By a Divided Vote, SKATS Finds Path for Aumsville to Join: At the MPO

On Tuesday the 23rd, the Policy Committee for the Metropolitan Planning Organization meets. Last month they did what had seemed increasingly unlikely. They voted to add the City of Aumsville and to add an additional voting representative from the City of Salem.

A substitute motion

You will recall that Mayor Clark of Keizer and Chair of the MPO had introduced a motion to add Aumsville to the MPO without any changes to the voting structure.

The original motion

Councilor Phillips of Salem offered first a friendly amendment for Salem to have an additional seat and vote on the Committee, and after it was not seconded this became a substitute motion.

After a good bit of debate, Mayor Clark called for the vote and herself voted for it. It passed 4-3, with Marion and Polk Counties and the City of Turner opposed.

Calling the vote

It had not seemed likely that Mayor Clark would support Councilor Phillips and the City of Salem. So that was a nice surprise.

Still, there was some maneuvering. Commissioners Mordhorst and Cameron of Polk and Marion Counties respectively proposed to eliminate the School District from having a vote. If that happens, that might dilute the new vote from the City of Salem.

It should not happen. The School District has a vital interest in traffic safety and Safe Routes to Schools. And since SR2S staff are now employees of the COG/MPO, it is appropriate for the School District to sit on the Committee and to vote as part of it.

This is something to watch.

More than a bike rodeo!

In the miscellaneous updates for the current meeting it was great to read that a multi-week Bicycle Safety Education course would be returning to Salem schools after an absence of a few years, having been very incompletely replaced by bicycle rodeo concepts. (See "Bike Safety Education and the Hammond Bike Train" from 2010 for a brief hit on an earlier example of multi-day Bicycle Safety Education.)

The Policy Committee meets Tuesday the 23rd at noon. Meeting information, agenda, and packet is here.