Facilitation for the Metropolitan Planning Organization Retreat

HRCCE Project: Facilitation for the
Metropolitan Planning Organization Retreat
(By Mike Knepler)

As part of the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement’s mission to “enhance development of deliberative democracy in Hampton Roads,” it provided its first public consulting by facilitating a recent all-day retreat of the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization, the intergovernmental transportation planning body for 13 jurisdictions in southeastern Virginia.

The February 2009 retreat was invigorated by the opening remarks of the HRCCE’s founding chairman, Jim Oliver, who knew the issues well from his days first as County Administrator of James City County and later as City Manager of Norfolk and then, of Portsmouth.

Oliver set out the challenges not only facing the MPO as an organization but those facing city and county representatives to the MPO as they seek a balance between the seeming paradoxes of serving their individual jurisdictions and also the region as a whole. Several of the retreat’s group exercises later explored the paradox issue.

“We are struggling within the region to meet our transportation needs,” Oliver said, “Some say the MPO can be a key to Hampton Roads’ competitiveness in the global economy…. If so, how? Is this MPO a critical building block for moving our region? Can our MPO become a top tier MPO? Can the MPO secure the trust of citizens in the region?”

Asking MPO board members and staff to aim high, Oliver suggested an agenda that included discussions not only about reform, but also about the needs to “transform and transcend” in a quest to “be the best you can.”

“We see this as a journey of learning and acting,” he said. “This day is primarily to explore your imaginations, your thinking and even your hearts. We hope you can be open and committed to finding new understandings.”

As the Hampton Roads MPO is defined, its voting members include representatives from the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, and the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City and York, as well as the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads, Williamsburg Area Transit Authority, Virginia Department of Transportation and Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Representatives from the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration and Federal Aviation Administration are non-voting members.

Members of the Hampton Roads MPO are responsible for developing the Regional Long-Range Transportation Plan, Transportation Improvement Program, Congestion Management Process and Intermodal Management System.

Turning his words toward the local government representative, Oliver said, “Each of you is a bold leader within your locality or agency. This room is full of local elected officials who are not thwarted or intimidated by excuses in building your cities and counties. Neither sleet, now, Dillon Rule, nor state or federal money shortages kept you from success.”

A moment later, he sharpened the challenge for the officials as MPO board members, asking “Isn’t it time we succeed in transportation in Hampton Roads the same way we have in our entrepreneurial localities and agencies?...... Can leaders be found among you who are willing to commit the time to build the capacity of this organization and to dig deeper into the issues and restructure for success?”

“This is clearly collaborative work that goes beyond the boundary lines of your localities,” Oliver said. “For the good of each of your jurisdictions and for the region, this is very important work.”

In an executive summary after the retreat, the HRCCE staff reported that many of the comments from government officials and citizens who attended the event called for:

*More signs of MPO tangible outcomes, such as implementation of transportation projects;

*Enhanced MPO connection to the community with the goal of cultivating greater public trust; and

*A transformed MPO with board and staff members who can learn and work together for the good of the region.