process of advancing from plans to implementation of transportation projects.

The existing interlocal agreement provides that the MPO may:

Enter into contracts or agreements, other than interlocal agreements, with local and/or state agencies to utilize the staff resources of those agencies.
Administer its affairs and business.
Enter into agreements with the FDOT, operators of public mass transportation services, and the area-wide and regional A-95 agencies.
Enter into contracts for professional services.
Accept funds, grants, assistance gifts, or bequeaths from local, state and federal sources.
Acquire, own, operate, maintain, sell or lease any real or personal property.
Promulgate rules to effectuate its powers, responsibilities, and obligations provided said rules do not supersede or conflict with applicable local and state laws, rules and regulations.
The agreement also specifies that the MPO will provide for an appropriate organization to administer its business and affairs, set up a community involvement structure and establish a process to evaluate the technical adequacy of transportation planning activities. To carry out its duties, the MPO entered into a Management Services Agreement with the BCC.

Major Elements.

Major elements of this agreement are:

The county shall furnish the MPO with the professional, technical, administrative and clerical service, the supplies, the equipment, the office and other space, and such other incidental items as may be required and necessary to manage the business and affairs of the MPO and to carry on the transportation planning and programming process.
The county manager of Miami-Dade County shall be responsible to the MPO Board for the conduct of the transportation planning process as well as the appointment, assignment, direction and control of all personnel necessary thereto; the development of an appropriate organizational structure and the development of procedures to monitor and coordinate the planning process.
The county manager shall prepare annually a detailed listing of all tasks necessary and incidental to carrying out the planning process.
The head of each county department or agency participating in the transportation planning process shall be deemed a technical advisor in the field of his competency and shall be expected to provide the MPO with expert advice or perform such duties incidental hereto as the county manager shall assign.
The county attorney shall be the legal advisor to the MPO and shall represent the MPO in all legal matters, provided that, with the concurrence of the county attorney, the MPO may employ special counsel for specific needs. A secretariat staff office is to be designated by the county manager.
The county manager shall prepare an annual budget on an October 1 to September 30 fiscal year basis. The budget shall identify funding sources, participating agencies and the level of participation by the various agencies. The MPO region includes the incorporated and unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County. This region has an area of 2,464 square miles and over 2.2 million residents. The incorporated area is composed of thirty-four (34) municipalities with their own governments.

Our Partners. (Next 24 items below have links to external websites.)

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